Nancy Stenson: Protesting Closure of Irish Linguistics Institute

[Elizabeth J. Pyatt]

To: Celtic-T at tc.umn.edu, celtling at lists.linguistlist.org
From: Nancy Stenson <stenson at tc.umn.edu>
Subject: Fwd: ITŠ

A friend and colleague in New Jersey is drafting 
a letter from American academics involved in 
Celtic languages and linguistics to protest the 
Irish government's plan to close down the Irish 
Linguistics Institute, and is looking for names 
to add to the letter, to be sent (very soon) to 
the Irish Times.  The text of the letter is 
below, along with the previous  letter he refers 
to in the first sentence.  If any list members 
would like to add their names to the letter, 
please let Brian know as soon as possible.  His 
e-mail address is brianeanna at yahoo.com.


>
>>A Chara,
>>
>>We, the undersigned, American university scholars with
>>a special interest in Celtic languages and
>>linguistics, wish to add our voices to those of
>>Suzanne Romaine, Bernard Spolsky, Miquel Strubell, and
>>Joshua Fishman in their letter of December 17th
>>deploring the decision of the the Minister for
>>Education and Science to close Institi™id
>>TeangeolaÌochta Šireann. This action effectively ends
>>Ireland's participation in international linguistics
>>and declares Irish linguistics as unworthy of
>>government support. Unless ITŠ be replaced there will
>>now no longer be any institution devoted to the study
>>of language in Ireland, whether Irish, English,
>>Ullans, or any other of the European and non-European
>>languages now spoken daily by immigrants all over
>>Ireland. It is doubly disgraceful that this decision
>>be made during Ireland's presidency of the European
>>Union, a time when the country should be defending and
>>strengthening language rights and minority language
>>scholarship at home and abroad.
>>Worst of all is the sheer abruptness of this decision.
>>ITŠ staff have been given virtually no notice and will
>>not be assisted by the government in seeking
>>reemployment elsewhere. Current projects - to which
>>some hundreds of thousands of Euros were committed -
>>will be simply abandoned and no measures have been
>>taken to preserve the institute's considerable
>>library. At the very least the institute should have
>>been wound down so as to give research staff a chance
>>to finish the work that Irish taxpayers have already
>>subvented.
>>We call on the Minister to reverse his decision or
>>announce that the institute be reformed along
>>different lines. If Ireland is genuinely committed to
>>multiculturalism in a quickly-centralising Europe, the
>>country should be supporting institutes devoted to the
>>promotion of such an ideal.
>>
>>Is sinne, le meas,
>>
>>Brian " Broin, William Paterson University, New Jersey
>>
>>------------------------------
>>
>>A leanas an litir a foilsÌodh san Irish Times ar an
>>17™ Nollaig:
>>
>>    Having heard of the intention of the Irish Ministry
>>of Education to close
>>    the Institi™id TeangeolaÌochta Šireann (ITŠ), four
>>of us sent the  following
>>    letter to the Irish Times where it was published on
>>17 December 2003:
>>
>>    Madam, - Issues of national language policy are
>>moving up the agenda of  all   European governments.
>>Whether it is concern with fluency and literacy in
>>stated languages, maintenance of minority languages,
>>learning foreign   languages, coping with the
>>languages of immigrants or a combination of 
>>these issues, the need for specialised national 
>>research and
>>monitoring centres  is   now universally recognised.
>>While many countries are consolidating,   developing
>>and integrating their research capacities in these
>>areas, the   Minister for Education and Science in
>>Ireland appears intent on moving in   the opposite
>>direction. The decision to discontinue funding for
>>Ireland's   national linguistics research institute,
>>Institi™id TeangeolaÌochta  Šireann   (ITŠ),
>>effectively forces its immediate closure. The team of
>>specialist   researchers and valuable databases
>>assembled after substantial state   investment will be
>>dispersed, and current programmes terminated in 
>>mid-stream. Even on crude cost-effectiveness
>>calculations this action, and  the manner of its
>>implementation, seems to us indefensible. The 
>>Irish language promotion enterprise has unique
>>characteristics and other  countries   have learned
>>valuable lessons from your efforts. The considerable
>>academic   interest internationally in the Irish
>>language maintenance effort in  recent   decades,
>>however, has arisen in large part from ITŠ's excellent
>>work. We   believe Institi™id TeangeolaÌochta Šireann
>>is an irreplaceable social,   educational, and
>>linguistic resource and its value in terms of 
>>its contribution nationally and internationally 
>>greatly
>>exceeds the modest   funding it has received. It would
>>be an extraordinary waste of resources  and   talent
>>to abandon its prestigious programme of research and
>>to disperse  its   academic staff.    - Yours, etc.,
>>    SUZANNE ROMAINE, Merton Professor of English
>>Language, University of
>>   Oxford
>>    BERNARD SPOLSKY, Professor Emeritus, Bar-Ilan
>>University, Israel
>>    MIQUEL STRUBELL, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya,
>>Barcelona
>>    JOSHUA FISHMAN, Professor Emeritus, Yeshiva
>>University, New York, US.
>>
>>
>>=====
>>Brian " Broin, Ph.D.
>>Dept. of English, William Paterson University, New Jersey, USA
>>
>>Linguistics - Medieval Studies - Irish Studies
>>TeangeolaÌocht-LÈann na Me·naoise-LÈann na hŠireann
>>
>>Contact/Teagmh·il: http://www.geocities.com/brianeanna/
>>
>>
>>__________________________________
>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes
>>http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus
>
>--
>Nancy Stenson
>Institute of Linguistics, ESL, and Slavic Languages and Literatures
>215 Nolte Center
>315 Pillsbury Drive, SE
>Minneapolis, MN 55455
>
>Phone: (612) 624-2529
>email:  stenson at tc.umn.edu


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