Call for abstracts: "orkshop on Minority Linguistics -- DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS 30 SEPTEMBER

[Scott McGinnis]

Call for abstracts

Deadline: September 30, 2001


Workshop "Minority Linguistics"

Paulilatino (Sardinia-Italy)
December 6-8, 2001


A workshop on "minority linguistics" will take place on December 6-8
2001, at Paulilatino (Sardinia-Italy). The purpose of the workshop is
to create a European network of scholars from different branches of
linguistics who are also speakers of lesser-used languages. The main
task of this "native-linguist" network would be that of stimulating
the autonomous development of new theoretical, sociolinguistic and
didactic instruments necessary for an effective policy of preservation
of non-dominant languages. The resulting approach to this issue would
offer an insider's point of view with respect to language
preservation, while favouring also a much closer contact between
linguists and non-dominant linguistic communities in Europe.

These purposes are largely complementary to those of existing European
organisations and programs, such as EBLUL and Mercator. The main
concern of the network of "native linguists" will be that of
stimulating and supporting the non-dominant linguistic communities in
Europe in the necessary development of a "view from below" with
respect to linguistic diversity, and the related technical tools. At
the same time, contacts with similar networks outside Europe will be
sought and stimulated. The creation and maintenance of such a network
of "native" linguists, involving European citizens who speak a lesser
used language, would require a regular exchange of insights, knowledge
and experience between the linguists involved, as well as between the
linguists and their linguistic communities. This exchange of
information can be achieved, on the one hand, by means of an Internet
site (that is, a virtual workshop for "native" linguists")
specifically addressed to the problems of non-dominant languages,
where these problems would be approached in general, as well as in
language-specific terms. On the other hand, the contact between native
linguists must take place by means of (actual) workshops to be held on
a yearly basis, where linguists can meet each other in the flesh and
exchange their opinions beyond the limits imposed by the "virtual"
restrictions of the Internet.

The workshop will last for 3 days.

"Native" and other linguists dedicated to the preservation of lesser-used
languages operating within Europe are invited to present papers on

   1.description;
   2.standardisation;
   3.the reproduction and promotion of non-dominant languages;
   4.multilingualism;
   5.the sociolinguistic situation typical of their languages.

The workshop will consist of the following parts:

     Description: broadening the empirical basis of the debate and
improving the description of non-dominant languages

The papers to be presented in this section should focus on the
practical and methodological problems related to the description of
insufficiently described languages, which have only recently been
standardised, or not at all.

     Standardisation: establishing from which point in the
variety-continuum linguistic diversity should be accepted. Is
standardisation always necessary?

In the existing and expanding context of multilingualism, non-dominant
languages can seriously compete with other languages by remaining
fundamentally the main medium to express a rather precisely defined
and concrete sort of identity.  This identity ought to respect and
reflect, in as far as this is practically achievable, the natural
dialectal diversity of a linguistic community.

     Reproduction and Promotion: educating people to accept their own
difference from others, while appreciating other people's diversity

The papers to be presented in this section should concentrate on the
fact that, in the present multilingual situation, one uses a
non-dominant language almost exclusively out of free choice. A
non-dominant language can be successfully taught only if it is
successfully promoted by teachers, parents and prominent members of
the community.

     Multilingualism: towards a definition of Multilingual Competence

The papers to be presented in this section should aim at defining
multilingualism in terms of linguistic competence, and at bridging the
gap between the mentalistic and the sociolinguistic approaches to
linguistics.

     Do we need a sociolinguistics of non-dominant languages?

The papers to be presented in this section should concentrate on the
way, if any, in which the sociolinguistic situation of non-dominant
linguistic communities differs and/or interacts with the surrounding
and more general sociolinguistic context.

Abstracts should be restricted to two pages, including examples and
references.  Two copies of abstracts should be submitted, one
anonymous, and one mentioning the author's name, affiliation, postal
address and e-mail address. The deadline for submission of abstracts:
September 30, 2001

Abstracts should be sent to:

Roberto Bolognesi
Department of Linguistics
University of Groningen
Oude Kijk in `t Jatstraat 26
9712 EK Groningen
The Netherlands

Abstracts in e-format and requests of information should be sent to

r.bolognesi at let.rug.nl

The papers will be published in the proceedings of the
workshop. Papers can be presented in English or in any other European
language.

For a more detailed description of the project and for the
registration form see at:

http://odur.let.rug.nl/~heeringa/minority/

The scientific board of the workshop is the following:

Durk Gorter (Frisian-University of Amsterdam/Frisian Academy/Mercator
Education)

Tjeerd de Graaf (Frisian-University of Groningen)

Xavier Fr¡as Conde (Galician-Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Patrick Sauzet (Occitan-Universit' Paris 8)

Giorgio Cadorini (Friulian-Univerzita Karlova of Prague)

Roberto Bolognesi (Sardinian-University of Groningen/Sardinian
Language Group)

Hristo Kyuchukov (Roma-University of San Francisco/Balkan Foundation
"Diversity")

Cenoz Iragui Jasone (Basque-University of the Basque Country)

George Jones (Welsh-Prifysgol Cymru / University of Wales)

Inma Lopez Silva (Galician/Universidad de Santiago de Compostela)