AMU: Department of Linguistics organizes International Conference.

By Anam Beg

The Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University organized the three day international conference on "Mediatization, Culturalization and Language Alteration" in collaboration with Indian Council for Social Science Research.

The inaugural function of the conference was held on January 5th, 2017 at the Arts Faculty Lounge, Aligarh Muslim University. The conference was inaugurated by Prof. T.K.Bhatia, a distinguished linguist from the University of Syracuse, New York, USA. The keynote speaker of this conference was Prof. Poonam Arora, an illustrious scholar from the USA. The souvenir of the conference was released by the Pro-Vice Chancellor, Brigadier (Retd.) Syed Ahmad Ali, whereas the Vice Chancellor, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah presided over the function and released the Aligarh Journal of Linguistics.

Eminent personalities who contributed to the conference were eminent Om Thanvi (former National Editor, Jansatta), Prof. Dan Raj Regmi (Head, Department of Linguistics, Tribhuvan University, Nepal), Iqbal Ahmad (BBC World Services), Prof. A. K. Sinha (DU), Prof. Deb Kamal Ganguly (FTII, Pune), Prof. Anand Pradhan, Arfa Khanum (Rajya Sabha TV), Prof. Ghazanfar Ali (JMI), Omar S. Peerzada (PRO, AMU), Prof. Salauddin Quraishi (AMU).

Three day international conference was divided into six technical sessions and eight plenary sessions. It brought together over 40 professionals, journalists, linguists from all over the globe, apart from a wide range of participants, researchers, practioners, educators and activists. The conference was structured around the presentations on culture, movies, legends, advertisements, print and electronic media. Some of the presentations focused on the relations between: motherhood, media and language; history, geography and language; Islamophobia and media; language and emojis; and, media, language and culture. A special skype presentation was made by Prof. Nancy Berg, University of Washington, USA.

The valedictory function of the conference was held on January 7th, 2017 in the Language Lab, Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University. The Chief Guest of the function was Prof. R.C. Sharma, Chairperson, Department of Linguistics, University of Delhi; while journalist Feroz Bakht Ahmad was the Guest of Honor for the evening. The token of appreciation were conferred upon the participants which was followed by a report by Dr. M.J. Warsi- organising secretary of the event.

The presidential address was given by Prof. Dan Raj Regmi, Prof. Regmi congratulated the team for the hard work and success, and showered praises on Prof. A. R. Fatihi, Chairperson, Department of Linguistics, Aligarh Muslim University, who in turn extended his gratitude and gave away the vote of thanks.

The program was hosted by Bairam Khan.

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*Anam Beg is student of Masters in English Literature at AMU