17.601, FYI: Call for Submissions

[LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-17-601. Thu Feb 23 2006. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 17.601, FYI: Call for Submissions

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1)
Date: 22-Feb-2006
From: Pauline Edwards < pauline at fpcf.ca >
Subject: Call for Submissions for the Trafford FirstVoices Publishing Program 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:25:21
From: Pauline Edwards < pauline at fpcf.ca >
Subject: Call for Submissions for the Trafford FirstVoices Publishing Program 
 

The First People's Culural Foundation is now accepting submissions for the
Trafford FirstVoices Publishing Program 2006. Preference given to completed
manuscripts but all applications will receive full consideration. If you
are writing a book in your Indigenous language, apply now! See below for
details.

Publisher pledges $1.6 million for endangered languages  

Global effort needed to halt loss of priceless cultural knowledge 

(Victoria, Canada and Oxford, UK)    Over 6,500 indigenous languages around
the world are severely endangered, with the last few remaining native
speakers of many dialects dying each year. One publishing company is
pledging over $1.6 million to help in the global race to document and teach
these languages to youth. 

The United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO)
established International Mother Language Day in 1999 to promote and
celebrate mother tongues, the most powerful instruments of cultural
preservation. UNESCO's goal for the 2006 event is to bring awareness to
multilingual education and the role of languages in cyberspace. 

To advance this important global cause, Trafford Publishing is making a
donation to underwrite approximately $1,600,000 in publishing costs over
the next ten years. The programme will make available primers for school
children, dictionaries and local stories -- one book will be published in
each of 650 endangered languages. Trafford has already published primers in
10 Canadian aboriginal endangered languages.   

 ''When a native language dies out, we've lost forever our chance to learn
cultural truths,'' says Trafford CEO Bruce Batchelor. ''Philosophy,
lifestyle, science, healing -- all the nuances are tied up in the grammar,
vocabulary and way of speaking. It is a tragedy if a language that
encapsulates tens of thousands of years of a group's culture is lost
forever. It's like standing by watching the destruction of the ancient
library at Alexandria, without trying to put out the fire.'' 

Trafford's pledge was prompted by a request by Bothas Marinda of Namibia to
have a book published in the ''Khwedam'' native language of the Bushman of
the Kalahari. Peter Brand of First Peoples' Cultural Foundation, a Canadian
non-profit which has been helping Marinda, passed along the idea to
Batchelor who didn't want to limit this opportunity to only a few first
nations or tribes. 

 ''It is somewhat ironic that so many languages have been almost wiped out
because of 'modern' culture,'' notes Batchelor. ''and now we can use
innovations in publishing and technology to enable and empower locals to
document and then teach their languages.''  

Trafford Publishing is an innovative company which revolutionized the
publishing industry when it created a process known as 'on-demand
publishing' ten years ago. Now over 8,000 independent authors from over 100
countries publish their books with the company whose main offices are in
Victoria, Canada and Oxford, England. Books are printed 'on-demand' one at
a time to fill orders from bookstores and individuals, with most orders
placed over the Internet. By linking with distributors and print shops in
USA, Canada, Germany and England (with other countries to be added by the
end of 2006), Trafford's authors enjoy the world's most extensive on-demand
distribution network. 

Trafford will make this global printing and distribution capability
available to groups working to revitalize indigenous languages around the
world.  

First Peoples Cultural Foundation has created FirstVoices.com, a pioneering
language revitalization technology. Aboriginal groups from 5 continents are
using or preparing to use web-based dictionaries that hyperlink to pictures
and the sound of each word being pronounced. Brand's team can convert
standard PC keyboards for typing aboriginal characters which can be printed
on most laser or inkjet printers in the international Unicode font standard. 

Trafford Publishing (www.trafford.com) is a one of the world's most
prolific publishers, releasing over 3,000 new titles each year. It was the
first company in the world to offer 'on-demand publishing' services for
business, agencies and individuals. Trafford's services are now being used
by independent authors from over 105 countries. Its books are sold through
major distributors and retailers around the world, with printing done in
Canada, Germany, USA and UK. Trafford uses 'green' energy from solar, wind
and other alternative sources to power its own print shop, which uses
recycled paper. Some titles are also available as eBooks -- which use only
recycled electrons! 

FirstVoices.com is a set of web-based languages archiving and teaching
resources, developed by First Peoples' Cultural Foundation -- a
Canadian-based Indigenous non-profit society, based in British Columbia.
Recent exposure for FirstVoices.com at international conferences in Canada,
Japan and Botswana are raising the profile of the unique language tools,
originally developed for the 198 First Nations in BC. A recent invitation
to showcase FirstVoices.com at the second World Information Technology
Forum (WITFOR) in Gaborone, Botswana acknowledges the successful
development and implementation of a made-in-Canada technology solution
developed by Indigenous people, for Indigenous people. 

 Based on retail pricing applicable to the various currency zones,
Trafford's pledge is worth approximately $1,656,850 Canadian dollars or
$1,442,900 US or 1,207,600 euro or 876,850 UK pounds sterling. 

To request an information kit and application form, Indigenous language
teams are invited to contact the Trafford FirstVoices Publishing Program
coordinator Pauline Edwards. Email pauline at fpcf.ca. 

To arrange interviews, contact:  
Mary Lucas, publicity, Trafford Publishing, publicity at trafford.com   
Pauline Edwards, First Peoples' Cultural Foundation, pauline at fpcf.ca 



Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable





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LINGUIST List: Vol-17-601