CFP: FEL XV Quito Ecuador, 7-10 September 2011: Endangered Languages, their Voices and Images

[Nicholas Ostler]

Call for Abstracts - FEL XV - the Fifteenth Conference of the Foundation for
Endangered Languages

*Endangered Languages - the Voices they Project, and the Images they Present
*
**Quito, Ecuador**

*7-10 September 2001*

Language endangerment is now accepted as an important issue of our times,
but it is sometimes misrepresented as a problem just for the speaker
communities, and not for the wider societies which surround and often
penetrate them. In this conference, we want to focus on the impacts that
minority languages make on those outside, whether deliberately – through
raising their voices – or implicitly, through the images that they give out
to outsiders. What messages do endangered languages send to the wider world?
These voices and images may play vital roles in the formation of language
attitudes. We are therefore asking questions of these kinds:

·       How have endangered language communities presented themselves, their
languages and their cultures? The audience could be outsiders, but it could
also be young, or returning, members of their own families.

·       What policies have outsiders used to characterize these communities,
across a whole spectrum of possibilities? These will include attempts to
vilify, stigmatize or even annihilate them, to seek to assimilate or recruit
them, to accept them passively, or even to see some special value in them?

·       What uses have endangered language communities made of others’
methods to protect themselves, or to enhance their standing?

·       How have endangered language speakers maintained or transformed, or
been alienated from, their traditions or identity?

·       What alliances have endangered language communities forged for
mutual protection?

·       How have attitudes to majority languages been affected by greater
interest in minority languages?

·       How have the techniques derived from majority-language culture, e.g.
for teaching, or for documentation, been used for endangered languages?

·       How have mass media (as radio, television), and modern networked
media (as mobile phones, the internet) affected the image of endangered
languages, or given them new voices? Linguistic and sociolinguistic analysis
of endangered languages

These are just some of the questions to be discussed in this conference,
which aims to learn lessons about the place of minority languages within
larger communities. We aim to create awareness about the current situation
of endangered languages among the speakers and non-speakers of such
languages. Our goal is to promote linguistic maintenance within a wide
variety of social contexts. There will be a place to discuss relevant
experience of the documentation of endangered languages as well as of
language revitalization.

Ecuador is well known for its  geographical, cultural and linguistic
diversity. Besides Spanish, it hosts thirteen indigenous languages, all
endangered. Quichua has around 1  million speakers in Ecuador, of 8 million
along the Andes. The indigenous languages are found on the coast, in the
highlands (Sierra) and on the Amazon - representing many of South America’s
linguistic families.

*IMPORTANT DATES:*

1.     *13 March, 2011*: Abstract submission deadline.

Abstracts (up to 500 words) to be sent in English or Spanish (or Quichua or
Shuar), as a Word document (.doc or .rtf formats). (Please include up to 5
key words or phrases.) Add author names, affiliation, postal address  and
telephone (of leading author).

2.     *10 April, 2011* : Notification of acceptance/rejection of paper.**

3.    *1 August, 2011*: In case of acceptance, the full paper (in Word)
will be due.

Note: It is a condition of speaking at the conference that authors submit a
hard copy of their paper by this deadline. (In Word and as a PDF; further
details on the format of text will be specified to the authors.) In the
course of the following month, PowerPoint presentations (if any) should be
submitted, together with a scanned picture of author.

4.     *September 7-9, 2011*:  Conference

5.     *September 10, 2011*:  Excursion to
Otavalo<http://www.otavalo.gov.ec/ <http://www.otavalo.gov.ec/>>,
<http://www.otavalovirtual.com/> <http://www.otavalovirtual.com/>)
This trip will
include a visit to the indigenous market, lakes, a sacred waterfall,  a
condor park, and perhaps a visit to local musicians.

(Later excursions may be planned: Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas (at least
one more day), and if there is interest, Galápagos Islands or the Selva
(jungle).



*IMPORTANT ADDRESSES:*

Electronic Addresses:
*All abstracts and papers should be sent as attachments to both*:

 <*endangeredlanguages2011 at gmail.com>* (Conference Chair)
andnicholas at ostler.net (Foundation Chair)

Postal Addresses and Telephones (if necessary):
**Conference Chair**

Dr Marleen Haboud,

Facultad de Comunicación, Lingüística y Literatura, Pontificia Universidad
Católica de Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador        tel. + 593 2 2991700


**Foundation Chair**

Dr Nicholas Ostler,

Foundation for Endangered Languages, 172 Bailbrook Lane, Bath, England BA1
7AA

(+44-1225-852865)

-- 
Nicholas Ostler
Chairman: Foundation for Endangered Languages
www.ogmios.org
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