The University of Macau officially established the Centre for Linguistics in early 2022, under the administration of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FAH). On the morning of March 24, FAH held an opening ceremony at the E21-G016 Lecture Hall, with the university leaders, off-campus guests, and related teachers and students attending this particularly meaningful event.

澳門大學於2022年年初正式成立了語言學研究中心，行政管理直屬人文學院。3月24日上午，人文學院在人文社科樓G016報告廳隆重舉行了揭牌儀式。校院領導、校外嘉賓以及相關師生出席了是項特別有意義的活動。

The opening ceremony began at 10 a.m. with Rector Song Yonghua delivering a speech amid warm applause. He expressed his heartfelt congratulations on the establishment of the Centre for Linguistics, and introduced to all the teachers, students and guests in the audience the historical background of the centre and the grand blueprint of its future development.

Rector Song noted that UM is proud to have a team of internationally well-known linguists. Among the various disciplines offered at FAH, UM’s linguistics subject has been ranked the highest in the QS World University Rankings by Subject. However, there is not an independent department for linguistics. The UM linguists are distributed in FAH, Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Education, and Faculty of Science and Technology, and most notably in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Department of English, Department of Portuguese, and the Centre for Japanese Studies of FAH. The establishment of the Centre for Linguistics therefore unites the interdisciplinary work of the UM linguists and actively promotes high-calibre cross-linguistic research, as well as providing an effective platform for the organisation of linguistics conferences and the publication of academic journals, monographs and series.

Intertwined in the multiple factors of history and reality, Macao is a small place where many languages ​​and cultures coexist. It is nicknamed “a living museum of multiculturalism” and “a natural laboratory of many languages”. The special historical encounters, geographical location, economic life and political ecology determine the harmonious coexistence of different languages ​​and cultures in Macao. Its natural multilingual and multicultural ecology and relatively closed geographical environment provide a rare and almost perfect classic example for the study of languages and cultures in contact, linguistic and cultural variation, and the mutual influence and integration of different languages ​​and cultures. These have developed into world-class research topics with profound theoretical significance and immensely practical values. With the joining of new colleagues such as Professor Yuan Yulin, we have high hopes for the future development of the Centre for Linguistics and the entire linguistics discipline of the University of Macau!

Subsequently, Rector Song, together with Prof. Xu Jie, Dean of FAH and Director of the Centre for Linguistics, Prof. Li Defeng, Associate Dean of FAH and Director of the Centre for the Studies of Translation, Interpreting and Cognition, Prof. Wang Qingjie, Associate Dean of FAH, Professor Yuan Yulin, and Prof. Andrew Moody, Associate Director of the Centre for Linguistics, officiated the plaque unveiling ceremony, amidst enthusiastic applause.

上午十時正，揭牌儀式開始。澳門大學校長宋永華講座教授在熱烈的掌聲中首先致辭。他對語言學研究中心的成立表示衷心祝賀，並向全體到會師生和嘉賓介紹了中心成立的來龍去脈和未來發展的宏偉藍圖。宋校長指出，我校有一大批在國際上享有盛譽的語言學家。我們的語言學長期以來都是人文學院各學科中國際排名最高的學科。但是我們沒有設立獨立的語言學系，我們的語言學家分散在人文學院、社會科學學院、教育學院和科技學院，尤其是人文學院的中國語言文學系、英文系、葡文系以及日本研究中心。現在成立這樣一個跨語種的研究中心就是要將分散於不同學術單位的語言學家團結起來，強強聯合，組織跨語種的課題合作，舉辦跨語種的學術會議，推動包括學術刊物和學術從書在內的跨語種的學術出版。交織於歷史和現實的多重因素中，彈丸之地的澳門通行著多種語言，並存著多種文化，素有“多元文化的鮮活博物館”和“多種語言的天然實驗室”之聲名。特殊的歷史際遇，特殊的地理位置，特殊的經濟生活以及特殊的政治生態決定了澳門特殊的多種語言多種文化和諧共存的狀況。澳門自然形成的多語多文化生態和相對封閉的地理環境恰到好處地為研究語言文化接觸、語言文化變異、不同的語言文化相互影響和相互融合提供了一個不可多得的、近乎完美的經典樣例，已經成為一個有著深邃的理論意義和重大的實踐價值的世界級研究課題群。隨著袁毓林教授等一批新同事的加盟，我們對語言學研究中心和澳門大學整個語言學科的未來發展更是寄予厚望！

隨後，宋永華校長偕同人文學院院長、語言學研究中心主任、中國語言文學系特聘教授徐杰，人文學院副院長、翻譯、傳譯與認知研究中心主任、英文系教授李德鳳、人文學院副院長、哲學與宗教學系特聘教授王慶節，中國語言文學系講座教授袁毓林以及語言學研究中心副主任、英文系副教授Andrew Moody一起為澳門大學語言學研究中心揭牌。現場掌聲雷動，氣氛熱烈。

Immediately following the unveiling ceremony was the signing of the agreement of cooperation between FAH (represented by Dean Xu) and the Macao Linguistics Society (represented by President Huang Yi) concerning the Macao Journal of Linguistics, a publication established in 1995 before Macao’s handover. Over the past 20 years or so, with the effort of Prof. Ching Cheung Fai, this journal has published a huge number of quality research papers that are impactful in the field of linguistics, earning for itself a decent business card within the field. After the agreement signing, FAH will be in charge of the publication of this biannual journal, in collaboration with the Macao Linguistics Society. It is expected that the journal will reach a new height in the future.

揭牌儀式之後隨即舉行了《澳門語言學刊》合作事務的簽約儀式。人文學院院長徐杰教授和澳門語言學會會長黃翊博士分別代表人文學院和澳門語言學會簽署了合作協定書。《澳門語言學刊》由澳門語言學會創辦於澳門回歸祖國之前的1995年。二十多年來，刊物在程祥徽先生等同仁的共同努力下，發表了一大批優秀的學術成果，在語言學界產生了良好影響，成為澳門語言學界的一張靚麗名片。此次簽約後，這份半年刊將由澳門大學人文學院主辦、澳門語言學會協辦。刊物將繼往開來，再攀高峰，值得各方期待！

Prof. Yuan Yulin, a renowned linguist and Chang Jiang Scholar (of China’s Ministry of Education), joined the Department of Chinese Language and Literature on a full-time basis on 1 March as Chair Professor. After the plaque unveiling ceremony and the agreement signing, Professor Yuan delivered his first academic lecture since he joined UM. The lecture, titled “Polarity in the Semantics of Adjectives and Relevant Syntactic Conditions”, was filled with thorough and fascinating analysis. The interaction between the speaker and the audience was lively, and the atmosphere was relaxing.

著名語言學家、長江學者特聘教授袁毓林先生剛剛于本月一日全職加盟澳門大學人文學院中國語言文學系，擔任講座教授。揭牌和簽約儀式後，袁教授以《形容詞的極性程度意義及其完句限制條件》為題做了其到任澳大後的首場學術講座。袁教授的講座深入淺出，引人入勝。現場互動熱烈，氛圍輕鬆愉快。

Assistant Dean Victoria Lei hosted the plaque unveiling ceremony and the agreement signing, whereas Assistant Dean Joaquim Kuong chaired Prof. Yuan’s lecture. Filled with the sincere wishes and ardent expectations of the university leaders, guests, teachers and students, UM’s Centre for Linguistics has made a perfect start, setting sail and marching calmly towards a more brilliant future!

人文學院的兩位助理院長李麗青教授和鄺耀基教授分別主持了揭牌與簽約儀式和袁教授的學術講座。至此，滿載著領導、嘉賓和師生們的誠摯祝福和殷切期望，澳門大學語言學研究中心完美開局，揚帆起航，從容信步邁向那更加輝煌的未來！