<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">How about a Native language writers festival--annual or biennial--that would<div>1. show Native language speakers that their language has something to say to the world</div><div>2. show the rest of us the power of writing in Native languages (OK, admittedly in translation but if that's not a problem for French language writers why should it be a problem for Native language writers)</div><div>3. create an annual market/showcase for Native language writers.</div><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div>Gordon Bronitsky</div><div><br><div><div>On Dec 31, 2007, at 11:35 AM, Don Osborn wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div class="Section1"><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">Thanks for this - I'm afraid there may be too much truth to the humor here if there are not imaginative approaches to promoting substantive discussion of language issues. The fact that this coming year has the name "International Year of Languages" provides a platform or pretext for raising various important issues. Such as the state of language policy and planning.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">FYI, David Crystal has a short article entitled "What do we do with an International Year of Languages?" at<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.crystalreference.com/DC_articles/Langdeath20.pdf" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.crystalreference.com/DC_articles/Langdeath20.pdf</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>. It's the only serious consideration of IYL outside of the UN that I'm aware of, and seems to be a good basis for discussion.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">Dennis Baron's quip that "While the rest of the world lines up to support the U.N.'s International Languages Year, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad has announced that America’s participation remains problematic. …" is one of those that hides a truth but also could mislead the casual reader. The issues like linguistic diversity that are highlighted in IYL do not necessarily have broad support, and are even opposed, as Crystal mentions and members of this list are more than aware. The concept of linguistic diversity is misunderstood and/or dismissed by some outside of the US too. So raising the profile of IYL, language issues, and entities that work on them is a challenge as well as an opportunity.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">I'm actually wondering if one practical step might be to set up a kind of umbrella consortium framework of organizations concerned with language - sort of like the civil society group connected to WSIS. The idea would be to give a higher collective profile to the various entities working on various aspects of language and linguistic diversity. It would not probably be able to make any collective statements other than about the IYL in general and the activities of members. (Press releases or whatever mentioning the IYL)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">One notes that 2008 is also Year of the Potato, Year of Planet Earth and a couple of others, but the two named have central websites set up by organizations independent of the UN or UNESCO (but collaborating with them). An umbrella consortium (or however best to describe it) could host the a website on IYL for instance.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">Is there any interest or feedback on the concept?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); ">Don Osborn<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; color: rgb(31, 73, 125); "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: blue; border-left-width: 1.5pt; padding-top: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 4pt; "><div><div style="border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-width: initial; border-color: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(181, 196, 223); border-top-width: 1pt; padding-top: 3pt; padding-right: 0in; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; "><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; ">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; "><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:owner-lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">owner-lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>[<a href="mailto:owner-lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">mailto:owner-lgpolicy-list@ccat.sas.upenn.edu</a>]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>On Behalf Of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b>Dennis Baron<br><b>Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Sunday, December 30, 2007 2:26 AM<br><b>To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:web.of.language@expredir6.cites.uiuc.edu" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">web.of.language@expredir6.cites.uiuc.edu</a><br><b>Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>U.N. proclaims 2008 the International Year of Languages<o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">There's a new post on the <a href="www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage%0A" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">Web of Language</a>:<o:p></o:p></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div><div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">U.N. proclaims 2008 the International Year of Languages</span><o:p></o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div><div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">Insisting that everyone in the world should speak a language, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2008 the International Year of Languages. Matsuura Koichiro, director-general of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, will coordinate international efforts to stress the importance of languages and promote their study. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div></div><div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">To Matsuura, languages are essential both for individual identity and for peaceful coexistence. Language eradicates poverty and hunger. Literacy and education are useless without language to back them up. And language is instrumental in fighting “HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.” UNESCO underscores the connection between cultural diversity and linguistic diversity, and with only about a quarter of all languages are used in schools or in cyberspace, U.N. experts warn that up to half of the 7000 languages in the world are in danger of disappearing over the next few generations. . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div></div><div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">In conjunction with the International Year of Languages, UNESCO is encouraging government policies that support the use of first languages together with the learning of regional, national and international languages, to ensure that everyone can participate in a globalizing world. UNESCO also encourages everyone to “take a language to lunch” by learning additional languages, both big and small, and it sponsors the annual World Language Day, on Feb. 21, 2008, to celebrate everyone’s right to use their native tongue in all aspects of their daily lives and to honor the martyrs who have died to preserve their linguistic rights.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">While the rest of the world lines up to support the U.N.’s International Languages Year, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad has announced that America’s participation remains problematic. The Bush administration is claiming that languages were theories, not scientifically-proven facts, and the president himself recently affirmed his belief that God created English in just six days and promised to veto the use of federal funds to teach language evolution to impressionable children.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; ">Read the rest of this exciting post on <a href="www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage%0A" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">the Web of Language,</a><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div></div></div></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage</a></span></span><o:p></o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; ">and a happy New Year to all,<o:p></o:p></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">Dennis Baron</span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">Professor of English and Linguistics</span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">Department of English </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">University of Illinois </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">608 S. Wright St.</span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">Urbana, IL 61801 </span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">office: 217-244-0568</span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">fax: 217-333-4321</span></span><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><a href="http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); ">www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p> </o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: black; ">read the Web of Language:</span></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><a href="http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 9pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); ">www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><u><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); "><br><br></span></u><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><u><span style="font-size: 9pt; font-family: Helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 238); "><br><br></span></u><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: black; "><br><br></span><o:p></o:p></div></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div></div></div></div></div></span></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>