call for papers

[Andre Cramblit]

CALL FOR PAPERS: Past, present, and future: endangered languages and
linguistic
anthropology

Papers are invited for a 15-minute presentation at the American
Anthropological
Association?s 2005 Meeting, November 30 to December 4, Washington, D.C.

To be considered for the session, submit an abstract of 250 words or
less to
Tania Granadillo or Heidi Orcutt at taniag at email.arizona.edu or
horcutt at email.arizona.edu. Abstracts are due by March 11, 2005 at
midnight.

This session proposes to address the theme of this year?s conference,
Bringing
the Past into the Present, by examining the state of the world?s
endangered
languages and the role of linguistic anthropology in creating awareness
of the
value of these languages and in analyzing the past through which these
languages came to be endangered.  The lens of micro and macro analysis,
the
levels of individual and institutional, will be the filter through
which the
following questions are addressed:

1) Which particular historical processes intersected with global
processes to
create the current linguistic situation of the particular language
under study?

2) What drives the speakers not to pass on their languages?  An agentive
approach is desired, with an analysis that links individual to
institutional.
How are these individual choices a reflection of these more
encompassing of
circumstances?

3) Which of the following processes, or others, are relevant to the
linguistic
situation in question:

Globalization
Socioeconomic factors
Political factors
Language ideologies
Education
Religion
Constructions of identity, for example, nationalism or ethnicity

4) Based on the current situation, what is your assessment of the
language?s
future path or possible paths?  What factors will help to determine
those
paths?

5) What tools does linguistic anthropology offer for helping in efforts
to
revitalize languages?   What should be the future role of linguistic
anthropology in the study of endangered languages?