Welcome
(By Dr. Yinglin Ji on April 12, 2014)
Dear colleagues, dear distinguished guests,
It is with great pleasure and sincere gratitude that I accepted the invitation of serving as the founding director of the Research Centre for Language and Cognition (RCLC) at Shenzhen University. I am particularly grateful to the University and the government of Shenzhen City for their generous financial support in the establishment of this Centre.
As we are all aware, Shenzhen University (SZU) has undergone a rapid growth and expansion in the past three decades just like the city of Shenzhen, China’s most successful Special Economic Zone. In recent years, the University promotes her development by attracting world-class experts and excellent young researchers from overseas, with an aim of cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship in science and technology and supporting fundamental research in arts，humanities and social sciences. As the first specially appointed Professor in Linguistics, I feel greatly honoured to join the high-calibre research and teaching staff here. I have been studying and researching in applied linguistics and cognitive linguistics in the UK in the past ten years and I sincerely hope to make good use of this precious opportunity I was offered and contribute my expertise and wisdom to the growth of the Centre.
The University has made her commitment to support development of the Centre and she has announced the Centre as a University-level academic unit. At the same time, the University has great expectations for the Centre. Therefore, our vision is that in five years’ time the Centre will develop into an open research base for the study of language and cognition, attaining national or even international recognitions. In order to achieve this goal, the Centre has identified four core areas of research, which are, cognitive linguistics (all branches), psychological processes in language learning, universal versus language-specific influences in language acquisition, and the relationship between language and thought in general, respectively. The Centre also intends to nurture vigorous international exchange and cooperation. It aims to regularly organise seminars, workshops and summer schools at which invited distinguished scholars will give lectures on topics in the study of language and cognition. It is hoped that by sponsoring such academic activities we can make sure that we continuously stand at the cutting edge of language research.
I understand that this is an ambitious goal and five years is a short time to accomplish the mission. I therefore call for your kind support in various forms during the development of this Centre. Fortunately, the Centre has an advisory board, consisting of seven internationally renowned linguists, to guide its research activities. All advisors are leading figures in the fields of cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics and language acquisition. They possess expertise that covers the full scope of research to be conducted in the Centre. We thank them profoundly for agreeing to serve as advanced academic advisors of the Centre and oversee its development.
In closing, I hereby pledge that my colleagues and I will try our utmost to build the Centre. We are making research plans for it and developing strategies for its thriving. May I request you to give us your full support in any form needed and join us in praying that this Centre will be a success!
It is with great pleasure and sincere gratitude that I accepted the invitation of serving as the founding director of the Research Centre for Language and Cognition (RCLC) at Shenzhen University. I am particularly grateful to the University and the government of Shenzhen City for their generous financial support in the establishment of this Centre.
As we are all aware, Shenzhen University (SZU) has undergone a rapid growth and expansion in the past three decades just like the city of Shenzhen, China’s most successful Special Economic Zone. In recent years, the University promotes her development by attracting world-class experts and excellent young researchers from overseas, with an aim of cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship in science and technology and supporting fundamental research in arts，humanities and social sciences. As the first specially appointed Professor in Linguistics, I feel greatly honoured to join the high-calibre research and teaching staff here. I have been studying and researching in applied linguistics and cognitive linguistics in the UK in the past ten years and I sincerely hope to make good use of this precious opportunity I was offered and contribute my expertise and wisdom to the growth of the Centre.
The University has made her commitment to support development of the Centre and she has announced the Centre as a University-level academic unit. At the same time, the University has great expectations for the Centre. Therefore, our vision is that in five years’ time the Centre will develop into an open research base for the study of language and cognition, attaining national or even international recognitions. In order to achieve this goal, the Centre has identified four core areas of research, which are, cognitive linguistics (all branches), psychological processes in language learning, universal versus language-specific influences in language acquisition, and the relationship between language and thought in general, respectively. The Centre also intends to nurture vigorous international exchange and cooperation. It aims to regularly organise seminars, workshops and summer schools at which invited distinguished scholars will give lectures on topics in the study of language and cognition. It is hoped that by sponsoring such academic activities we can make sure that we continuously stand at the cutting edge of language research.
I understand that this is an ambitious goal and five years is a short time to accomplish the mission. I therefore call for your kind support in various forms during the development of this Centre. Fortunately, the Centre has an advisory board, consisting of seven internationally renowned linguists, to guide its research activities. All advisors are leading figures in the fields of cognitive linguistics, psycholinguistics and language acquisition. They possess expertise that covers the full scope of research to be conducted in the Centre. We thank them profoundly for agreeing to serve as advanced academic advisors of the Centre and oversee its development.
In closing, I hereby pledge that my colleagues and I will try our utmost to build the Centre. We are making research plans for it and developing strategies for its thriving. May I request you to give us your full support in any form needed and join us in praying that this Centre will be a success!