27.4612, Confs: Sociolinguistics/Spain

Fri Nov 11 16:36:13 UTC 2016

LINGUIST List: Vol-27-4612. Fri Nov 11 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.4612, Confs: Sociolinguistics/Spain

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Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2016 11:36:05
From: Amélie Ponce [amelie.ponce at linguapax.org]
Subject: The Status of Languages: Does Official Recognition Matter?

The Status of Languages: Does Official Recognition Matter? 

Date: 24-Nov-2016 - 25-Nov-2016 
Location: Barcelona, Spain 
Contact: Amélie Ponce 
Contact Email: amelie.ponce at linguapax.org 
Meeting URL: http://www.linguapax.org/english/what-we-do/conference-the-status-of-languages 

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics 

Meeting Description: 

The regulation of languages in constitutional and legal norms, and the
implementation by public authorities and social actors of policies aimed at
safeguarding and promoting the use of languages in different areas is now a
world-wide phenomenon.

Most countries include language clauses in their constitutions. The concept of
official language is the most widely used in legal and constitutional texts
when regulating the status of languages, but this notion does not mean exactly
the same in the various legal and political contexts. Some countries choose
other formulae to lay down the legal status of the languages present in their
territory.

In accordance with Linguapax’s mission of preserving linguistic diversity as a
value to be promoted through different means, we intend to open the debate on
the contribution of the legal framework and resulting language policies to the
protection of local languages, in the light of the analysis of plural yet
comparable experiences.

Updating this debate is necessary due to developments in the regulation of
linguistic realities across the world, in the new forms adopted in language
policies, as well as in their theoretical study. It is oriented to examining
the foundations of public decisions concerning the status of languages and to
exploring the legal and political elements that influence their
materialisation or implementation, always with a view to identifying practical
solutions applicable to the protection of linguistic diversity.

For this reason, we shall analyse the experiences of countries that exemplify
this diversity across the world and that, from different perspectives, can
provide elements of interest in the debate focused on issues such as: How can
consensus in determining the status of languages be forged? What is the
meaning and content of the official or other legal status of languages
provided for in constitutions or legislation? What is the real or practical
impact of the official legal framework, or of the recognition of other forms
of status, on languages in shaping linguistic reality? What kind of
interaction or forms of collaboration between public authorities and social
actors can contribute to the objectives of language preservation? On the basis
of what principles, including those not provided by law, and through what
forms of intervention, are the linguistic policies of public authorities
expressed? What distance is there, if any, between the legal framework of
language protection and the practices of political and social actors involved
in the protection of languages, and what reasons may help to explain the
distance?

In order to obtain rich and accurate information and to be able to discuss the
implications of the different political and legal models and options, we shall
bring together legal experts, sociolinguists and activists from or familiar
with the following countries: Finland, India, Malta, Paraguay, Slovenia, South
Africa and Switzerland.

Program:

Thursday, November 24:

9:00-9:30:
Registration

9:30-10:00: 
Opening Session:
Agustí Colomines, director of the School of Public Administration of Catalonia
Ester Franquesa, director general of Language Policy of the Catalana
Governament
Mònica Pereña, president of Linguapax.

10:00 -11:00:
South Africa: 
Speaker: Matthias Brenzinger, director of CALDI - Centre for African Language
Diversity, Curator of TALA – The African Language Archive (University of Cape
Town). 
Discussant: Francesc Xavier Vila, director of the University Centre for
Sociolinguistics and Communication, UB.

11:00-11:30: Break

11:30 - 12:30:
Malta:
Speakers: Albert Borg and Thomas Pace,  National Council for the Maltese
Language. 
Moderator: Miquel Strubell, Sociolinguist and member of Linguapax.

12:30 - 13:30:
India:
Speaker: Ganesh Devy, Founder and director of the Bhasha Research and
Publication Centre, in Vadodara, and Adivasi Academy, in Tejgadh, Gujarat. 
Discussant: Elvira Riera, Head of Research and Publications to the Public
Administration School of Catalonia.

13:30-15:00: Break

15:00 - 16:00:
Finland:
Speaker: Markku Suksi, prof. Public Law, Åbo Akademi University.
Discussant: Eva Pons, Prof. Constitutional Law, University of Barcelona.

16:00 - 17:00:
Round table discussion “English, official language everywhere?'', with the
speakers of the day.
Moderator: Emili Boix. 

Friday, November 25:

9:30-10:30: 
Slovenia:
Speaker: Albina Nećak Lük, Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of
Ljubljana and Senior Researcher at the Institute for Educational Research. 
Discussant: Pere Comellas, Study Group on Endangered Languages (GELA),
University of Barcelona.

10:30-11:30:
Paraguay: 
Speaker: Miguel Ángel Verón Gómez, director of the Yvy Marãe’ỹ association and
former director of Language Planning of Paraguay. 
Discussant: Antoni Milian, Prof. Administrative Law, Autonomous University of
Barcelona.

11:30-12:00: Break

12:00-13:00: 
Switzerland:
Speaker: Nicolas Schmitt, Institute of Federalism, University of Fribourg.
Discussant: Emili Boix,  Prof. Catalan Language and Literature, University of
Barcelona.

13:00-13:30:
Conclusions:
Joan Ramon Solé, Language Policy Department, Catalan Government. 

13:30-16:00: Break

16:00 - 17:30:
Round table discussion “Linguistic diversity, new cultural expresssions and
emerging rights”. Open event. 
Moderated by Mònica Pereña, president of Linguapax. 
With Matthias Brenzinger, director of CALDI (University of Cape Town) and
Ganesh Devy, director of the Adivasi Academy in Tejgadh, Gujarat, who will
approach diversity from two different geolinguistic contexts; with Miquel
Strubell, as a member of the Scientific Committee of the Protocol to Ensure
Linguistic Rights, for the language policies and rights approach; and with
Eduard Miralles, president of INTERARTS foundation, from the standpoint of
cultural policies and laws.

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