FEL IV: EL & Literacy, Charlotte NC USA, 21-24 Sept. 2000
Nicholas Ostler
nostler at chibcha.demon.co.uk
Sat Jan 15 22:59:47 UTC 2000
Fourth International Conference
hosted by the
Foundation for Endangered Langauges
"Endangered Languages and Literacy"
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Charlotte, North Carolina, USA - 21-24 September 2000
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
When a language is endangered, it is because the community who
use it may cease to do so the foreseeable future. This is often
because new generations of the community are not acquiring the
language, or if they do, are not using it so much as speakers in
the past.
Literacy, the ability to read and write a written form of the
language, has often been viewed a necessary first step in
maintaining and promoting use of the language. The introduction
of literacy is predicated upon the development of an acceptable
written form of a language, a step considered by many essential
for:
- the creation of grammars, dictionaries, and teaching materials;
- the preservation of traditional oral literature in communities
where the younger generations lack the patience to learn the
texts orally.
However, efforts to develop a written language and instill
literacy may encounter cultural obstacles and have unforeseen
consequences. For example:
- the development of literacy may, over time, fundamentally alter
or interrupt the oral transmission of a community's knowledge
and beliefs;
- the members of the community may resist efforts to introduce
literacy due to cultural beliefs about, for example, the
spiritual or mystical nature of oral communication;
- the introduction of literacy may create divisions within the
community between the literate and the illiterate that
ultimately may have social or economic implications.
Even within communities that are receptive to the introduction of
literacy, the development of an acceptable written language may
pose challenges:
- there may be difficulties selecting one of several dialects
upon which to base the written language;
- there may be problems adapting existing alphabets, syllabaries
or other writing systems to the sound system of the language;
- the availability of typewriter or computer fonts may force
unacceptable compromises in the orthography for the language;
- the language may lack acceptable vocabulary or syntactic
structures to replace in the written language suprasegmental,
kinetic, and paralinguistic components of oral, face-to-face
communication.
Modern technologies, however, have brought additional choices to
endangered language communities. For example, with tape
recorders, compact disk recorders, video recorders, television,
radio, and computers, it possible to create "talking"
dictionaries, grammars and books, thereby eliminating the need
for a written language and literacy. But these technologies are
not without their own limitations:
- the costs of acquiring and maintaining desired technologies may
be prohibitive;
- the community may lack members with the expertise to employ the
desired technologies, or the resources to train members in the
technologies or hire outsiders;
- the community may not be willing to accept/use the chosen
technologies.
All these issues, and more, are relevant to our conference this
year.
The workshop will provide a forum for researchers and activists
working for the maintenance of indigenous languages that face an
uncertain future. (It is the fourth in a series of annual
workshops and conferences hosted by the Foundation for Endangered
Languages.)
The Foundation for Endangered Languages is a registered charity
in England and Wales. FEL conferences, besides being
opportunities to discuss the issues from a global viewpoint, are
working meetings of the Foundation, defining our overall policy
for future years. Participants at the conference therefore need
to be members of the Foundation. There are full facilities to
join on arrival, but all proposers are strongly urged to join as
soon as possible, and so take full part in the Foundation's
activities in the lead-up to the conference.
The dates will be 21-24 September 2000. In keeping with the
theme of this year's meeting, the workshop will take place near
the homeland of Sequoyah, the father of Cherokee literacy, at
University of North Carolina at Charlotte in the United States.
There will be a preliminary volume of proceedings distributed at
the Conference.
Presentations will last twenty minutes each, with a further ten
minutes for discussion. All presentations should be accessible
largely in English, but use of the languages of interest, for
quotation or exemplification, may well be appropriate.
Organizers:
Blair Rudes (chair) University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Nicholas Ostler Foundation for Endangered Languages, Bath,
England
Christopher Moseley BBC Monitoring Service
Karen Johnson-Weiner St. Lawrence University, Canton, New
York, USA
Hassan Ouzzate Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco
Programme Committee:
Margaret Allen, McKenna Brown, Karen Johnson-Weiner, Tony McEnery,
Eugene McKendry, Christopher Moseley, David Nash, Nicholas
Ostler, Hassan Ouzzate, Jon Reyhner, Mari Rhydwen, Blair Rudes,
Jane Simpson, Tasaku Tsunoda, Anthony Woodbury, Akira Yamamoto
ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
Abstracts should not exceed 500 words. They can be submitted in
one of two ways: hard copy or electronic submission. They
should be in English.
A) Hard copies (or faxes):
One copy should be sent to:
Blair A. Rudes
Department of English
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University City Boulevard
Charlotte, North Carolina 28223-0001
USA
FAX: 1-704-547-3961
TEL: 1-704-547-4230
This should have a clear short title, but should not bear
anything to identify the author(s).
On a separate sheet, please include the following information:
NAME : Names of the author(s)
TITLE: Title of the paper
EMAIL: Email address of the first author, if any
ADDR: Postal address of the first author
TEL: Telephone number of the first author, if any
FAX: Fax number of the first author, if any
The name of the first author will be used in all correspondence.
If possible, please also send an e-mail to Blair Rudes at
<BARudes at email.uncc.edu> informing him of the hard copy
submission. This is in case the hard copy does not reach its
destination. This e-mail should contain the information
specified in the section below.
B) Electronic submission:
Electronic submission should be in plain ascii text email message
giving the following details:
# NAME : Name of first author
# TITLE: Title of the paper
# EMAIL: E-mail address of the first author
# ADDR: Postal address of the first author
# TEL: Telephone number of the first author, if any
# FAX: Fax number of the first author
and in a separate section
# ABSTR: Abstract of the paper
IMPORTANT DATES
Abstract submission deadline March 21
Notification of Committee's decision April 21
Authors submit camera-ready text July 21
Conference Sept 21-24
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Nicholas Ostler
Linguacubun Ltd
"technology for the languages of the world"
Batheaston Villa, 172 Bailbrook Lane
Bath BA1 7AA England
+44-1225-85-2865 fax +44-1225-85-9258
nostler at chibcha.demon.co.uk
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