27.4705, Calls: Anthrophological Linguistics, Language Documentation/India
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LINGUIST List: Vol-27-4705. Wed Nov 16 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.
Subject: 27.4705, Calls: Anthrophological Linguistics, Language Documentation/India
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Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2016 15:27:12
From: Ritesh Kumar [riteshkrjnu at Gmail.com]
Subject: 5th Endangered and Lesser-known Languages Conference
Full Title: 5th Endangered and Lesser-known Languages Conference
Short Title: ELKL-5
Date: 24-Feb-2017 - 26-Feb-2017
Location: Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
Contact Person: Sudhanshu Shekhar
Meeting Email: elklconference2017 at gmail.com
Web Site: https://sites.google.com/site/elkl5ranchi/home
Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics; Language Documentation
Call Deadline: 25-Nov-2016
Meeting Description:
Human Language is one of the most dynamic systems. It comprises the ecological
interaction from swathe of players. This interaction is under the threat of
endangerment and thus pushing the globe towards homogeneity. Every language is
a repository for the culture and worldview of its speakers. Its grammar and
lexicon store the shared experiences of past generations, and through this
channel, knowledge and beliefs of one generation are transmitted to the next.
It confers a sense of identity upon its native speakers. At present there are
at least 6000 living languages across the world. Of them, 330 languages have
more than one million speakers each and there are about 51 languages with only
one speaker each. David Crystal believes that only 4 % languages in the world
are spoken by 96 % of the total world human population and incidentally, only
4% of people speak the remaining 96% of the world languages. Gradually these
96 % of the world languages spoken by only 4% people are shifting, decaying or
dying out.
It is an admitted fact that a large number of the world's languages have
diminishing number of speakers and they are on the brink of falling silent. It
is a terrifying situation considering the fact that loss of languages will not
only make the world a more homogeneous and boring place but also a more
vulnerable place with our survival itself at stake. This may sound like an
overstatement to the whole lot of uninitiated beings on our planet but it is
not.
While the knowledge contained in the language is one of the most compelling
and oft-quoted reasons to ''save'' the diversity, it is not the only reason to
do it. Since long it has been argued that languages are one of the most
explicit and easier ways of understanding human brain and human beings itself.
Each language is capable of giving unique and exciting insights into the
complex and amazing ways human brain functions. Losing a language would entail
losing those brilliant insights into one of the most complex creations of
Nature.
In addition to this, language also gives a dignity, an identity to the human
life itself. Without one's own language to claim and fall back on, a major
part of anybody's identity is lost.
The policies, planning and language ideologies are instilled with a powerful
symbolism that is often linked to questions of identity, with the suppression
or failure to recognise and support a given endangered variety and the voices
and communities from the margins.
This conference hopes to ignite discussions and debates as to how and whether
the interfaces among policy, planning, scripts and language documentation can
affect the fortunes of endangered varieties.
Call for Papers:
One of the key components of studying endangered languages involve efforts
towards language revitalization. It has been argued that revitalization
involves development of an orthography for the vanishing voices. This empowers
and enhances its status and prestige as it provides a tool and a way to encode
and to set it down as a permanent record. In speech communities that are
fragmented dialectally or geographically, a common writing system may help
create a sense of unified identity. It can help to keep languages thriving by
facilitating teaching and learning. Amidst all these advantages the question
of creating orthography triggers many critical questions and this conferences
invites papers that debate the critical questions like
- Whose task should this be: that of the linguist or the speech community?
- Should an orthography be maximally distanciated from that of the language of
wider communication for ideological reasons, or should its main principles
coincide for reasons of learnability?
- Should alphabets be preferred to logographic systems? Which local variety
should be selected as the basis of a common script?
- Is a polynomic script preferable to a standardized orthography?
- Can developing an orthography actually create problems for existing native
speakers?
The politics of language makes the role of language policy imperative. For
negotiating power among different speech communities linguistic legislation
plays key role. Where varieties are endangered, language policy often takes
the form of specific ideologies that underlie language planning strategies. As
such, its goals may be specific and practical in nature, such as orthographic
reform, or more emblematic, such as measures for the promotion and protection
of vulnerable languages. This conference aims to explore how and whether the
interface between people, politics and language can affect the fortunes of the
endangered linguistic varieties involved.
Papers discussing original and unpublished research related to, but not
limited to, the above special themes are specially encouraged. In the light of
these discussions, submissions on lesser-known varieties of Hindi will also be
acceptable.
In addition to this, like previous editions of the conference, we solicit
papers discussing original and unpublished research related to, but not
limited to, the following general sub-themes and areas of research
- Description of Indian endangered and lesser-known languages - phonology,
morphology, syntax and semantics
- Typological, Areal and Historical Descriptions
- Language Documentation
- Dictionaries of Indian endangered languages
- Language Archiving - best practices and methods
- Folklore
- Oral Tradition
- Multilingualism, language shift, language maintenance and language death
- Language attitude and Language Revitalization
- Language policy, language planning and language endangerment
- Field reports
- Linguistic Human Rights
- Language and Education
- Ethical, legal and practical issues in language documentation of endangered
and lesser-known languages in India and their solution
- Biocultural and Linguistic Diversity of India
- Media and Language Endangerment
- Endangered Languages and Cultures in Jharkhand: The Road Ahead
- Scripts and Cognitive Sciences
Abstracts (written in English) of 750 - 1500 words (excluding references and
data) in pdf format is to be uploaded by 25 November, 2016 using the EasyChair
system at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=elkl5.
Abstracts should be completely anonymised and anything pointing to the
author(s) of the abstract should be completely removed.
Note: One author can submit a maximum of one single-authored and one
co-authored abstract. If an author is found to be author or co-author of more
than one single and co-authored abstract then all the abstracts will be
disqualified.
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