The international conference held at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University on September 12-14 was dedicated to Danish linguist Rasmus Rask and 200 years history of comparative and areal linguistics. After two successful conferences in 2015 and 2017, the conference “Ideology and Linguistic Ideas” was again held for the third time in 2019. Rector of TSU, George Sharvashidze, Head of the Department of the Official Language, Giorgi Alibegashvili, Georgian and foreign scientists attended the conference opening.
“The conference “Ideology and Linguistic Ideas” enables young scientists to present their own achievements. Linguistic theories are being evaluated from various angles at the international conference attended by scientists from various countries. Linguistics had been highly developed in Georgia and it is good that the tradition continues at Tbilisi State University,” Rector Sharvashidze said.
Giorgi Alibegashvili, head of the Department of the Official Language, said that the international conference is one of the important scientific events. “Such conferences help us have a deep look into Georgia’s historical past. Rasmus Rask visited Georgia in the most difficult period, the 19th century. Naturally, his works are extremely interesting to us. It is important that the conference has triggered such interest and feedback from European scientists,” Giorgi Alibegashvili noted.
200 years ago, when he had already written his famous work on Icelandic language, Rasmus Rask travelled to the East. He started from Petersburg and then arrived in Tbilisi. After that Rasmus Rask travelled to Persia, India and Ceylon. He wrote very important works on the authenticity of the Zend language and on the method of expressing the sounds of the Indian Languages in European characters. These works of Rasmus Rask created the strong basis for the historical-comparative linguistics. Due to this reason the conference is dedicated to Rasmus Rask and 200 years history of comparative and areal linguistics.
Professor Tinatin Bolkbadze of the Faculty of Humanities noted that the period of Rasmus Rask’s stay in Georgia was reflected in his research papers. “Tbilisi had always been a multilingual, multicultural city. Language change, mutual influence was clearly reflected in his articles. We will continue the cycle of these conferences, because ideology has a great influence, generally, on linguistics. Research of origin and development of linguistic ideas has always been the subject of interest for linguistic history,” she said.
The conference was organized by Giorgi Akhvlediani Society for the History of Linguistics, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Department of the Official Language, Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and St. Petersburg State University.
