[lg policy] Jamaica: Regional linguists to discuss language rights, policy

[Harold Schiffman]

Regional linguists to discuss language rights, policy

Sunday, January 02, 2011

THE international conference on language rights and policy in the
Creole-speaking Caribbean will take place in Jamaica on January 13 and
14.

Organised by the Jamaican Language Unit of the University of the West
Indies, Mona, the conference brings together professional linguists
and representatives of all language stakeholders, including
governments, and is the end point of a process to create a Charter on
Language Rights and Language Policy for the region. "This charter will
provide a truly regional process for resolving the language problems
of the Creole-speaking Caribbean," said a release from the university.

The governors general of St Lucia and Belize and the minister of
justice of Trinidad and Tobago are among those who will attend the
conference. The aim of the conference is to arrive at an agreement on
the final wording of the charter, with the proceedings including a
review of the developments on language policy and practice in the
region over the past 50 years. The conference concludes a public
session at which the charter will be presented and explained to the
citizens of the Creole-speaking Caribbean for signing. Civil society
groups around the region will be asked to sign on to the charter as a
means of raising public consciousness about the language rights of
Caribbean citizens.

"The importance of the conference is rooted in the fact that there are
multiple languages spoken in the Caribbean and there is no
Caribbean-wide consensus on how this region's linguistic complexity
should be handled," the release said. There are 35 Creole languages
spoken in the Caribbean. Alongside these languages are spoken some 15
indigenous languages, four European languages and perhaps a dozen
immigrant/heritage languages. Language debates and conflict abound
within almost every country within the region.

The draft charter to be considered at the conference is the product of
intense debate and discussion by a team of 30 international experts on
Caribbean languages and their roles in education, the law and culture.

Pull quote:

'The importance of the conference is rooted in the fact that there are
multiple languages spoken in the Caribbean and there is no
Caribbean-wide consensus on how this region's linguistic complexity
should be handled'


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/Regional-linguists-to-discuss-language-rights--policy_8263591#ixzz19zJdudal



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