Call for papers: International Congress of Anthropological & Ethnological Sciences (symposium theme "Language Dynamics & Linguistic Diversity in Anthropological Perspective) - DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS 20 DECEMBER

[McGinnis, Scott]

XV ICAES - International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences
July 5th -12th, 2003, Florence, Italy
 
Symposium on
LANGUAGE DYNAMICS AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
July 5th -7th, 2003
 
 
It is our pleasure to let you know that a symposium on "Language Dynamics and Linguistic Diversity in Anthropological Perspective" will be held in Florence, Italy, July 5th -7th, 2003, under the auspices of the XV ICAES - International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences. This world congress is organized every five years and traditionally attempts to cover the most diverse important aspects of anthropological research including those related to human languages.
 
Objectives: The contemporary global processes of cultural and environmental disruption represent also a threat to linguistic diversity. Some forecasts indicate that more than half of the six thousand languages spoken today could disappear during this century. As the preservation of linguistic diversity along with that of species and cultures has become a major concern to many researchers of various backgrounds it is increasingly evident that the adoption of an integrated scientific perspective is needed to achieve this goal. Anthropology lends itself naturally to this kind of work because of its holistic and multidisciplinary perspective, which helps us to recognize interrelationships when they exist. Linguistic anthropologists have never considered language in isolation from the real world but have focused on the multifaceted relationships between language and both its natural and social environment, as well as the interaction of the various languages in contact situations. A broad understanding of language as an open system affected by outside forces allows interdisciplinary approaches to language dynamics and change, such as exploring the sociocultural correlates of language/dialect, contact, vitality or endangerment in the most diverse situations and regions.
 
Call for Papers: The symposium will address a wide range of cultural, social, political, economic and technological issues affecting language dynamics and change at a global scale in order to contribute to the definition of factors that sustain the vitality and maintenance of languages in their environment. Papers by anthropologically informed linguists and/or linguistically trained anthropologists that explore any aspect of broadly conceived language dynamics are welcomed; especially those that focus on cross-disciplinary questions such as the biological and sociocultural functions of linguistic diversity and other relevant themes of ecolinguistics, contact linguistics, cultural identity, language policies and linguistic rights.
The proceedings with the full accepted papers will be published after the conference by the organizers.
 
Proposals: Submissions should include the following information: Title of the paper; your particulars (initials and surname), your address, telephone number, e-mail address, and fax number, as well as the abstract of max 250 words. The abstract should briefly indicate the paper's aim, perspective and findings, and must be submitted and received before 20 December 2002 preferably by e-mail to the organizers of the symposium:
 
For further information:
 
Prof. Anita SUJOLDZIC					Dr. Vesna MUHVIC-DIMANOVSKI	
Member of IUAES Executive Committee			Head of Institute of Linguistics
Dept. for Linguistic and Sociocultural Research		Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
Institute of Anthropology					
Amruseva 8, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Ph: 385 1 4816903; Fax: 385 1 4813777
         e-mail: eaa at inantro.hr