Mercator Network Newsletter 171

April 2021

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MSPI Citizens’ Committee wants EC's decision to be annulled

On 24 March 2021 the Citizens’ Committee of the Minority SafePack European Citizens’ Initiative (MSPI) filed at the General Court of the European Union a request for the annulment of the European Commission’s (EC) decision on the initiative. In January, the EC made it clear that they will not propose new laws in response to the MSPI, the petition demanding a protection package for national minorities that garnered 1.1 million signatures across the EU. The request for annulment was based on a careful legal examination of the Commission's response by the Citizens’ Committee, the Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN), the coordinator of the European signature collection campaign, and their legal representatives. To be continued...


	Braille alphabet to save Kashubian and Silesian 21-year-old computer science student Harris Mowbray from Washington DC (USA) has developed a series of braille alphabets for endangered scripts, among them Kashubian and Silesian. Using Polish braille as a starting platform, Mowbray then assigned values to new letters existing only in Kashubian and Silesian. He started in mid-January, and has since completed 50 alphabets in all, including those in Lakota, Livonian, Fulani, Osage, Yuchi and Lutsi languages. Read more


	Milestone for Valencian language rights After days of negotiations, the Valencian Parliament have approved a law of public function that incorporates the linguistic certification for the workers of the Valencian administration. This is considered a historic milestone in favor of language rights. The approval of the language competence has been accompanied during this week by the promotion of a non-law proposal in favor of audiovisual reciprocity between media companies IB3, À Punt and TV3. Read more


	INTERESTING LINKS




	EUROPE

● Voice recognition for languages spoken in Switzerland

● Court rejects special status for Russian in Moldova

● Doric: Scotland’s little-known fourth 'language'

● Spanish government maintains the imposition of Spanish with 61 rules in 2020

● Couple cannot have a Cornish language wedding

● Roma urged to declare their heritage and language on the Czech census

● 'Accommodation or rejection? Teenagers’ experiences of tensions between traditional and new speakers of Irish'

● UNESCO journal also available in Catalan

● 22 years ago, Mirandês became the second official Portuguese language

● Singer wins campaign to persuade Spotify to recognise Scots language for first time

Multilingual AR-game BABELAR for pupils 7-12 y/o

Looking for a fun multilingual interactive game to play? The game BabelAR is out now! The goal of BabelAR is to welcome multilingualism and show pupils the value of the language(s) they possess and to activate their language knowledge. The game is developed by the Erasmus+ project VirtuLApp, a consortium consisting of the Fryske Akademy/ Mercator European Research Centre (NL), ATiT (BE), Trinity College Dublin (IE), University of the Basque Country (ES), and LUCA School of Arts (BE). In the next weeks, VirtuLApp invites schools and teachers to download and play the game in the #BabelARchallenge and claim exciting rewards! You can download BabelAR for free, with Android or iOS.


	New project to preserve Russian languages The Federal Institute of Native Languages of the Peoples of the Russian Federation has announced an initiative to develop educational materials and revitalize indigenous languages in the Siberian republic of Yakutia. The project will consist of various digital training programs and interactive resources for teachers to use in the classroom. Read more


	3500 people gathered to save Breton languages Nearly 3,500 demonstrators gathered at the call of several Breton cultural associations and teaching networks, to defend the teaching of Breton languages, Breton and Gallo. The Diwan network in secondary education was threatened, in mid February, of losing teaching hours in Breton, dropping from three hours per week per class to three hours per level. Read more


	Short history of SLA



	Prof Rod Ellis on SLA: Where have we come from and where are we going?


Alsacien

How is Alsatian passed down to younger generations?


	New publication on Spanish as heritage language What are Floridians' attitudes towards Spanish as a heritage language in Florida? Find out in the new publication 'A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Study of Attitudes toward Spanish as a Heritage Language in Florida' by Ethan Kutlu (University of Florida) and Ruth Kircher (Mercator European Research Centre). Read more


	Endangered languages on Poznan Linguistic Meeting The 50th Poznan Linguistic Meeting (16-19 Sept) will host a special session, organised by the Foundation of Endangered Languages (FEL). Keynote speaker is Tjeerd de Graaf, research fellow at Mercator/ Fryske Akademy, who will present 'The use of historical data for the safeguarding of endangered languages'. Read more


	Journal Language Learning calls for proposals The journal of research in language studies, Language Learning, is inviting proposals for a 2023 special issue. They are looking for themes that will highlight work in areas of inquiry, theoretical approaches, and methodological tools in language learning which are underrepresented and/or represent cutting-edge developments in the wider interdisciplinary field of language learning. Read more


	Multilingual Museum shows Manchester's diversity By launching the online platform Multilingual Museum, the Manchester Museum partners with the university's research unit Multilingual Manchester to promote inclusion and accessibility and mobilise pride in the city's multilingual diversity. Manchester was approved as a UNESCO City of Literature in 2017. The project is still looking for volunteers to become a contributor translator. Read more


	INTERESTING LINKS




	WORLD

● Minority languages to be rolled out in schools [Botswana]

● $300K fund for indigenous and underrepresented musicians [Canada]

● Laz people's mission to save language from extinction [Turkey]

● UHAS researchers document medical terminologies in minority languages of Volta [Ghana]

● Uproar as SABC silences indigenous tongues [South Africa]

● Navajo goes extraterrestrial [United States]

● Lecture: Designing and using a bilingual writer corpus [World]

● Bilingual infants prefer baby talk [Canada]

● Global Voices collaborates with UNESCO on digital activism toolkit for promoting languages online


	Call for implementation of Irish language legislation Irish language speakers are being treated with "total disrespect" over the failure to introduce an Irish language Act, according to the Irish language body Conradh na Gaeilge (CnaG). The Irish language legislation, part of an agreement last year, should be implemented "without further delay". Read more


	Call for papers: Minority language media The conference 'Multi-platform and Connecting Communities: Contemporary Challenges for Minority Language Media' on 14-15 October 2021, organised by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI), is welcoming papers on themes related to minority language media. Abstract deadline: 30 April 2021. Read more


	INTERESTING EVENTS



	2021, NEW DATES T.B.A., Zurich (Switzerland) Symposium on Research Methods in Language Attitudes Organised by the University of Zurich 2021, NEW DATES T.B.A., Valetta (Malta) International Conference on Multilingualism and Multilingual Education 2020 (ICMME4) Organised by the University of Malta. 5-7 May 2021, Murcia (Spain) 13th International GLAT Congress: Le monde connecté et les approches interculturelles: vers un nouveau paradigme des frontières ? Organised by the University of Murcia 10 - 12 May 2021, Paris (France) Minority languages spoken or signed and inclusive spaces Organised by INSHEA. ONLINE: 12 May 2021, Basque Country (Spain) New technologies, minority languages and linguistic diversity Organised by the Erasmus+ project consortium VirtuLApp. ONLINE: 26 - 28 May 2021, Zadar (Croatia) New Contexts for the Use of Minoritized Languages/Varieties (NEWCON 2020) Organised by the Linguistics Department of the University of Zadar,the SOAS World Languages Institute, Mercator European Research Centre and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social and Language Documentation (CIDLes). 28 May 2021, Siegen (Germany) ENROPE multiplier event: Professional Identity Development for Beginning Junior Researchers Organised by by the ENROPE consortium, hosted by the University of Siegen. ONLINE: 10-11 June 2021, Groningen (Netherlands) TABU - International linguistics conference Organised by Center for Language and Cognition, University of Groningen. ONLINE: 9 - 11 June 2021, Brighton (United Kingdom) Approaches to Migration, Language & Identity 2021 Organised by University of Sussex. 28 June 2021 - 2 July 2021, Barcelona (Spain) ENROPE Intensive Study Week for young researchers in the field of Plurilingualism and Language Learning Organised by University Ramon Llull and the ENROPE consortium. 30 June 2021 - 3 July 2021, Barcelona (Spain) 30th Conference of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA) Organised by University of Barcelona/ EuroSLA. 5 - 8 July 2021, Athens (Greece) 14th Annual International Conference on Languages & Linguistics Hosted by the Athens Institute for Education and Research. ONLINE: 10 - 14 July 2021, Warsaw (Poland) International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB13) Organised by the University of Warsaw. 15 - 20 August 2021, Groningen (the Netherlands) AILA 2020: World Congress of Applied Linguistics Organised by the University of Groningen, Multilingual Matters and others. 6 - 8 September 2021, Graz (Austria) Language Teacher Psychology Conference 2021 (LTP) Organised by the University of Graz. 8 - 9 September 2021, Warsaw (Poland) Conference: Conventional and unconventional ways of transmitting and revitalizing minoritized languages: in European context and beyond Organised by the Institute of Slavic Studies at the Polish Academy of Science. 16 - 19 September 2021, Poznań (Poland) 50th Poznań Linguistic Meeting Organised by the Adam Mickiewicz University 14 - 15 October 2021, Flensburg (Germany) International conference: Multi-platform and Connecting Communities: Contemporary Challenges for Minority Language Media Deadline Call for Papers: 30 April 2021 Organised by the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI) UPDATE: 29 - 30 November 2021, Paris (France) 2nd International Symposium on Family Language Policy Deadline Call for Papers: 1 May 2021 Organised by the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (Inalco) ONLINE: 15 - 16 December 2021, Sydney (Australia) The Value of Languages in a Multilingual World Organised by Multilingualism Research Centre (MRC)/ Macquarie University


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Braille alphabet to save Kashubian and Silesian

Milestone for Valencian language rights

INTERESTING LINKS

EUROPE

New project to preserve Russian languages

3500 people gathered to save Breton languages

Short history of SLA

Alsacien

New publication on Spanish as heritage language

Endangered languages on Poznan Linguistic Meeting

Journal Language Learning calls for proposals

Multilingual Museum shows Manchester's diversity

INTERESTING LINKS

WORLD

Call for implementation of Irish language legislation

Call for papers: Minority language media

INTERESTING EVENTS