The Bolkestein-Pinkster award was established by the Machtelt Bolkestein Foundation in 2009. The prize is awarded at the biennial International Colloquium on Latin Linguistics for clarity of exposition of contributions by starting researchers. The award is dedicated to the memory of the late Prof. Dr. Machtelt Bolkestein (1944-2001) and Prof. Dr. Harm Pinkster (1942-2021), who were colleagues at the department of Classics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and played a key role in organizing the first Colloquium in 1981. The prize consists of a diploma, € 500 and an invitation to a short plenary presentation at the next Colloquium.
Criteria
The criteria for the prize are the following:
- The candidate is in the initial stage of her/his academic career, working on a dissertation or having finished it recently. He/she participates in the Colloquium on Latin Linguistics for the first or second time;
- A conditio sine qua non is that the paper presented has a good quality, deals with linguistic problems of Latin in the period covered by the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae and demonstrates familiarity with relevant concepts and theories in contemporary linguistics;
- The candidate shows in her/his presentation that he/she is aware of the variety among the audience in terms of nationality, native language, and subdiscipline in Latin linguistics;
- Co-authored contributions will not be taken into consideration.
Procedure
The jury consists of four or five outstanding Latin linguists appointed by the Machtelt Bolkestein foundation. They will report during the closing session of the Colloquium. If they conclude that no presentation corresponds to the criteria mentioned above, there will be no winner.
Applicants for the prize have to indicate their interest when they submit their inscription for the Colloquium, together with the abstract of their paper;
There is twofold selection of candidates: the first is made on the basis of the abstracts sent in by candidates, and the second one on the presentations;
As a result of the first part of the selection, the Jury will make a shortlist of ten people. The shortlisted candidates will be asked to provide the full version of their paper a week before the conference.
Further questions about the prize or the procedure can be directed to Dr. Olga Spevak:
Former award laureates
The prize has been awarded seven times:
- Guillermo Salas Gimenéz (2022), The use of suscipio in support verb constructions: inchoativity and agentivity
- Guglielmo Inglese (2019), Basic valency orientation in Early and Classical Latin
- Stefan Höffler (2017), “I hereby confirm that …” — On the hitherto neglected use of the 1st person perfect indicative as a performative
- Fabienne Fatello (2015), Les emplois de quando dans l’histoire romaine de Tite-Live
- Eugenio Goria (2013), Towards a taxonomy of Latin cleft sentences
- David Stienaers (2011), Tense and discourse in Caesar’s De Bello Gallico
- Marie-Ange Julia (2009), Licet, un cas de grammaticalisation?
About Machtelt Bolkestein
Machtelt Bolkestein (1944-2001) was professor of Latin linguistics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. She contributed in a substantial way to the development of modern Latin linguistics as one of the first scholars who applied pragmatic concepts to the analysis of the Latin language (word order phenomena, anaphora, use of tenses). She approached language from a functional perspective and participated in the theoretical debate of Functional Grammar, which made her one of the rare Latinists appreciated outside their proper field. Her work, exemplary by a systematic use of theoretical concepts and a clear methodology, as well as her activity and enthusiasm, inspired both students and colleagues. She died prematurely, four months after the 11th colloquium on Latin linguistics that she organized in Amsterdam.
A complete bibliography of Machtelt Bolkestein can be found in A. M. Bolkestein et al. (eds.): Theory and description in Latin linguistics. Amsterdam 2002, 7-11. Her contribution to Latin linguistics is presented by H. Pinkster in Latin Linguistics in Machtelt’s way. Papers on Grammar IX.1, Roma 2005. See also R. Risselada, Bolkestein, Alide Machtelt in H. Stammerjohann (ed.), Lexicon grammaticorum: Who’s Who in the History of Worlds Linguistics, Tübingen 2009.
About the foundation
The Stichting Fonds Machtelt Bolkestein was established in 2001. The aim of the foundation is to strengthen the field of Latin Linguistics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and support a broad range of activities to build and extend the international network in which the department has always played an active role. Until his death in 2021, Harm Pinkster managed the foundation and the young researcher award. The board of the foundation is currently formed by board members Prof. Dr. Daan den Hengst, Prof. Dr. Kees Hengeveld and Dr. Fenne Pinkster.