ELL: Re: RE: Asturian Language at the University

[Julia Sallabank]

Can't the university fight back legally, if the ban is unconstitutional? Has Spain signed the European Charter for Regional/Minority Languages?

Best of luck

Julia
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Toni Waho 
  To: endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au 
  Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 2:11 AM
  Subject: ELL: RE: Asturian Language at the University


  Xulio - the oppression continues.  The ban on teaching an endangered language must surely be an invitation by the authorities to stir the spirit of revolution.  As bad as the news is, thank you for informing us about the situation facing Asturian.  Toni Waho, Aotearoa (New Zealand).

   

  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au [mailto:owner-endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au]On Behalf Of Xulio Viejo Fernández
  Sent: Monday, 13 May 2002 23:39
  To: endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au
  Subject: ELL: Asturian Language at the University

   

  The Asturian language, a non official romance language spoken in NW
  Spain, is taught at the University of Oviedo (Asturias, Spain) from
  1984. These classes were the result of the statements on protection
  and teaching of the language included in Asturian autonomous laws, and
  have been continuously supported by the majority of the university
  community, as well as the students, who enrolled massively in spite of
  being optional, not compulsory courses.

  Last week, the Spanish Council of Universities notified the
  University of Oviedo the ban on offering these courses as part of its
  current studies, based on rather obscure political and administrative
  reasons. This ban (which contradicts the spirit of the Spanish
  Constitution and the Asturian autonomous law, as well as the
  democratically expressed will of the University itself and most of the
  teachers and students of the Faculty of Philology) is a harsh attack
  not only to the scientific study of the Asturian language, but a
  serious problem for the training of teachers of other educational
  levels. As a consequence, it seriously threatens the social survival
  of the language.

  Asturian is one of the world's endangered languages, according
  to the UNESCO Catalogue and the European Charter for Minority
  Languages, and is theoretically protected by both Asturian and Spanish
  laws.

  For more information, contact jviejo at correo.uniovi.es (Xulio Viejo
  Fernandez, Departament of Spanish Philology, University of
  Oviedo)



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/endangered-languages-l/attachments/20020514/6832618d/attachment.htm>