Language and the future of Europe

[Harold F. Schiffman]

An international conference on Language and the future of Europe:
ideologies, policies and practices
8-10 July 2004

Organising Institution: The Centre for Transnational Studies,
School of Modern Languages, University of Southampton, United Kingdom

Keynote speakers
Jan Blommaert, University of Ghent
Susan Gal, University of Chicago
Thomas Ricento, University of Texas

With the accession to the EU of ten new member states on 1 May 2004, the
process of social transformation within and across national boundaries
throughout Europe will be given a new impetus. At the same time, the
accelerated process of unification has renewed and heightened the tension
between national and supra-national interests. One of the most tangible
manifestations of this tension between the promotion of, and resistance
to, social, economic and political unification is in conflicting language
ideologies, policies and practices. At this decisive moment in
contemporary European history, the Centre for Transnational Studies at the
University of Southampton, UK, invites contributions to debates on these
issues at a conference to be held in Southampton on 8-10 July 2004.

The conference will give an opportunity to look behind political rhetoric
and consider both the attitudes that lie behind policy and the specific
practices with which effective policy must be compatible. It will also
consider the impact of European policies and practices on the wider world,
including the consequences of colonial and neo-colonial legacies. Papers
are invited on all aspects of this European theme, but proposals which
analyse the relationships between language ideologies, policies and
practices will be particularly welcome.

It is anticipated that selected papers will be published following the
conference.

Papers could focus on the following topics:

language rights
language and citizenship
international and global languages
the contest for domination of linguistic markets
discourses of ethnolinguistic and European identity
language and transnational relations
mobility, migration and linguistic identities
multilingual cities
official and working languages of the EU
national language policies
translation
language in education
regional and minority languages
regionalism versus globalisation
the negotiation of communities / the creation of publics

Please send proposals for papers by 31 January 2004 to lipp at soton.ac.uk
(preferably in Word or PDF). Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words,
with no more than essential references.

For further information, please contact a member of the organising
committee.

Organising committee
Christopher Brumfit, Professor of Language in Education
cjb1 at soton.ac.uk

Michael Kelly, Professor of French
mhk at soton.ac.uk

Clare Mar-Molinero, Reader in Reader in Spanish sociolinguistics
cmm at soton.ac.uk

Patrick Stevenson, Reader in German sociolinguistics
prs1 at soton.ac.uk




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Updated 24 March, 2003
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School of Modern Languages, University of Southampton
Telephone 023 8059 2256  email smlinfo at soton.ac.uk

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University of Southampton, 2003