9.600, FYI: University of Maryland MAYFEST

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-9-600. Thu Apr 23 1998. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 9.600, FYI: University of Maryland MAYFEST

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=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Wed, 22 Apr 1998 13:54:06 -0400 (EDT)
From:  "K. K. Grohmann" <grohmann at wam.umd.edu>
Subject:  ANNOUNCEMENT: MARYLAND MAYFEST

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Wed, 22 Apr 1998 13:54:06 -0400 (EDT)
From:  "K. K. Grohmann" <grohmann at wam.umd.edu>
Subject:  ANNOUNCEMENT: MARYLAND MAYFEST

The Linguistics Department of the University of Maryland, College park is
  happy to announce this year's Mayfest. Everyone is welcome to attend.

	Please check out our web-site for updates.
	For any questions, contact the organizers:
	   Aitziber Atutxa (sener at wam.umd.edu)
       Juan Carlos Castillo (castillo at wam.umd.edu).


   ***********************************************************************
   ***********************************************************************
   **           Minority Languages in the Twenty-first Century:         **
   **                   Perspectives on Basque Language                 **
   **                                                                   **
   **                  ****May 20th to 21st, 1998****                   **
   **                                                                   **
   **           University of Maryland at College Park                  **
   ***********************************************************************
   ***********************************************************************


This year's Mayfest at the University of Maryland at College Park will be
dealing with the important issue of minority languages in the immediate
future, concentrating on the Basque case. From a purely linguistic point
of view it is obviously worth looking at this particular minority language
for its unrelated typological facts, which apart from being interesting in
themselves, provide us with crucial testing grounds for current linguistic
theories. More broadly, however, Basque constitutes an excellent example
of a language in danger of extinction, a risk faced by about ninety per
cent of the world's current languages. Apart from a scientific disaster,
the immediate prospect is a phenomenal socio-political tragedy.

The main goal of this year's Mayfest is to discuss these issues candidly
and realistically, with the intention to seriously delve into the present
reality of Basque and, starting there, to pose the question of what is
ahead. Representatives of various Basque institutions, including the
Autonomous Basque Government, linguists and computer scientists from the
private and public Basque universities, and the Basque Center for Language
Research have been invited to present their points of view, as well as
other various researchers in the US. Maya Honda, from Harvard University,
and Wayne O'Neal, from MIT have been invited as general commentators, and
to provide a broad perspective. The hope is that a face to face discussion
of an issue that concerns all linguists and many citizens of the world who
belong to a minority (most of us) will at least shed some light into what
the present situation really is, whether the relatively successful Basque
case (which includes a lot of serious theoretical work by linguists and
various computational implementations) can be extrapolated to other
communities.


        #######################################################
        ######  TENTATIVE SCHEDULE FOR THE MAYFEST 1998  ######
        #######################################################


First day, May 20th: TOPICS IN BASQUE SYNTAX AND PHONOLOGY

Confirmed talks by Pablo Albizu (University of the Basque Country), Jon
Ortiz de Urbina (University of Deusto), both members of the Basque Center
for Language Research, and Jose Ignacio Hualde (University of Illinois)


Second Day, May 21st:COMPUTATIONAL ISSUES PERTAINING TO BASQUE

Confirmed talks by Kepa Sarasola and Arantza Diaz de Ilarraza (University
of the Basque Country), Kutz Arrieta (Logos Co.) and Michael B. Kashket
(Morgan Stanley Dean Witter)


Third Day, May 22nd: SOCIO-POLITICAL CONCERNS

Confirmed talks by Benal Oyarcabal (University of Pau), Maya Honda
(Harvard University), Nicholas Gardner (Department of Education, Basque
Government) and Wayne O'Neal (MIT).



	YOU CAN CHECK OUT THE SCHEDULE AT OUR WEB-SITE:
  http://www.inform.umd.edu/Linguistics/events/mayfest.html


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