This conference is devoted to the study of the linguistic and sociolinguistic situation in medieval Britain.

Areas of interest include:

• the purposes and effects of 'code switching' in medieval spoken and written communication
• the functional and territorial distribution between Latin and vernacular languages
• encounters between speakers of different languages, in reality and literature
• similarities and dissimilarities between medieval and modern modalities of multilingualism.

We particularly invite papers that explore these issues through a close analysis of one or two specific types of source material, e.g., guild records; macaronic poems and sermons; school texts and pedagogic literature, legal records, chronicles, multilingual manuscripts and multilingual poets, business and trade records. A volume of selected proceedings is anticipated.

For details and offers of papers please contact:

Dr Ad Putter or Dr Judith Jefferson, Department of Engllish, University of Bristol, 3-5 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1TB.

Email: a.d.putter@bristol.ac.uk or j.jefferson@bristol.ac.uk

Deadline for proposals: end of January, 2008

Download registration form (28 kb word doc)

Download programme (19kb pdf)

The 13th-century riddarasögur were mainly translated from French romances into Old Norse, supposedly for the court of King Hákon Hákonarson. The translations depart significantly from their originals. The traditional explanation is that medieval translators did not aim for faithful translation: another explanation is that texts were adapted to the target language culture and that subsequent manuscript transmission involved rewriting for various functions and contexts. In this context the riddarasögur have been related to the Norwegian king's intention to introduce European Court ideals into Norway. It is debatable, however, whether the riddarasögur had a clear cultural agenda; and their social consequences appear to have been wider and less predictable. This conference will explore the relationship between linguistic and cultural translation in the riddarasögur.

The conference is arranged by the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bergen and the Department for Linguistic and Scandinavian Studies, University of Olso and organised by Professor Else Mundal and Dr. Karl G. Johansson

For details please contact:

Dr Karl G. Johansson, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies, University of Oslo, P.O.Box 1106 Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway

Email: k.g.a.johansson@iln.uio.no
http://www.hf.uio.no/iln/forskning/forskergrupper/norron/