Reversing Language Shift: How to Reawaken a Language (UK, Sep 2010)

Tue May 25 20:12:12 UTC 2010

FEL XIV (the 14th Foundation for Endangered Languages conference), in  
Carmarthen, Wales, UK, 13-15 September 2010:

http://linguistlist.org/issues/21/21-1931.html

Full Title: Reversing Language Shift: How to Reawaken a Language Short  
Title: FEL XIV
Date: 13-Sep-2010 - 15-Sep-2010 Location: Carmarthen, Wales, United  
Kingdom Contact Person: Hywel Lewis Meeting Email: h.lewistrinity- 
cm.ac.uk Web Site: http://www.ogmios.org/conferences/2010/index.htm
Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Language Acquisition;  
Language Documentation; Sociolinguistics
Call Deadline: 30-Apr-2010
Meeting Description:
Language revitalisation requires the collaboration of a wide range of  
expertise. Institutional, political, and local support all play  
crucial roles, along with educationists and language planners. But how  
can these, working together, have practical effects in the daily  
language usage of ordinary people, and how can they achieve the goal  
of slowing down language erosion and revitalising language tradition?  
Abstracts are invited on all topics in language revitalisation and  
reversing language shift.

A language-relevant excursion is planned for the afternoon of 15  
September as well as cultural entertainment during the evenings of 13  
and 14 September. Carmarthen's nearest airport is Cardiff, 110 Km  
away. If direct flights to Cardiff are unavailable, try Bristol (175  
Km from Carmarthen) before any of the London airports.

The Carmarthen (Caerfyrddin - 'Castle Merlin') campus of University of  
Wales: Trinity Saint David is situated on the edge of a market town  
with a population of 13,500, most of them fluent Welsh-speakers. The  
town claims to be the oldest in Wales, with a mediaeval castle and a  
Roman amphitheatre. Carmarthen's name under Roman rule was Moridunum  
Demetarum ('Sea Fort of Dyfed', in British).
Trinity University College, Carmarthen and Saint David's University  
College, Lampeter, are merging, a process to be completed by September  
2010. Trinity University College is famous in Wales for promotion of  
bilingualism and bilingual teaching, recognised by the Welsh Assembly  
Government as a key provider of Welsh-medium higher education.

Call for Papers
Reversing Language Shift: How to Re-awaken a Language Tradition
University of Wales: Trinity Saint David, Carmarthen, Wales 13-15  
September, 2010
Language revitalisation is now receiving greater attention from  
academics, language planners, politicians, institutions and  
organisations worldwide. A step further than documentation, language  
revitalisation, supported by active policy, offers the possibility of  
reversing a shift that threatens over half of the world's languages.

Many take language vitality to be symbolic of national and cultural  
identity. In the Celtic regions, in particular, governments are taking  
a leading role in the struggle to reverse language shift by various  
efforts including attempts to increase the number of speakers of the  
respective languages.

Wales provides a good vantage point from which to consider prospects  
for reversing language shift. It has experience in gauging levels of  
political support at local, national and international levels. Census  
figures show an increase in the number of users of Welsh, especially  
amongst the younger generation, which can be attributed, like the  
language revival in Estonia, to the education system. However, some  
academics doubt whether such increases in speaker numbers lead to  
increased language fluency and use. While efforts to achieve the Welsh  
Assembly's goal of a "bilingual Wales" have led to demands for greater  
legislative powers and autonomy on linguistic issues, the constant net  
immigration into the traditional heartlands is steadily reducing the  
density of Welsh-speakers there.

Language revitalisation requires the collaboration of a wide range of  
expertise. Institutional, political, and local support all play  
crucial roles, along with educationists and language planners. But how  
can these, working together, have practical effects in the daily  
language usage of ordinary people, and how can they achieve the goal  
of slowing down language erosion and revitalising language tradition?

Abstracts are invited on all topics in language revitalisation and  
reversing language shift, such as the following: -The roles and  
influences of formal educational systems -The roles of political  
independence, campaigns for linguistic rights, and community attitudes  
-The role of different domains of language use: is there a 'best  
practice' in ordering their importance in language policy? -The roles  
of corpus planning, documentary linguistics, and technologies,  
especially the internet -Can there be a corpus standard without  
oppressive purism? If so, how else can a corpus standard be  
propagated? -Language change in/through revitalisation -Special  
problems in a multi-lingual and multi-cultural context -Whether  
strategies for reversing language shift in places like Wales can be  
applied where there are many minority languages -How to integrate  
monolingual immigrants into bilingual society

Other relevant issues might include these questions: -Is political  
independence crucial for ethnolinguistic vitality? -Are there useful  
links between the problem of reversing language shift where there is  
only a single minority language, and the problem where there is a host  
of small languages? -What role is there for technology in reversing  
language shift? -Are the benefits of bilingualism, cognitive and  
otherwise, still contested? -Is there an inescapable trend towards  
larger language units, and fewer languages? -If, as has been said, a  
shrinking language minority always lacks the will to stop shrinking,  
must attempts to save such a community focus on their will to save  
themselves?

Papers may focus on any endangered language situation in the world.  
The language of papers is English or Welsh. The content of all papers  
will be made accessible to those who lack Welsh.
Each presentation at the Conference will last twenty minutes, with a  
further ten minutes for discussion and questions and answers. Keynote  
lectures (by invitation only) will last forty-five minutes each.

Abstract submission: An abstract of up to 500 words should be  
submitted before 30 April, 2010. Abstracts received after this  
deadline will not be accepted.
The following information should also be provided on a separate page:  
NAME(S): Names of the author(s) TITLE: Title of the paper INSTITUTION:  
Institutional affiliation, if any E-MAIL: E-mail address of first  
author, if any ADDRESS: Postal address of the first author TEL:  
Telephone number of the first author, if any FAX: Fax number of the  
first author, if any.
Submit abstracts either by email or post:
1. E-mail Please send your abstract (with the other necessary details)  
via e-mail to both of the following addresses: h.lewistrinity-cm.ac.uk  
nostlerchibcha.demon.co.uk with the subject of the e-mail stating:  
"FEL Abstract: (last name of the author(s)): (title of paper)"
2. Post If you cannot submit by e-mail, please send your abstract and  
details on paper to the following address (to arrive by 30 April  
2010): FEL XIV Conference Administration Foundation for Endangered  
Languages 172 Bailbrook Lane Bath BA1 7AA United Kingdom
The name of the first author will be used in all correspondence.  
Writers will be informed once their abstracts have been accepted and  
will be required to submit their full papers for publication in the  
Proceedings by August 1st, 2010, together with their registration fee  
(to be announced soon).

Important Dates -Abstract arrival deadline: April 30, 2010 - 
Notification of acceptance of paper: May 31, 2010 -In case of  
acceptance, the full paper will be due by August 1st, 2010 It is a  
condition of speaking at the conference that authors will submit a  
hard copy of their paper by this deadline. (Further details on the  
format of text will be specified to the authors.) -Conference dates:  
September 13-15, 2010

Conference Chair: Dr Hywel Glyn Lewis Ysgol y Gymraeg ac Astudiaethau  
Dwyieithrwydd Prifysgol Cymru: Y Drindod Dewi Sant, Caerfyrddin, Cymru  
or School of Welsh and Bilingualism Studies University of Wales:  
Trinity Saint David Carmarthen SA31 3EP Wales, UK Tel. +44  
(0)1267-676680 e-mail: h.lewistrinity-cm.ac.uk
The Foundation for Endangered Languages is a non-profit membership  
organisation, registered as Charity 1070616 in England and Wales,  
founded in 1996. Its objective is to support, enable and assist the  
documentation, protection and promotion of endangered languages all  
over the world. The Foundation awards small grants for projects. It  
also publishes a newsletter, OGMIOS. It has hosted a conference every  
years since 1996, most recently in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain (2004),  
Stellenbosch, South Africa (2005), Mysore, India (2006), Kuala Lumpur,  
Malaysia, (2007), Ljouwert/Leeuwarden, Netherlands (2008) and Khorugh/ 
Khorog, Tajikistan (2009). The FEL conferences bring together experts,  
scholars and enthusiasts from all over the world. The Proceedings of  
FEL conferences are available as published volumes. For further  
information visit: www.ogmios.org

-- 
Damien Hall

University of York
Department of Language and Linguistic Science
Heslington
YORK
YO10 5DD
UK

Tel. (office) +44 (0)1904 432665
    (mobile) +44 (0)771 853 5634
Fax  +44 (0)1904 432673

http://www.york.ac.uk/res/aiseb

http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/lang/people/pages/hall.htm

Kúmateech Xávin/Later 'Tater
André Cramblit, Operations Director
Northern California Indian Development Council (NCIDC)
(http://www.ncidc.org) 707.445.8451

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