The potential for interconnectivity between the theories of three major scholars in linguistics and language studies was the focus of attention at a recent symposium organised by the Department of Chinese, Translation and Linguistics (CTL) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU).

The three academics were Professor Sydney M Lamb, Professor M.A.K. Halliday and Professor Ruqaiya Hasan. The title of the symposium, held on 1 November, was “Connecting Paths: Lamb, Halliday and Hasan”.

Professor Lamb is Arnold Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Cognitive Science, Rice University. Professor Halliday is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at the University of Sydney. Professor Hasan is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Macquarie University.

The Symposium highlighted the individual contributions of each of the three professors to linguistic theory and explored new paths for collaborative research.

(From left) Professor Jonathan Webster, Head of CTL, CityU, Professor Halliday, Professor Lamb, Professor Gregory Lee, Dean of College of Humanities and Social Sciences, CityU, Professor Hasan, Professor Huang Guowen, Dean of School of International Studies, Sun Yat-sen University and Professor Chang Chenguang, Dean of School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University attended the opening ceremony.

The second part of the symposium will take place at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, on 3 November.