The Faculty of Arts hosted the international conference TchéCaLex

Different aspects of space representation in linguistics were the main topic of the international linguistic conference TchéCaLex. It was organized by the Faculty of Arts of UWB in cooperation with Charles University, the University of Economics in Bratislava and the University of Laval, Canada.

Linguistic experts from 10 countries from around the world (France, Canada, Slovakia, Poland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and of course the Czech Republic) focused on the concept of space in linguistics between 22 and 24 May at the Faculty of Arts of the University of West Bohemia. The key topics included, for example, the analysis of the use of spatial adverbs in French, the study of exonyms in the Czech-Polish context, a semantic study of the constructions of very and très in the cities of Montreal, New York and Paris, and the comparison of linguistic representations in virtual worlds.

The first plenary lecture was given by Zuzana Puchovská (Comenius University in Bratislava). She analyzed the differences in the use of the spatial adverbs "here" (ici) and "there" (là) in contemporary French and presented how these adverbs function in different contexts in the French web corpus Araneum Francogallicum. She also pointed out the ways in which their usage is changing. The second plenary lecture was given by Vincent Collett (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Canada). This talk focused on demonstrative devices in Nakoda, a North American Indian language. The Canadian linguist presented his research on how the morphological characteristics of these devices change and how they affect the syntactic structures in the language.

Helena Horová (Faculty of Arts, UWB), Radka Mudrochová (Faculty of Arts, UWB; Faculty of Arts, CU) and Bruno Courbon from the University of Laval were in charge of the organization. The invitation to the opening ceremony was also accepted by Bruno Girardeau, Attaché for the French Language at the French Embassy, who contributed to the opening of the conference together with Petr Šimon, President of the French Alliance, and Lukáš Novotný, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts of UWB. Their presence highlighted the contribution of the conference to French-Czech relations and the promotion of the French language and Francophone culture.

The international participants also went on a tour of the city of Pilsen, which was organized by the International Office of UWB under the leadership of Romana Suchá. Overall, the TchéCaLex conference provided a valuable platform for discussion and exchange on the topic of language representation of space, both from an academic and intercultural perspective.