It-8 Konferenza tal-Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija (GĦILM) saret bejn it-18 u l-21 ta’ Settembru fl-Università ta’ Bremen, il-Ġermanja. Aktar minn 30 riċerkatur u riċerkatriċi attendew il-konferenza “The Next Century of Maltese Linguistics”. Il-konferenza tal-GĦILM, li ssir kull sentejn, tattira riċerkaturi minn Malta u minn madwar id-dinja li jaħdmu fuq il-lingwistika Maltija. Letturi u riċerkaturi mill-Università ta’ Malta, l-aktar mid-Dipartiment tal-Malti u l-Istitut tal-Lingwistika u t-Teknoloġija tal-Lingwa, taw sehemhom f’din il-konferenza.
Matul il-konferenza ngħataw 27 taħdita, fosthom żewġ taħditiet plenarji mill-Prof. Andrei Avram (l-Università ta’ Bukarest) u l-Prof. Dominique Caubet (INALCO, Pariġi). Il-preżentazzjonijiet koprew firxa ta’ suġġetti inklużi l-lingwistika teoretika, is-soċjolingwistika, l-istilistika u l-lingwistika komputazzjonali. Se jiġi ppubblikat volum editjat ta’ wħud mix-xogħlijiet ippreżentati bħalma sar wara kull konferenza tal-GĦILM.
L-GĦILM twaqqfet waqt l-ewwel konferenza li saret fi Bremen fl-2007, u minn dakinhar ġiet ippreseduta mill-Prof. Thomas Stolz (l-Università ta’ Bremen, il-Ġermanja). L-GĦILM tiġbed studjużi minn diversi pajjiżi, fosthom Franza, il-Ġermanja, l-Italja, il-Ġappun, Malta, New Zealand, il-Polonja, is-Slovakkja, Spanja u l-Istati Uniti. Konferenzi preċedenti saru fi Bremen, Malta, Lyon, Turin, Bratislava u Kraków. Id-9 konferenza hija ppjanata għall-2025. Iż-żewġ fergħat taċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti fi Bremen u f’Malta kienu responsabbli mill-organizzazzjoni u l-koordinazzjoni ta’ dan l-avveniment u pprovdew appoġġ finanzjarju biex jittella’. Il-kumitat organizzattiv kien jikkonsisti mill-Prof. Thomas Stolz u Maike Vorholt (l-Università ta’ Bremen) u mill-Prof. Ray Fabri, Dr Michael Spagnol, Raffaello Bezzina u Michela Vella (l-Università ta’ Malta). Il-konferenza kienet suċċess u ż-żewġ fergħat taċ-Ċentru tal-Ilsien Malti huma ħerqanin li jorganizzaw avvenimenti oħrajn li jippromwovu l-lingwistika Maltija fuq livell internazzjonali.
The 8th Conference of the Għaqda Internazzjonali tal-Lingwistika Maltija (GĦILM) took place between the 18th and 21st of September at the University of Bremen, Germany. Over 30 researchers attended this conference entitled “The Next Century of Maltese Linguistics”. The GĦILM conference is held every 2 years and is attended by both Maltese and foreign researchers working on Maltese linguistics. Academic staff members and researchers from the University of Malta, mainly from the Department of Maltese and the Institute of Linguistics and Language Technology, contributed to this conference.
The conference consisted of 27 talks, including 2 plenary talks by Prof. Andrei Avram (University of Bucharest) and Prof. Dominique Caubet (INALCO, Paris). Presentations covered a range of topics including theoretical linguistics, sociolinguistics, stylistics and computational linguistics. An edited volume of linguistic papers will be published in line with previous publications compiled following GĦILM conferences.
GĦILM was founded during the first conference held in Bremen in 2007, and has since been chaired by Prof. Thomas Stolz (University of Bremen, Germany). GĦILM has attracted scholars hailing from diverse countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malta, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and the United States. Previous conferences were held in Bremen, Malta, Lyon, Turin, Bratislava and Kraków. The 9th conference is planned for 2025. The two branches of the Malta Centre in Bremen and Malta were responsible for the organisation and coordination of this event and provided financial support to set up and run the conference. The organising committee consisted of Prof. Thomas Stolz and Maike Vorholt (University of Bremen) and Prof. Ray Fabri, Dr Michael Spagnol, Raffaello Bezzina and Michela Vella (University of Malta). The conference was a great success and both branches of the Malta Centre look forward to organising future events promoting Maltese linguistics on an international level.
