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10. Forthcoming Meetings Minority Linguistics Paulilatino (Sardinia, Italy), Dec 6-8, 2001: Call for Papers A workshop on "minority linguistics" will take place on December 6-8 2001, at Paulilatino (Sardinia-Italy). The purpose of the workshop is to create a European network of scholars from different branches of linguistics who are also speakers of lesser-used languages. The main task of this "native-linguist" network would be that of stimulating the autonomous development of new theoretical, sociolinguistic and didactic instruments necessary for an effective policy of preservation of non-dominant languages. The resulting approach to this issue would offer an insider's point of view with respect to language preservation, while favouring also a much closer contact between linguists and non-dominant linguistic communities in Europe. These purposes are largely complementary to those of existing European organisations and programs, such as EBLUL and Mercator. The main concern of the network of "native linguists" will be that of stimulating and supporting the non-dominant linguistic communities in Europe in the necessary development of a "view from below" with respect to linguistic diversity, and the related technical tools. At the same time, contacts with similar networks outside Europe will be sought and stimulated. The creation and maintenance of such a network of "native" linguists, involving European citizens who speak a lesser used language, would require a regular exchange of insights, knowledge and experience between the linguists involved, as well as between the linguists and their linguistic communities. This exchange of information can be achieved, on the one hand, by means of an Internet site (that is, a virtual workshop for "native" linguists") specifically addressed to the problems of non-dominant languages, where these problems would be approached in general, as well as in language-specific terms. On the other hand, the contact between native linguists must take place by means of (actual) workshops to be held on a yearly basis, where linguists can meet each other in the flesh and exchange their opinions beyond the limits imposed by the "virtual" restrictions of the Internet. The workshop will last for 3 days. "Native" and other linguists dedicated to the preservation of lesser-used languages operating within Europe are invited to present papers on any of the parts below. Description: broadening the empirical basis of the debate and improving the description of non-dominant languages The papers to be presented in this section should focus on the practical and methodological problems related to the description of insufficiently described languages, which have only recently been standardised, or not at all. Standardisation: establishing from which point in the variety-continuum linguistic diversity should be accepted. Is standardisation always necessary? In the existing and expanding context of multilingualism, non-dominant languages can seriously compete with other languages by remaining fundamentally the main medium to express a rather precisely defined and concrete sort of identity. This identity ought to respect and reflect, in as far as this is practically achievable, the natural dialectal diversity of a linguistic community. Reproduction and Promotion: educating people to accept their own difference from others, while appreciating other people's diversity The papers to be presented in this section should concentrate on the fact that, in the present multilingual situation, one uses a non-dominant language almost exclusively out of free choice. A non-dominant language can be successfully taught only if it is successfully promoted by teachers, parents and prominent members of the community. Multilingualism: towards a definition of Multilingual Competence The papers to be presented in this section should aim at defining multilingualism in terms of linguistic competence, and at bridging the gap between the mentalistic and the sociolinguistic approaches to linguistics. Do we need a sociolinguistics of non-dominant languages? The papers to be presented in this section should concentrate on the way, if any, in which the sociolinguistic situation of non-dominant linguistic communities differs and/or interacts with the surrounding and more general sociolinguistic context. Abstracts should be restricted to two pages, including examples and references. Two copies of abstracts should be submitted, one anonymous, and one mentioning the author's name, affiliation, postal address and e-mail address. The deadline for submission of abstracts: September 30, 2001
Abstracts should be sent to: Abstracts in e-format and requests of information should be sent to r.bolognesi@let.rug.nl The papers will be published in the proceedings of the workshop. Papers can be presented in English or in any other European language. For a more detailed description of the project and for the registration form see at: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~heeringa/minority/
The scientific board of the workshop is the following: Workshop on multilingualism and language endangerment, Mannheim, Germany, 27 Feb - 1 Mar 2002 We are organising a workshop on the topic Multilingualism & language endangerment, to be held under the auspices of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Sprach-wissenschaft (German Linguistics Society) at its annual conference, 27.02.2002 to 01.03.2002, in Mannheim, Germany. See also the DGfS web site, http://www.dgfs-home.de (Jahrestagungen) for further information. The workshop will investigate the complex interrelationship between patterns of societal and individual multilingualism and the degree and type of endangerment of the community´s language. We intend the scope of the workshop to interpreted rather broadly at this stage, ranging from the languages of very small groups outside the industrial world to small minority languages within the sphere of influence of heavily dominant national languages in Europe and elsewhere. Presentations will normally be of half-hour length (20 minutes plus ten minutes discussion time). However, we intend to include provision for a small number of one-hour slots for presentations of exceptionally wide interest and high quality.
Abstract submissions should be Contributors will be notified by 31 August 2001 whether their submission was successful.
Dafydd Gibbon (U Bielefeld) The End of Babel? Symposium - 26 Sept 2001, U. Southampton to celebrate the European Day of Languages
Keynote Speakers will include: We in Britain have recently heard controversial claims surrounding the nature of multicultural Britain. Claims that have suggested everything from the implied degeneration, according to MP John Townend, of Britishness to that of a 'mongrel race', the insistence by Norman Tebbit that 'no multicultural society is a happy one' to the somewhat glib description by Robin Cook that we now live in a 'Chicken Tikka Masala Britain'. If explicit racism is indeed kept off the electioneering agenda over the next few weeks, the implications of racial harmony -- either in terms of the society we now are, or as regards the visitors we do or do not welcome, or in our attitudes to collaborating more closely with our continental neighbours - certainly will not be. One of the most obvious features of multicultural diversity is language diversity. And it is in response to the urgent need to link multicultural harmony with linguistic harmony that the European Commission has launched the European Year of Languages this year. As a European-wide initiative this is timely with the debates surrounding the increasingly over-burdened EU language policy of official recognition, and translation and interpretation services of all member states' national languages heightened by the imminent entry of yet more states with yet more languages. The tensions between the overwhelming use of English, the desire to maintain equality between member states' official languages, and the demands of so-called lesser-used languages of the minority linguistic communities should at the very least underlie the reasons why a consciousness-raising programme designed to promote the learning and teaching of languages and the promotion of linguistic diversity is so important. Moreover, the debate here in the UK has barely taken place. On the one hand our complacency towards any need to learn another language given the global dominance of English, and on the other a deafness to the existence here in Britain of large linguistic communities whose mother tongue is not English have led to the well-known scenario of negative attitudes towards learning languages amongst the British. It is of course a myth that languages are difficult to learn. It is also a dangerous myth to believe that knowing English is enough: the implications for linguistic imperialism and intolerance on the one hand, and the exclusion for the monolingual from the richness of linguistic awareness on another, are only two of the many reasons why this cannot be true. The European Year of Languages is encouraging member states to promote a range of activities to counteract such anxieties or prejudices towards language learning that may exist. In a unique response to this the City of Southampton has brought together the City Council, education establishments, businesses, community groups, social clubs and individuals to offer a programme of language challenges and language celebrations throughout this year. We have been rewarded with one of the four only grants awarded to a UK project. A highlight of the Southampton programme will be the day symposium The End of Babel? Which we will host to encourage academics, policy makers and community leaders to come together to debate the issues surrounding the promotion of multilingualism in a world that increasingly relies on English. Besides our keynote speakers who have expertise in a wide range of relevant issues and who all share a passionate interest in shaping national and transnational language policy, we will conclude the day with a colourful Round Table where the speakers will be joined by other panellists to discuss the theme of the symposium.
The symposium is completely free of charge but there are limited spaces and therefore please send for an application form by contacting Clare Mar-Molinero (cmm@lang.soton.ac.uk) or Sue Nash (llas@soton.ac.uk) who can also provide further information if necessary. Alternatively you can book on-line at:
http://www.lang.ltsn.ac.uk/ (With the support of the European Commission's European Year of the Languages initiatives. The information contained here does not necessarily reflect the position or the opinion of the European Commission.)
Clare Mar-Molinero Galicia: a Language, a People, Univ. Birmingham, 28-29 Sept 2001
Information and details can be found on http://www.bham.ac.uk/
Gabriel Rei-Doval
reidovag@hhs.bham.ac.uk Línguas Indígenas Brasileiras: Fonologia, Gramática e História, 8 a 12 de outubro de 2001, em Belêm do Pará
O Grupo de Trabalho de Línguas Indígenas da ANPOLL (Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Letras e Lingüística) realizará o encontro com objetivos:
· Dra. Yvonne de Freitas Leite (Associação Brasileira de Antropologia e CNPq)
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O encontro contará com a participação e colaboração de outros lingüistas estrangeiros que têm uma experiência e/ou uma viso crítica da pesquisa científica das línguas indígenas brasileiras:
· Dr. Wolf Dietrich (Universität Münster) Sero divulgados os resultados das pesquisas científicas apresentados e discutidos durante o encontro, assim como as conferências e o(s) documento(s) sobre política lingüística e outros que vierem a ser elaborados. Além de um volume de atas, que acolherá a maioria das comunicações científicas apresentadas, publicará-se- tambêm uma obra com os textos das conferências e com artigos significativos especialmente solicitados de pesquisadores nacionais e estrangeiros.
Propostas de temas para mesas redondas e sees de comunicaes deverão ser enviadas coordenao do encontro até 25 de maio de 2001, por meio de um dos seguintes endereços eletrónicos:
webmaster@gtli.locaweb.com.br
ou
asacc@amazon.com.br
A comissão organizadora: Speakers of Smaller Languages in the Big World: New Bulgarian University, Dept Modern & Applied Linguistics, Sofia, Bulgaria. October 26-28, 2001
Background:
Aims of the conference: Themes of the conference: Presentations addressing the following themes will be especially welcomed: Language Policy, Intercultural Communication, Foreign Language Teaching/ Learning, FL Teacher Education, Translation Theory and Practice, Multilingualism. Panel discussion: "Speakers of smaller languages in the big world" Educational activities: Classroom with no borders (participants will be provided with an opportunity to teach a lesson in their native language) Cultural activities: Cultural kaleidoscope (participants are invited to bring materials representing their local culture - video films, photos, and other cultural artifacts) Keynote speakers: 1. David Graddol (UK) 2. Georgeta Ciobanu (Romania) 3. Bogdan Mirchev (Bulgaria) 4. Heinrich Kelz (Germany)
Venue: Deadline for abstracts: July 30, 2001 Notification of acceptance: August 10, 2001 Selected papers of up to 3000 words will be published subsequently in a book. Authors should submit their presentations on hard copy and disc not later than November 10, 2001. Accommodation: Approximate price range of hotels: 30 - 50 leva for Bulgarian participants, 40 - 60 USD for foreign participants. A list of recommended hotels will be available shortly.
Additional information as well as a registration form is available at http://www.nbu.bg/
For abstract submission or any further queries contact: Language-Society-History: the Balkans. Thessaloniki, 11-12 November 2001. The Centre for the Greek Language in collaboration with the Directorate of International Relations of the Greek Ministry of Education is organising this Conference within the context of The European Year of Languages (2001).
For more information contact the Organising Committee:
Prof. A.-F.Christidis achristi@lit.auth.gr fax: ++3031 459107 Languages of the Americas Workshop: Edmonton, March 22-24, 2002 From David Beck (dbeck@ualberta.ca) 13 Aug 2001: The seventh annual "Workshop on Structure and Constituency in the Languages of the Americas" (WSCLA-7) will take place at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, from March 22 to 24, 2002. The main goal of this workshop is to bring together linguists doing theoretical work on the indigenous languages of North, Central, and South America. Papers in all core areas of linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics) within any theoretical framework will be considered, but papers will be especially welcome which address the theme of this year's conference, "Convergence and Divergence: Language Variation within and across Language Families."
Theme From the point of view of the theoretical linguist, both types of variation represent challenges to the view of a language as a discrete and homogeneous grammatical system and raise a number of important questions. To what extent and over what parameters can linguistic systems vary and remain mutually intelligible -- hence qualifying as dialects of a single language? If languages can, as amply illustrated by the languages of the Americas, borrow a wide range of phonological and grammatical features from other languages, what are the restric- tions on this type of borrowing and how might these restrictions be related to the grammatical and typological properties of source and donor languages? And how do borrowed or innovative features created by dialectal variation interact with pre-existing features of the language, and what can this tell us about the nature of human language as a whole?
Invited speakers
The invited student speaker will be:
Following the tradition of the WSCLA, the final day of the workshop will be dedicated to linking research to work being done on language preservation and revitalization. This year the session will focus on incorporating linguistic knowledge into Native language curriculum. The invited speaker will be: Her talk will be followed by a roundtable discussion by all workshop participants.
Submissions Limited funds may be available to offset travel expenses for graduate students. Indicate if you wish to be considered for a travel subsidy. Abstracts should be sent by e-mail to wscla7@ualberta.ca or by snail mail to: Languages of the Americas Workshop, Dept. of Linguistics, Univ. of Alberta, 4-32 Assiniboia Hall, Edmonton, AB T6E 2G7, Canada. The deadline for abstracts to be received is Friday, January 11, 2002. The program will be announced in mid-February. ARCLING II: Archaeology & Linguistics of Australia: Canberra, Oct 1-4, 2002 National Museum of Australia, & Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The last decade has advanced our knowledge of Australian indigenous languages and the archaeological record, and has also seen an upsurge in hypotheses and controversies in prehistory, including linguistic prehistory. The time is ripe to assess the discoveries and theories, and to provide a forum for cross-fertilisation between Australian and world prehistory; and between the different disciplines which contribute to our overall understanding of prehistory. ARCLING II has been planned for 2002 to bring together archaeologists, linguists and others to record progress made and map out the challenges we now face. The first ARCLING conference was held in Darwin in 1991, bringing together leading archaeologists, linguists and anthropologists from Australia and overseas to share ideas and build foundations for an interdisciplinary approach to the prehistory of Australia, drawing on international work of a similar kind. This resulted in the publication of Archaeology and Linguistics: Aboriginal Australia in Global Perspective ed. Patrick McConvell & Nicholas Evans, published by Oxford University Press. We call for proposals for papers and for sessions for ARCLING II: details below.
Contact: Dr. Patrick McConvell, Convener, Planning Committee
Conference organisation
Papers, sessions and workshops If you wish to give a paper, please send a title and abstract to Patrick McConvell by November 5 2001. This should be a Word or RTF attachment to an email message of between 200 and 500 words. In the message, you may optionally specify if you wish the talk to be part of any of the thematic sessions already identified, and any equipment you will need for presentation. Talks will be 20 minutes long followed by 10 minutes question time. Notification of acceptance of papers will take place in December 2001.
Registration
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