V Mercator International Symposium on Minority Languages

[Centre de documentació]

Dear collegue,

We would be very grateful if you could inform your subscribers about the forthcoming 




V Mercator Internacional  Symposium on Minority Languages
 
  “Linguistics Rights as a Social Inclusion Factor”

 

19 - 21 October 2006, Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), Barcelona

 

http://wwww.ciemen.org/mercator



Organizer: Mercator-Legislation, CIEMEN (Barcelona, Catalonia)

                                                                 Registration at: http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/simposis/2006ML/index2006en.htm


Overview
 
Europe has always been a multilingual land. This fact has been accentuated in recent decades by the steady arrival and settlement on the continent by non-Europeans who have brought their languages with them. The current linguistic reality in Europe is, therefore, richer and more complex than ever. The European Union -a political, economic and cultural work in progress which has as one of its goals to put into practice the democratic principle of uniting Europeans in respect for diversity- lives fully immersed in this reality. In the process of its construction, the European Union has to address issues as important as those related to immigration and the social inclusion of immigrants from other continents, who represent in many areas a significant percentage of the total population.
 
The languages spoken in the European Union today –those traditionally considered European and those brought with immigration– are one of the keys to making possible such "union in diversity" of all citizens, groups, communities, and peoples that live together in Europe. To encourage such harmony, we must ask ourselves which kind of multilingualism should the European Union put into practice now and in the future. At the same time, it raises the question of how the linguistic rights of immigrants and of receiving communities can be regulated and guaranteed and, more specifically, how the exercise of these rights could stimulate the social inclusion of newcomers who settle among minoritized linguistic communities that share their space with majority or dominant languages. 
 
 
Symposium
 
The V Mercator International Symposium will critically analyse the issues under consideration, taking as an indispensable departure point the respect for the rights of everyone, and will emphasize the role of language as a factor of inclusion in European Union societies with minoritized languages.
 
The Symposium will also present a series of practice cases for balancing individual rights and the collective rights of speakers of both the languages of immigration and the minoritized languages within the European Union. Moreover, it intends to gather proposals that encourage the social cohesion of the receiving communities while consolidating, at the same time, non-discriminatory linguistic diversity. In such proposals, emphasis will be placed on the legislative aspects that may contribute to the advancement of linguistic rights.     


If you need further information, do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you very much and keep up your good work!!

Cordially,

Oriol Ampuero
Mercator-Legislation Research Officer
cdoc at ciemen.cat
+34 93 444 38 00
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