Symposium in Memory of Nils Erik Enkvist on His 100th Birthday

The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters, in collaboration with Åbo Akademi University, is organizing a symposium in memory of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Society’s honorary member, Professor Nils-Erik Enkvist.

The full-day symposium will take place in Turku on Monday, September 22, 2025.

The event will highlight Enkvist’s significant contributions to language and literary studies through lectures addressing key research areas from his extensive scholarly work, including Old English and applied linguistics.

The symposium will take place at Åbo Akademi University, Arken building (auditorium Helikon, Tehtaankatu 2, Turku). The event will be conducted in Swedish and English.

The event is open to the public and does not require registration.

Programme:

10.00–10.05
Professor Urpo Nikanne, Åbo Akademi University: Welcome

10.20–10.30
Professor Mats Gyllenberg, Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters: Welcome

10.30–11.15
Professor Fred Karlsson: Den unge Nils Erik Enkvist — med hans egna ord och några av mina

11.15–11.40
Coffee

11.40–12.10
Professors Jan-Ola Östman & Tuija Virtanen-Ulfhielm: Nils Erik Enkvist – text linguist and so much more

12.10–12.40
Professor Roger Sell: Nils Erik Enkvist as a Literary Scholar

12.40–13.40
Lunch break

13.40–14.10
Professor Ulla Connor: Nils Erik Enkvist – his bilateral relationship with America

14.10–14.40
Professor Jocelyne Fernandez-Vest: Nils Erik Enkvist, an inspirational mentor from Stylistics to Impromptu Speech

14.40–15.10
Professor Martina Björklund: What’s in a book? Authors’ dedications and reader’s notes in Nils Erik Enkvist’s Russian books

15.10–15.40
Coffee

15.40–16.10
Professor Helena Lehečková: Prague Linguistic Circle: Inspiring and Inspired

16.10–16.40
Professor Jef Verschueren: Texts matter

16.40–17.10
Professor Brita Wårvik: From Style to Discourse – Nils Erik Enkvist and Historical Text Linguistics

17.10–17.30
FD Izabela Czerniak, Åbo Akademi University: Word order parameters – Influence by Proxy

17.30–17.45
Tuija Virtanen-Ulfhielm & Jan-Ola Östman: Closing Words