UP Lingg at FLC 2023

Four members of the Department’s faculty presented their research papers at the 14th Free Linguistics Congress, which was held from September 29 to October 1, 2023 at the Kadir Has Üniversitesi in Istanbul, Türkiye.

Associate Professor Jesus Federico Hernandez presented a paper titled “Edentulous Declaration: The Decade of Indigenous Languages,” which takes a critical look at popular narratives of language endangerment in the Philippines, the factors that directly and indirectly affect the vitality of Philippine languages, and how the UN Declaration of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages factors in the trajectory of our endangered languages.

Associate Professor Jem Javier co-presented a paper with UP Department of Anthropology Assistant Professor Madilene Landicho titled “Ten Pigs and a Wedding: Semantic Specialization of Terms Surrounding Cultural Practices Related to Marriage in Batangas, Philippines.” Their study delves deep into the marriage-related practices traditionally conducted by Batangueños, the semantic processes that can be observed in the terms used to lexicalize concepts related to these practices, as well as the sociocultural values that underpin these practices that not only form affinal kinships but also renew bonds among members within the community.

Assistant Professor Kyung Min Bae also co-presented a paper with Dr. Javier titled “Lexical Choice in Post-Colonial Filipino and Korean,” where they compare the history and processes of borrowing lexical items from the languages of their former colonizers. They show in this study, via corpora analyses and dictionary sweeps, that the Filipino seems to have been more democratic and accommodating of Spanish loanwords, while more conscious effort was exerted in Korea to eradicate Japanese terms and to nativize terms for concepts introduced via contact with their former colonizer.

Lecturer Michael Manahan‘s paper at the conference is titled “Conforming and Transforming: Insights into Filipino Subtitling.” It investigates the challenges that author-translators face when producing Filipino subtitles for audiovisual media and the linguistic strategies that they employ. The study attempts to shed light on the current practices in the subtitle translation industry in the Philippines and aims to “open a dialogue towards establishing a linguistic consensus that addresses subtitling challenges while maintaining and choosing a language register that accurately reflects the vernacular of its speakers.”

To learn more about the conference, visit the conference website at http://www.flcgroup.net/