U.N. proclaims 2008 the International Year of Languages

[Gordon Bronitsky]

How about a Native language writers festival--annual or biennial--that  
would
1.  show Native language speakers that their language has something to  
say to the world
2.  show the rest of us the power of writing in Native languages (OK,  
admittedly in translation but if that's not a problem for French  
language writers why should it be a problem for Native language writers)
3.  create an annual market/showcase for Native language writers.

Gordon Bronitsky

On Dec 31, 2007, at 11:35 AM, Don Osborn wrote:

> Thanks for this - I'm afraid there may be too much truth to the  
> humor here if there are not imaginative approaches to promoting  
> substantive discussion of language issues. The fact that this coming  
> year has the name "International Year of Languages" provides a  
> platform or pretext for raising various important issues. Such as  
> the state of language policy and planning.
>
> FYI, David Crystal has a short article entitled "What do we do with  
> an International Year of Languages?" at http://www.crystalreference.com/DC_articles/Langdeath20.pdf 
>  . It's the only serious consideration of IYL outside of the UN that  
> I'm aware of, and seems to be a good basis for discussion.
>
> Dennis Baron's quip that "While the rest of the world lines up to  
> support the U.N.'s International Languages Year, U.S. ambassador to  
> the United Nations Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad has announced that America’s  
> participation remains problematic. …" is one of those that hides a  
> truth but also could mislead the casual reader. The issues like  
> linguistic diversity that are highlighted in IYL do not necessarily  
> have broad support, and are even opposed, as Crystal mentions and  
> members of this list are more than aware. The concept of linguistic  
> diversity is misunderstood and/or dismissed by some outside of the  
> US too. So raising the profile of IYL, language issues, and entities  
> that work on them is a challenge as well as an opportunity.
>
> I'm actually wondering if one practical step might be to set up a  
> kind of umbrella consortium framework of organizations concerned  
> with language - sort of like the civil society group connected to  
> WSIS. The idea would be to give a higher collective profile to the  
> various entities working on various aspects of language and  
> linguistic diversity. It would not probably be able to make any  
> collective statements other than about the IYL in general and the  
> activities of members.  (Press releases or whatever mentioning the  
> IYL)
>
> One notes that 2008 is also Year of the Potato, Year of Planet Earth  
> and a couple of others, but the two named have central websites set  
> up by organizations independent of the UN or UNESCO (but  
> collaborating with them). An umbrella consortium (or however best to  
> describe it) could host the a website on IYL for instance.
>
> Is there any interest or feedback on the concept?
>
> Don Osborn
>
>
> From: owner-lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu [mailto:owner-lgpolicy-list at ccat.sas.upenn.edu 
> ] On Behalf Of Dennis Baron
> Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 2:26 AM
> To: web.of.language at expredir6.cites.uiuc.edu
> Subject: U.N. proclaims 2008 the International Year of Languages
>
> There's a new post on the Web of Language:
>
> U.N. proclaims 2008 the International Year of Languages
>
> Insisting that everyone in the world should speak a language, the  
> United Nations General Assembly has declared 2008 the International  
> Year of Languages. Matsuura Koichiro, director-general of UNESCO,  
> the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural  
> Organization, will coordinate international efforts to stress the  
> importance of languages and promote their study. . . .
>
> To Matsuura, languages are essential both for individual identity  
> and for peaceful coexistence. Language eradicates poverty and  
> hunger. Literacy and education are useless without language to back  
> them up. And language is instrumental in fighting “HIV/AIDS, malaria  
> and other diseases.” UNESCO underscores the connection between  
> cultural diversity and linguistic diversity, and with only about a  
> quarter of all languages are used in schools or in cyberspace, U.N.  
> experts warn that up to half of the 7000 languages in the world are  
> in danger of disappearing over the next few generations. . . .
>
> In conjunction with the International Year of Languages, UNESCO is  
> encouraging government policies that support the use of first  
> languages together with the learning of regional, national and  
> international languages, to ensure that everyone can participate in  
> a globalizing world. UNESCO also encourages everyone to “take a  
> language to lunch” by learning additional languages, both big and  
> small, and it sponsors the annual World Language Day, on Feb. 21,  
> 2008, to celebrate everyone’s right to use their native tongue in  
> all aspects of their daily lives and to honor the martyrs who have  
> died to preserve their linguistic rights.
>
> While the rest of the world lines up to support the U.N.’s  
> International Languages Year, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations  
> Dr. Zalmay Khalilzad has announced that America’s participation  
> remains problematic. The Bush administration is claiming that  
> languages were theories, not scientifically-proven facts, and the  
> president himself recently affirmed his belief that God created  
> English in just six days and promised to veto the use of federal  
> funds to teach language evolution to impressionable children.
>
> Read the rest of this exciting post on the Web of Language,
>
> www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
> and a happy New Year to all,
>
>
> Dennis Baron
> Professor of English and Linguistics
> Department of English
> University of Illinois
> 608 S. Wright St.
> Urbana, IL 61801
>
> office: 217-244-0568
> fax: 217-333-4321
>
> www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron
>
> read the Web of Language:
> www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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