RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS

DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH STUDIES AND MODERN
LANGUAGES
The newly established Department of French Studies and Modern Languages has already produced significant
research accomplishments, mostly through the research activities of the individual staff members, since, until
recently, the French Studies Programme constituted a section of the Department of Foreign Languages and
Literatures.
The research programmes and activities of the members of the Department cover a wide range of topics, which
can be subsumed into the broader disciplines of literature, linguistics and theory of literature and culture.
The research programme on the relationship between France and the wider Western European world, on the one
hand, and Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean, on the other, that has been undertaken in cooperation with the
University Lumière-Lyon 2 lasted ten years and resulted in three international conferences and three significant
publications by the Lyon University Press. An equally important programme focusing on poetic creation has been
launched in cooperation with the University Jean Moulin-Lyon 3.
Two years ago the Department hosted an international conference on Marguerite Yourcenar in cooperation with
the Société d’Etudes Yourcenariennes, whereas this year our Department organised a joint conference entitled
"Lands of Theory" with the Department of English Studies. In the area of linguistics, staff members have
organised, alone, or in cooperation with other institutions or departments, various sociolinguistic symposia
(Emprunts Linguistiques et Empreintes, etc.).
The research interests and activities of the members of the Department include French poetry and fiction, theatre,
cultural studies, sociolinguistics, the relationship between language and translation, literary theory, syntax, etc.
Yiannis Ioannou
Interim Chairperson
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