FEL XII Proceedings: Endangered Languages and Language Learning - new book

Tue Oct 7 21:58:47 UTC 2008

The Foundation for Endangered Languages held its twelfth conference in
Ljouwert (Leeuwarden), Friesland (NL) in September 2008, in
collaboration with the Fryske Akademy and MERCATOR. It concerned the
problems that arise for endangered languages in language learning.

A language is endangered if the rising generation, for whatever reason, 
is not learning to use it.  That is the essence of language 
endangerment. Language learning is therefore, in the most immediate 
sense, the central mechanism in any remedy.

The topic includes both informal, sometimes almost unnoticed, 
acquisition of languages, and formal language instruction in the school 
system or outside it. Transmission may need to occur in small isolated 
communities, or (more perilously) among minorities within a larger 
social world that speaks another language. Where language teaching is an 
established facility, but outside school, this may be in nursery 
facilities, organized clubs, or -- most recently, through distance 
learning, each with its own distinctive problems.

What innovations are possible, given that the teaching and learning of
languages is something that has been practised for millennia?

The proceedings of the conference are now available, entitled "Endangered
Languages and Language  Learning", edited by Tjeerd de Graaf, Nicholas
Ostler and Reinier Salverda. (ISBN 9780956021007)

It is an 237-page volume, and the contents look like this:

Index of Authors

  Map of Language Locations by Page Number

  Index of Languages

Tjeerd de Graaf, Nicholas Ostler and Reinier Salverda

  Preface: Endangered Languages and Language Learning

KEYNOTE 1

Alastair Walker How Can Academic Institutions Help Support an

  Endangered Language? The Case of North Frisian

SECTION 1 LEARNING THE DETAILS

Pamela Innes Gaps in Linguistic Analyses and Their Ramifications for

  Teaching Endangered Languages

Ekaterina Gruzdeva Nivkh Syntax in Educational Perspective

Eric Hoekstra and Bouke Slofstra  How Majority Languages Influence Minority
Languages: the Linguistic Mechanisms and some Consequences

  For Language Maintenance through Education

Chryso Hadjidemetriou  Attempting to Document and Revitalise Kormakiti
Maronite Arabic

SECTION 2 DIFFERENT APPROACHES IN THE CLASSROOM

Lily Okalani Kahn Developing New Yiddish Pedagogical Resources

Hashem Ahmadzadeh Difficulties of Teaching Kurdish in a European University

Racquel-Maria Yamada Integrating Documentation and Formal Teaching of
Kari'nja: Design and Use of Teaching materials based on documentary
materials

Yoshiyuki Asahi Endangered Languages and Japanese Language Education in
Sakhalin

Olga Kazakevich Mother Tongue Classes at School in the context of Selkup,
Ket and Evenki Communities

KEYNOTE 2

Maya Khemlani David Language Policies - Impact on Language Maintenance and
Teaching. Focus on Malaysia, Singapore and The Philippines

SECTION 3 SCHOOL CONTEXTS - I

Roza Laptander Sociolinguistic Description of the Priuralskij County in 
the Yamal-Nenetskij Autonomous District

Picus Sizhi Ding Learning of Minority Languages in Yunnan, China

Leila Dodykhudoeva and Vladimir Ivanov Language Immersion in Endangered 
Pamiri Communities: Elicitation Strategies in Tutorial Work

SECTION 4 SCHOOL CONTEXTS - II

Paolo Coluzzi The Presence (or Absence) in Education of Minority and
Regional Languages in one European and one Asian Context

Dick Smakman and Cassandra Smith-Christmas  Gaelic Language Erosion and
Revitalisation on the Isle of Skye, Scotland

Yamina El Kirat El Allame  Bilingualism, Language Teaching, Language
Transmission and Language Endangerment: The Case of Amazigh in Morocco

Ljubov Radnaeva Language Policy, Endangered Language Research and 
Teaching Experience in the Russian Federation

SECTION 5 INNOVATIVE METHODS

Hindrik Sijens How Information and Communication Technology can Help

  Language Preservation and Education

Itziar Idiazabal, Estibaliz Amorrortu Mother Tongue, Language of Immersion.
What Can the School Do to Revitalize Minorized Languages?

Cecilia Odé Teaching Materials on Language Endangerment: An Interactive
E-learning Module on the Internet

Erich Kasten Preserving Endangered Languages of Local Speech Variants in
Kamchatka

Julia Sallabank Motivating Young People to Learn Endangered Languages

Eta Nikolaeva and Solveta Logina Winter Schools of the Latgalian Language
and Culture in Achinsk Pedagogical College (Krasnoyarsk Region, Russia)

KEYNOTE 3

Durk Gorter European Minority Languages: Endangered or Revived?

David Nathan and  Meili Fang Language Documentation and Pedagogy: Seeking
Outcomes and Accountability

SECTION 6 MULTILINGUALISM & DIASPORA

Marit Vamarasi Where There is no Teacher: Language Instruction in Diaspora

Olimpia Rasom Teaching in Multilingual Areas with a Minority
Language: Guidelines for a European Training Model

Mohana Nambiar and Subramaniam Govindasamy  The Learning of Endangered
Mother Tongue Languages of Minority, Immigrant Communities in Multilingual
Contexts: the Case of Malayalam in Malaysia

SESSION 7 POLICY OVERVIEW

Piet Hemminga  Some Remarks on the Implementation of the European Charter
for Regional or Minority Languages in the Netherlands

Iulen Urbiola Threats to Language Immersion in Endangered Language
Communities: the Case of Navarre

Mary Jane Norris and  Endangered Aboriginal Languages in Canada: Trends,
Patterns

Marianne Snider and Vincent Wintermans Prospects in Language
Learning:  UNESCO and Endangered Languages

Cor van der Meer and Alex Riemersma Mercator: Creating a Future for
Languages

  FEL Manifesto

*********

Copies are now available, at 20 pounds sterling ($40 US, 30 euro) apiece

(including surface postage and packing). For air-mail dispatch, please

add 7.50 pounds/$15.00/10 euro. Cheaper prices are available to FEL

members, but copies are already on their way to Full, Light, Honorary

and Corporate members.

You can pay by

- a cheque (in pounds sterling) payable to "Foundation for
Endangered Languages".

- a check (in US $) payable to "Nicholas Ostler".

- proof of having sent an equivalent sum in your own currency to the
bank account, "Foundation for Endangered Languages", Account no: 50073456,
The Cooperative Bank (Sort code: 08-90-02), 16 St.

Stephen's Street, Bristol BS1 1JR, England. (IBAN: GB86 CPBK 0890 0250 0734
56; and Bank Identification Code: CPBK GB22)

- or by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, EuroCard), enclosing Card number,
Expiry date (month | year), Name (as on card), and Address (as on card).

To expedite delivery, please send orders to me at the address below.

-- 
Nicholas Ostler
Chairman, Foundation for Endangered Languages
Registered Charity: England & Wales 1070616
172 Bailbrook Lane, Bath BA1 7AA, England
Phone: +44 (0)1225-852865 Mobile: (0)7720-889319
www.ogmios.org
nostler at chibcha.demon.co.uk