Category Archives: Language

World Poetry Day

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March 21st is UNESCO’s World Poetry Day, not only a celebration of the poetic forms of literature in all its infinite variations, but also to encourage learning and teaching of poetry across the globe.

Thanks to our own English & Drama School, we’ve built up quite an extensive range of poetry, ancient and modern, ranging from the Greek epic poetry of Homer to Shakespeare’s Sonnets, to the 19th century classics of Coleridge and William Wordsworth, to the contemporary poetry of Philip Larkin and Andrew Motion. Not forgetting our comprehensive range of literature databases available on Library Catalogue Plus, most notably Literature Online (LION), from which you can glean everything you ever wanted to know about your favourite poem or poem. Why not have a browse?

On the Radar – Syncopolitics

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Join Dr Fred Dalmasso of the School of Arts, English & Drama next week for a lively discussion on the notion of ‘syncopolitics’

Dr Dalmasso has coined the term syncopolitics in response to Catherine Clément’s seminal book, Syncope – the Philosophy of Rapture, where she stresses that “syncope is spectacle, it shows off, exposes itself, smashes, breaks, interrupts the daily course of other people’s lives, people at whom the raptus is aimed.” Dr Dalmasso will look in particular at how the image of syncope and the syncope of the image might radically displace or dissolve the self and thus offer strategies of resistance against norms through renouncement or disappearance; a recess of the image that he considers as a sine qua non condition for thinking politics as what can only happen within a horlieu (an out-place or non-place) of representation: a syncopolitics that resonates with what Badiou calls inexist[a]nce.

The discussion will be taking place in the Radar ArtSpace in the Edward Barnsley Building on Wednesday 15th February between 2-3pm. Entrance is free but booking is required – please email aed.research@lboro.ac.uk if you would like to attend.

LU Arts Presents Englishes – A Conversation

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Join LU Arts this January for an afternoon of presentations, discussion and film screenings constructed around artist Nicoline van Harskamp’s preoccupation with investigating the global use of English by non-native speakers around the world.

Having already made a series of video works focusing on the subject, the artist continued her research at Loughborough University where she was invited by Radar to make a new work in collaboration with its linguists. A new work, Apologies and Compliments, was made as part of the commission and will be screened alongside other videos from the series known as Englishes, an on-going a project that seeks to provoke questions about the features and possible declinations of a future global English.

Screenings will be accompanied by presentations from experts in the fields of linguistics and art. Nicoline van Harskamp will host a conversation between invited artists and academics who will act as first respondents to the issues represented in the works before audience members and guests are also invited to contribute to the session with their remarks and opinions.

The event will be taking place on Friday 27th January at the LU Arts Project Space on the 1st Floor of the Edward Barnsley Building from 1pm – 5pm. Tickets can be bought via the LU Arts website below:

http://www.arts.lboro.ac.uk/radar/events/event/englishes_-_a_conversation

Explore Ancient Greece With the British Library

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blHave you ever wondered what books looked like in antiquity? Perhaps you have pondered why some manuscripts are written on paper and some on parchment? Did you know that the ancient Greeks thought up machines and robots powered by steam? These issues and more are taken up on a new web resource launched by the British Library today dedicated to the study of Greek written heritage, Greek Manuscripts.

Intended to complement and promote the hundreds of Greek manuscripts digitised by the British Library in recent years, the website contains articles on a wide variety of subjects relating to Greek papyri and manuscripts, written by experts from the UK, continental Europe, and North America. Additionally, several videos provide short visual introductions to key topics. Collection items discussed in the articles are given separate item pages, with links to the online catalogue entry and full digital coverage on Digitised Manuscripts.

For more information, visit the British Library site here:

http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/09/the-british-librarys-greek-manuscripts-project.html

European Day of Languages

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european day of languages

As today is European Day of Languages, what better time to let people know of some of the fantastic services offered by the University’s English Language Support Service.

The English Language Support Service offers a range of high quality English language support to home and international students who are already studying at university, as well as to international students who wish to study at Loughborough University. They offer a broad range of workshops throughout term time, as well as online courses and support available via the Library’s own ‘Get the Know How: Skills to Succeed’ Learn module LBA001.

The European Day of Languages is the result of the success of the European Year of Languages hosted in 2001, jointly organised by the Council of Europe and the European Union, was successful in involving millions of people across 45 participating countries. Its activities celebrated linguistic diversity in Europe and promoted language learning. The Council of Europe subsequently declared a European Day of Languages to be celebrated on 26th of September each year.

The general objectives of the European Day of Languages are:

  • Alerting the public to the importance of language learning and diversifying the range of languages learnt in order to increase plurilingualism and intercultural understanding.
  • Promoting the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe, which must be preserved and fostered.
  • Encouraging lifelong language learning in and out of school, whether for study purposes, for professional needs, for purposes of mobility or for pleasure and exchanges.

To find out more, visit the campaign’s website here.

Talk Action at the Martin Hall Theatre

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808Radar, the Unversity’s own arts programme, presents an evening of commissioned performances and films at the Martin Hall Theatre this Wednesday evening (27th March) which respond to research by the University’s Discourse and Rhetoric Group, which uses conversational analysis to examine how we communicate within our everyday lives.

Harvey Sacks, the American sociologist who is regarded as being the founder of conversation analysis was interested in looking at sequences of conversation and ‘tearing them apart in such a way as to find rules, techniques, procedures, methods, maxims that can be used to generate the orderly features we find in the conversations we examine’.  It is his interest in the technology of conversation that has led to an ongoing study of our social interactions within a range of everyday situations, a field for which Loughborough University has established an international reputation.

Cally Spooner, Gary Stevens and Imogen Stidworthy have been invited to respond to the work being undertaken by academics into discourse and rhetoric and develop new performances inspired by their investigations around speech and the verbal interplay between individuals.

The event begins at 7pm in the Martin Hall Theatre. Admission is free, but you will need to book a place online.

English Language Support Service Workshops

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The English Language Support Service is running a pair of free workshops over the next couple of weeks specifically aimed at Loughborough native English-speaking students.

The first workshop, Grammar & Punctuation, on Wednesday 23rd October and repeated on Wednesday 30th October, is aimed at students who wish to refresh their grammar and punctuation skills for academic writing purposes.

Secondly, on Thursday 24th October and repeated on Thursday 14th November, Coherence in Writing aims to help students review how to organise their writing logically, write coherent paragraphs and link their main points together effectively.

Please go to Learn module Get the Know-How LBA001 for more information about either course.

University Creative Writing Competition

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university creative writing competition

Would you like the chance to have your creative work printed and published in a brand new short story collection AND win some fantastic prizes into the bargain? Then the You is for University contest is for ‘you’!

Run by the Student Wordsmith website and aimed at universities, students and young people thinking of coming to university,  the competition is inviting new poetry, short prose fiction, or short dramatic piece on university life. All selected entrants will have their work featured in the collection and receive their own signed copy of it to see their work in print, and prizes will be awarded to the best overall entries.

The Student Wordsmith is an online creative, literary platform, for budding writers, set up by creative writing Postgraduate student, Sophie-Louise Hyde. This year, it aims to print, and publish, its first collaborative collection – providing students with help and advice on university life and what to expect of higher education.

The closing date for this competition is Friday 14th June 2013. For further entry details and terms & conditions, visit the Student Wordsmith site here.

If your creative writing juices are a bit clogged up, though, don’t forget that we have a large number of books on the subject offering helpful hints and advice down among our literature section on Level 2 that should help stir your creativity back into action.

Punctuation & Grammar Workshop for Native English Speaking Students

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There are still some places left for this afternoon’s session on Punctuation & Grammar at the James France Building.

This practical workshop is free and specifically aimed at native English-speaking students at Loughborough who wish to refresh their grammar and punctuation skills for academic writing purposes.

It starts at 2PM in James France Room CC109 and finishes at 4.30PM.

To book a place on this course, visit the following link on Learn. You can find the course details under Topic 12.

Get the Know-how LBA001