Ist Call: 2nd Workshop on the Languages of Papua, Manokwari, 8-12 February 2010

[David Gil]

First Call for Abstracts

The 2nd Workshop on the Languages of Papua
MELANESIAN LANGUAGES ON THE EDGE OF ASIA:
PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

8-12 February 2010
Manokwari, Indonesia

***

This workshop will focus on the most linguistically diverse part of the 
world – Melanesia – which straddles countries of Southeast Asia and the 
Pacific. Melanesia contains around a fifth of the world’s 6,000 
languages in under 3% of its land area and less than 0.2% of its 
population.

These languages are astonishingly diverse, barely known to science, and 
face the threat of extinction without trace in the coming century unless 
concerted international efforts are made to meet the huge challenge of 
documenting them. This conference addresses the scientific issues raised 
by these languages. The scientific part of the program will cover the 
whole gamut of linguistic questions from phonology to syntax to typology 
to historical linguistics, as well as topics bordering musicology, 
anthropology and prehistory, plus papers on digital archiving, 
documentary linguistics, scientific infrastructure and the training of 
linguists from minority language groups.

Besides the scientific questions, the theoretical recognition of 
cultural and linguistic rights of minority groups in Indonesia, Timor 
Leste and Papua New Guinea faces enormous practical difficulties if it 
is to be realised, as national governments have indicated they wish, as 
education programs that allow children to receive part of their 
schooling in their mother-tongue.

The conference will run from Monday the 8th to Friday the 12th of 
February 2010, and will include a free day for an excursion and informal 
discussions on Wednesday the 10th. The conference will be followed by a 
one-day master class on Field Methods and Language Resources on Saturday 
the 13th of February.

Invited speakers include Linda Barwick, Steven Bird, Mark Donohue, 
Michael Dunn, Nikolaus Himmelmann, Steve Levinson, and Ger Reesink.

***

Submission of abstracts:

We are now issuing a general call for papers. Session length: 45 
minutes. If there is demand for a poster session we will also organise 
one. If you are interested in presenting, please send the following 
information, as an attachment, to
ManokwariPapuanConference at gmail.com:

Paper or poster?
Title
Abstract (max 200 words)

On a separate attachment please also send your name(s), institutional 
affiliations and contact details. Refereeing will be blind.

Deadline for receipt of abstracts:
14 August 2009, midnight Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).

Notification concerning the status of your application by:
14 September 2009.

***

Inquiries:
David Gil <gil AT eva.mpg.de>

Conference Website:
email.eva.mpg.de/~gil/wlp2/

Organisers:
Nick Evans (Australian National University)
David Gil (Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology)
Marian Klamer (Leiden University)
Yusuf Sawaki (Australian National University / Universitas Negeri Papua)
Wayan Arka (Australian National University / Universitas Udayana)

Acknowledgments:
This conference is being organised with the generous support of funds 
from Australia-Netherlands Research Collaboration (ANRC) as well as the 
Australian National University; the Max Planck Institute for 
Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig; the Max Planck Institute for 
Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen; Leiden University; and the Pusat 
Dokumentasi Bahasa-Bahasa Hampir Punah di Papua, Universitas Negeri 
Papua, Manokwari, Indonesia


-- 
David Gil

Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany

Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119
Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
Webpage:  http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/


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