English
A summary of the news for February.
Positivity is the basic thought of a new project of the Mercator Research Centre. This Antillean project in Leeuwarden started this January with a preparatory phase. In this project, on request of the municipality of Leeuwarden, the bilingual development (Papiamentu and Dutch) of Antillean toddlers (2-4 years) in Leeuwarden will be researched. More social variables, like identity development and bond between child and caretaker will also be researched. Positivity is the key word because most of the news about Antilleans in the Netherlands is negative, mostly concerning criminal activities of adults.
The bilingual development of the toddlers will be reinforced by offering books and other materials to the children, by either the mother, or the playgroup teacher. The books are based on the “Tomke”-series (www.tomke.nl), which was developed to reinforce the child’s Frisian language development. The other materials that will be offered are simple games and a special web space for the Papiamentu and Dutch version of “Tomke”, which corresponds with the content of the book. Leeuwarden will host the pilot project, which will start September 2009. After the pilot, the project will also be started in other cities in the Netherlands (Rotterdam, Dordrecht, Den Helder), and on several Antillean islands (Bonaire, Curacao). The duration of the project per location is two years. Goals are to ameliorate the language development both in Dutch and Papiamentu and to ameliorate the bond between child and caretaker. An overall better image of Antilleans in the Dutch society is also an important goal, albeit hard to achieve and measure. For more information you can contact Nienke Boomstra, research assistant.
The Advisory Committee of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), brought on Wednesday 25 February a visit to the province of Fryslân in Ljouwert/Leeuwarden. During the visit Alex Riemersma, member of the Mercator Research Centre, has asked special attention for the report on Minimum Standards for Language Education in Regional or Minority Languages (2007). This report was drafted on request of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRAE) of the Council of Europe. The report has been adopted by the CLRAE in 2007, and has contributed to a greater extent to the decision adopted at the 1044th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies of the Council of Europe on 10 December 2008.
In his contribution to the hearing of the Advisory Committee Alex Riemersma underlined some points from the Congress’ recommendation to the Ministers of the Council of Europe, to wit the importance of minimum key provisions in terms of time investment, quality of teachers and of teaching materials, as well as the importance of continuity of education from pre-school through to secondary education.
He furthermore stressed, that for most students the RML as a target language in education actually has the position and the function of second language acquisition (L2). It is in particular in this perspective of the in between position of RMLs in education that an adapted version of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) can be of great value for the improving of the quality as well as for the continuity of education in regional or minority languages.
At present, many sound recordings on old records, cassette tapes and other media still remain hidden in private archives and places where the quality of preservation is not guaranteed.
In 2008 Tjeerd de Graaf, research fellow at the Mercator Research Centre, finished a project, which has been financially supported by the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library.
Within the framework of this project, a Russian-Dutch research group got access to several endangered sound collections, digitized and copied them on modern sound carriers, made a catalogue for the metadata available and published part of the material. In the collection the following languages are represented: Azerbaijan, Balochi, Chagatay, Chatror, Dari (Farsi-Kabuli), Enets, German, Kati, Kerek, Mendzon, Nenets, Nganasan, Parachi, Pashai, Pashto, Russian, Shugni, Tajik, Udeghe, Vaygali and Wakhi (Vakhan). The data in this digital sound archive provide information about the historical development of these languages and can be used for the purpose of language description, the study of folklore and ethnomusicology. This is in particular the case for many of the endangered minority languages. The information obtained will also be important for the development of teaching methods for representatives of the related ethnic groups and for the maintenance of their language and culture.
