40th Annual Conference of Linguistic Society of Nepal (LSN)
26-27 November, 2019
CEDA hall, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu
Nepal
Organizers
Supporters
Venue
CEDA Hall, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal
Keynote speech (abstract)
The Structure of Middle Maithili
(As Gleaned from the Hand–Copied Newari Manuscripts of Maithili Plays and Songs Composed by Malla Rulers of the Medieval Nepālamaṇḍala and Archived in the Nepāla Rāṣṭrīya Abhilekhālaya in Kathmandu)
The keynote speech is based on my three and a half decades-long research-work carried out intermittently at suitable intervals in Germany during 1983-2018 as the Alexander-von-Humboldt Senior Visiting Research Fellow. The prime purposes are to deliberate on: (a) Newari’s orthographic peculiarities and/or ingenious diacritic devices utilized to felicitously capture and represent the sound system of the Maithili language, and (b) the linguistic structure of Middle Maithili as enshrined in the numerous manuscripts that are published to date in Nepal, India, Germany, and Japan. Indeed the presentation is, in essence, a culmination of my earnest endeavors to incessantly and assiduously seek to retrieve and create and assimilate and disseminate knowledge coded in the precious hand-written Newari manuscripts of the Maithili language archived in the National Archives of Nepal.
About the Keynote speaker
Professor Ramawatar Yadav, Ph.D.
Former Vice Chancellor, Purbanchal University, Nepal
Winner of the Royal Nepal Academy Pāsāṅg Lhāmu Prajñā Puraskāra-1996, the Nepāla Vidyāpati Maïthilī Anusandhāna Puraskāra-2011, the Nepal Academy Nepāla Prajñā Bhāṣā Puraskāra-2018, and the Nepal Academy of Music and Drama Saṅgīta tathā Nāṭ̣ya Rāṣṭrīya Prajñā Puraskāra-2017, Professor Yadav has authored six books: Maithili Phonetics and Phonology (Mainz, Germany: Selden und Tamm, 1984), A Reference Grammar of Maithili (Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996), A Facsimile Edition of a Maithili Play: Bhūpatīndramalla’s Parsurāmopākhyāna-nāṭaka (Kathmandu: B. P. Koirala India-Nepal Foundation, 2011), Maïthilī Ālekha Sañcayana, 1989-2015 (Janakapuradhāma: Maïthilī Vikāsa Kośa, 2016), Elegy Written in a Royal Courtyard: A Facsimile Edition of Jagatprakāśamalla’s Gītapañcaka (New Delhi: Adroit Publishers, 2018), and Dictionary–Making in Maithili and Francis Buchanan’s Comparative Vocabularies: A Facsimile Edition (Forthcoming). Professor Yadav has published innumerable research papers in journals of language and linguistics in Nepal, India, USA, and Germany; he has also contributed a chapter on Maithili in The Indo-Aryan Languages (London & New York: Routledge, 2003).
Recipient of the British Council Scholarship (1970-71), the Fulbright-Hays Scholarship (1974-79), the British Council Visitor Award (1989), Senior Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Council for International Exchange of Scholars, USA (1989), and the Alexander-von-Humboldt Postdoctoral Senior Visiting Research Fellowship, Germany (1983-84, 1989, 2000-2001, 2013, 2018).
Registration fee
– Students are required to produce the valid Student Identity Card and its copy.
– Registration fee covers Lunch and teas for 26th and 27th, stationery, and a copy of the Society’s journal Nepalese Linguistics.
Post-Conference talk program
There will be post-conference talks on 28th November 2019 in or closer to the conference venue. The exact venue and time will be informed later:
1) Dr. Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Associate Professor at Delhi University will deliver a talk on “Appearance, Disappearance, and Reappearance of AGREEMENT: How a theoretical account can be useful for us”
The abstract of the presentation is available at this link
2) Mr. Kumon Tokumaru, an independent researcher, will deliver a talk on “Concept” and “Interdisciplinary Integration” to Complete Linguistic Evolution of Homo Sapiens.
The detailed presentation is available at this link
Travel and visa information
Travel
There are two options to enter Kathmandu, Nepal
Flight
a. Kathmandu is well connected via international flights to many cities around the world. Tribhuvan International Airport is about 20 minutes drive from the centre of the Kathmandu.
b. There are domestic flights to Kathmandu from various points of Nepal in the southern bordering areas to India. People entering Nepal via land from Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, and West Bengal can fly from Bhadrapur, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Bhairahawa, Nepaljung, and Dhangadhi to Kathmandu.
Road
c. There are number of options to travel to Kathmandu via road from the southern Nepal. You can travel to Kathmandu from the cities viz. Kakarbhitta, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birjung, Bhairahawa, Nepaljung, Dhangadhi, and Mahendranagar by bus. The travel time ranges from 5 hours to 20 hours. Please leave enough time for the travel.
Visa
Indian Citizens do not need visa, however, they need to carry an identity card (which can be the passport itself) that has got a photograph. For other foreign nationals, visa is required. Please visit the following website for detail information regarding visa and related regulations: http://www.nepalimmigration.gov.np/
Accommodation
For accommodation participants and presenters should bear the expenses on their own.
We recommend the following two hotels to the conference participants for accommodation. Both the hotels are located at the city center near Thamel. The following is what the hotel management wrote to us regarding the charges for accommodation and food.
1) Hotel Pacific P. Ltd.
Jyatha, Kantipath, Kathmandu
Contact Person: Jayaram Paudyal, Directors Sales and Marketing
Cell: 9849151687
Tel: 4255153, 4249983, 4212753
hotelpacificsales@gmail.com
The rates are as follows:
The above rates are subject to extra 10% Service Charge.
The following services will be provided on request.
– Airports pick up and Drop By Car Rs. 1500.00 One Way
– Gongobu Buspark /Kalanki Pickup And Drop By Car Rs. 1000.00 One Way
2) Hotel Kohinoor
Jyatha, Kantipath, Kathmandu
Contact Person: Suman Shrestha
dhulikhel404@gmail.com
Cell: 98510-10404,
Tel: 014249930
The rates are as follows:
The above rates are subject to 10 % Service Charge.
The following services will be provided on request.
– Kathmandu Airport pick up by private car Nrs. 1200.00 One way.
– Kathmandu Gangabu Bus Park pick up by private car Nrs. 1200.00 One way.
Further information on the conference will be updated regularly.