- In a seminar that gathered renowned researchers from USA, Spain and Chile, the Department of Linguistics and Literature commemorated the centenary of this work by Ferdinand de Saussure, which is essential for the study of language.
The Department of Linguistics and Literature of Universidad de Santiago de Chile celebrated with a seminar the 100 years of the Course in General Linguistics, by Ferdinand de Saussure, a book that professors at Chilean, American and Spanish universities consider as the starting point for the construction of the science that studies human language and languages.
Dr Domingo Román Montes de Oca, Head of the program of Pedagogy in Spanish Language and co-organizer of the activity, said that the seminar provided a space for academic discussion and conclusions that could lead to changes in curricula.
Students, professors and researchers at Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación, Universidad Arturo Prat, Universidad de Concepción, Universidad Austral de Chile, Universidad Católica, Universidad de Chile, University of Maryland, Universitat de Barcelona and Universidad de Santiago, participated in the seminar.
An opportunity for academic discussion
The seminar was held at the auditorium of the Department of Mathematics and the opening ceremony was headed by Dr Marcelo Mella, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Dr Roxana Orrego, Head of the Department of Linguistics and Literature. On the occasion, the Academia Chilena de la Lengua introduced the book “El legado de Saussure” (Saussure’s legacy) by the renowned linguist and novelist of Universidad de Concepción, Dr Andrés Gallardo, who recently passed away.
According to Dr Orrego, the seminar met their expectations, “because it gathered together professors and specialists form several Chilean and foreign universities to analyze the importance of this course for the development of Linguistics as a science. This academic activity was of benefit to our students and professors and it contributes to the positioning of our Department and our Faculty in the academic community,” she said.
During the activity, Dr Manuel Rubio Manríquez (Universidad de Santiago), Dr Silvana Guerrero González (Universidad de Chile), Dr Teresa Oteíza Silva (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile) and Dr Bernardo Riffo (Universidad de Concepción), participated in the round table talk “La enseñanza de la Lingüística” (Teaching Linguistics).
Ferdinand de Saussure’s legacy
One of the special guests to the seminar was Dr Germán F. Westphal, professor at the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA, who has worked with Noam Chomsky as a direct collaborator. During his speech “Convergencias y divergencias: Saussure y Chomsky” (Convergence and Divergence: Saussure and Chomsky), he highlighted the stance of each of these renowned linguistic theorists.
For Dr Westphal, the activity was “an excellent celebration, because it has gathered people with different points of view with regard to the different approaches and problems that language poses. This commemoration is important, because Saussure definitely changed the field of Linguistics in his time and many of the things that he said have had an impact on the development and study of human language in the past 100 years,” he said.
The closing lecture was given by Dr Estrella Montolío Durán, professor of Spanish Linguistics at Universitat de Barcelona, who presented his work “Lingüística, comunicación y transferencia del conocimiento a la sociedad. Un reto para el siglo XXI,” (Linguistics, communication and transfer of knowledge to society: a challenge for the 21st century) in which she highlighted how important is that teachers are able to explain their knowledge to society.
Translated by Marcela Contreras
