<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document>
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 9">
<meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 9">
<link rel=File-List href="cid:filelist.xml@01C1FB47.6B64C320">
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:DoNotRelyOnCSS/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:DocumentKind>DocumentEmail</w:DocumentKind>
<w:EnvelopeVis/>
<w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>6 pt</w:DrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
</w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;
mso-font-charset:0;
mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
mso-font-pitch:variable;
mso-font-signature:16792199 0 0 0 65791 0;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
p.MsoAutoSig, li.MsoAutoSig, div.MsoAutoSig
{margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;
mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
color:navy;}
@page Section1
{size:595.45pt 841.7pt;
margin:2.0cm 2.0cm 2.0cm 2.0cm;
mso-header-margin:36.0pt;
mso-footer-margin:36.0pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1027"/>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1"/>
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
</head>
<body bgcolor=white lang=EN-AU link=blue vlink=blue style='tab-interval:36.0pt'>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=EmailStyle17><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Xulio –
the oppression continues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The ban
on teaching an endangered language must surely be an invitation by the
authorities to stir the spirit of revolution.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>As bad as the news is, thank you for informing us about the
situation facing Asturian. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Toni
Waho, Aotearoa (New Zealand).<o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=EmailStyle17><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=black
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;color:black'>-----Original
Message-----<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>From:</span></b>
owner-endangered-languages-l@cleo.murdoch.edu.au
[mailto:owner-endangered-languages-l@cleo.murdoch.edu.au]<b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Xulio Viejo Fernández<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Monday, 13 May 2002 23:39<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> endangered-languages-l@cleo.murdoch.edu.au<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> ELL: Asturian Language at
the University</span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'><![if !supportEmptyParas]> <![endif]><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:
12.0pt;margin-left:36.0pt'><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>The Asturian language, a
non official romance language spoken in NW<br>
Spain, is taught at the University of Oviedo (Asturias, Spain) from<br>
1984. These classes were the result of the statements on protection<br>
and teaching of the language included in Asturian autonomous laws, and<br>
have been continuously supported by the majority of the university<br>
community, as well as the students, who enrolled massively in spite of<br>
being optional, not compulsory courses.<br>
<br>
Last week, the Spanish Council of Universities notified the<br>
University of Oviedo the ban on offering these courses as part of its<br>
current studies, based on rather obscure political and administrative<br>
reasons. This ban (which contradicts the spirit of the Spanish<br>
Constitution and the Asturian autonomous law, as well as the<br>
democratically expressed will of the University itself and most of the<br>
teachers and students of the Faculty of Philology) is a harsh attack<br>
not only to the scientific study of the Asturian language, but a<br>
serious problem for the training of teachers of other educational<br>
levels. As a consequence, it seriously threatens the social survival<br>
of the language.<br>
<br>
Asturian is one of the world's endangered languages, according<br>
to the UNESCO Catalogue and the European Charter for Minority<br>
Languages, and is theoretically protected by both Asturian and Spanish<br>
laws.<br>
<br>
For more information, contact <a href="mailto:jviejo@correo.uniovi.es">jviejo@correo.uniovi.es</a>
(Xulio Viejo<br>
Fernandez, Departament of Spanish Philology, University of<br>
Oviedo)<br style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
<![if !supportLineBreakNewLine]><br style='mso-special-character:line-break'>
<![endif]></span></font><font color=black><span style='color:black;mso-color-alt:
windowtext'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</body>
</html>