Mercator Network Newsletter 187

October 2022

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Northern Catalonian municipality taken to court for using Catalan

The French State is taking the Elna (French: Elne) City Council to court for allowing plenary sessions to be debated in Catalan. A few months ago, in April, the Northern Catalonian municipality became the first in France to allow the use of Catalan in plenary sessions. The prefect of the Eastern Pyrenees has now submitted a complaint and has taken the decision to the court with the argument that the only official language of the Republic is French. The mayor of Elna, Nicolas Garcia, tweeted: "We will go to trial and win! The Villa of Elna assigned before a judge, for having allowed the official acts to be read also in Catalan. Poor French Republican!"


	Avatar displays travel info in Dutch Sign Language Researchers from the University of Amsterdam, Radboud University, Hogeschool Utrecht and the Netherlands Sign Center have worked – together with the Accessibility Department of the Dutch Railways – on a system that displays broadcast messages in Dutch Sign Language by means of an avatar. There is now a first prototype. Read more


	New report on minority languages in Germany "While some minority or regional languages in Germany have received extra protection, more teacher training, increased instruction and more use of these languages in courts, administration and media are needed." A new evaluation report of the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is now online. Read more


	INTERESTING LINKS




	EUROPE

● TG4 to launch new Irish language children's channel

● Are linguistic rights declining in the EU?

● Second secondary Catalan immersion school of the Bressola association in Northern Catalonia (France) now open

● Oldest recordings (1927) of the three Frisian languages digitised

● Campaign to save Kashubian language gathers steam

● Latvian parliament endorses transition to Latvian as only instruction language in schools

● Three languages that are (still) spoken in Extremadura

● ‘Phenomenal’ ancient DNA data set provides clues to origin of farming and early languages

● Gaelic psalm singing: why the ancient tradition is in danger of disappearing

● Spanish government asks the European Parliament to allow the use of Catalan

● Georgia’s Armenians: learning Georgian, working in Russia

● Irish language: Plan for two more Irish language post-primaries

● Evolution of the Basque language, new learning methods and trends, at the Hiria Forum

● More and more children are learning the Gascon language

● ‘An Impossible Task’: Finland’s Katja Gauriloff on making ‘Je’vida,’ the first Skolt Sámi-Language Film

Mercator Multilingualism Lecture 2023 by Jean-Marc Dewaele

The Mercator European Research Centre is delighted to announce that this year's Mercator Multilingualism Lecture will be given by Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele (Birkbeck, University of London). On November 22, 2022, Dewaele will talk about 'Learners' experience of flow in foreign language classrooms'. The lecture will take place online (via Zoom), allowing anyone in the world to participate. Attendance is free.


	Soillse conference calls on Scottish decision-makers The Soillse conference held in Stornoway from 29-31 August 2022, released a conference statement: "(...) A renewed spirit of inclusive cooperation is a prerequisite for addressing the societal and demographic challenges of promoting and protecting Gaelic as a living language in our vernacular communities. (...)" Full statement


	Friulian Pac-Man directs kids to digital playground Frico-Man is the exclusive Friulian version of Pac-Man: kids (and grown-ups) could play this game in Udine (Italy) for one day. It was created to promote www.ghiti.it, a bilingual portal (Friulian-Italian), aiming to help children and parents discover Friulian using games, cartoons, videos and many other fun contents. Read more


	FCNM Opinions on North Macedonia & Slovenia The Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM) published new opinions on North Macedonia and Slovenia (pdf), with both compliments and recommendations. Read more


	DialogForumNorden against Danish border controls The association of national minorities and ethnic groups in the northern German states and Danish border region, DialogForumNorden, has presented a resolution on the issue of Danish border controls. Read more


	Aina: Catalan Alexa & Siri



	Alexa & Siri pave the way for Aina: the voice assistant in Catalan is now a reality


Course 22/23

CUSC-UB Sociolinguistics and Language Policy Seminars


	Free online conference on Multilingual Children Forum of Heritage Language Coalitions in Europe organises an online conference on November 11 and 12. This year's theme is: Multilingual Children and Multilingual Libraries: Cultivating Reading Habits in the Heritage Language. Attendance is free of charge. Read more


	Language-conscious teaching in primary school A new (Dutch) publication, 'Talenbewust lesgeven' ('Language-conscious teaching'), helps (future) teachers in primary education to get started with linguistic diversity in the classroom, in order to create the desired language learning environment. Read more


	INTERESTING LINKS




	WORLD

● Princess Kako attends national sign-language contest in person [Japan]

● 'Minority rights becoming real rights' [Zimbabwe]

● Mauritanians protest law requiring Arabic language lessons [Mauritania]

● Bernard Spolsky: internationally renowned language expert was an early advocate for te reo Māori [New Zealand]

● Government committed to advancing rights of minority groups [Ghana]

● Bac Giang promotes traditional cultural values of ethnic minority groups [Vietnam]

● Language challenges limit national potential [Australia]

● Language barriers to healthcare still steep for many Asian Americans [United States]

● English divide in Francophone West Africa

● Mexicans support indigenous language education [Mexico]


	Mercator Regional Dossier Highlights online Have you already seen our Regional Dossier Highlights? You can follow our Highlights on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter to get an overview of a minority language's status in education, the educational research on the language, and its prospects. Curious? Go check out our latest Highlight about Croatian language in education in Austria! Read more


	Minority Languages in the City: 16/17 March 2023 Save the date! On 16 & 17 March 2023, the Mercator European Research Centre, the Berlin Brandenburg Akademie der Wissenschaft, and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social and Language Documentation organise an international conference on 'Minority Languages in the City'. Keep an eye on the Mercator site for the Call for Papers! Read more

Langscape & Enrope Winter School 2023 – Call for Applications

The LANGSCAPE & ENROPE networks call for applications for participation in a one-week Winter School to be held at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany, from February 27th until March 3rd, 2023. The Winter School topic will be “Exploring plurilingual and multilingual teaching practices”. The event is part of a Blended Intensive Programme, funded by the European Union within the Erasmus+ Programme. Doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in the field of plurilingualism and education, and advanced MA-students with a relevant research project are warmly invited to submit their application. Applicants from partner universities in the BIP Project are elegible to receive financial support for travel and accommodation. Deadline: 28th October.


	INTERESTING EVENTS



	6-7 October 2022, Joensuu (Finland) International Conference on Multilingual Awareness and Multilingual Practices Organised by University of Eastern Finland 6-7 October 2022, Trento (Italy) Beyond Borders. German-speaking Minorities in Italy and around the World Organised by University of Trento, Department of Humanities 19-21 October 2022, Levanger (Norway) Nord's Saami and Indigenous Peoples Conference 2022 Organised by Nord University and Nordland Research Institute 22-23 October 2022, Nicosia (Cyprus) Multidisciplinary Approaches to Migration and Multilingualism (MAMM2022) Organised by University of Cyprus 25-26 October 2022, Edinburgh/ online Bilingualism Matters Research Symposium (BMRS) Organised by Bilingualism Matters 10-11 November 2022, Madrid (Spain) Bilingualism and Bilingual Education: Sociolinguistic Approaches (BIUNED 2022) Organised by UNED Madrid 16 December 2022, online LANGSCAPE & ENROPE Online Colloquium #3 Organised by the LANGSCAPE International Research Network & the ENROPE consortium 27 February -3 March 2023, Berlin (DE) LANGSCAPE & ENROPE Winter School 2023 Call for Applications: deadline EXTENDED: 28 October Organised by the LANGSCAPE International Research Network & the ENROPE consortium 16-17 March 2023, Leeuwarden (NL) International Conference: Minority Languages in the City Call for Papers: soon Organised by Mercator European Research Centre, the Berlin Brandenburg Akademie der Wissenschaft, and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social and Language Documentation 17 March 2023, online LANGSCAPE & ENROPE Online Colloquium Organised by the LANGSCAPE International Research Network & the ENROPE consortium 22-24 March 2023, Strassbourg (DE) ECSPM 2023 Symposium: The social role of higher education - Developing the civil society’s awareness and impacting policies on the role of multilingualism in education Organised by ECSPM 26-28 April 2023, Madrid (ES) ALTE's 8th International Conference: Language Assessment Fit for the Future Organised by Association of Language Testers in Europe 23-25 March 2023, Dublin (IE) Conference on Youth Theatre and Performance in Regional, Minority, and Minoritised Languages Call for Papers: deadline 28 October 2022 Organised by University College Dublin 4-6 May 2023, Ottawa (Canada) Colloque du CCERBAL 2023 - Bilinguisme et multilinguisme: Compétences transversales, mobilité et bien-être * Call for Symposia and Papers is open Organised by Centre canadien d’études et de recherche en bilinguisme et aménagement linguistique (CCERBAL), Institut de langues officielles et du bilinguisme (ILOB), Université d’Ottawa. 16 June 2023, online LANGSCAPE & ENROPE Online Colloquium #4 Organised by the LANGSCAPE International Research Network & the ENROPE consortium 20-24 June 2023, Wales XIX International Conference on Minority Languages (ICML) Deadline Call for Papers: 30 September 2022 Organised by University of Wales Trinity Saint David 26-28 June 2023, Edinburgh United Kingdom Language Variation & Change 14 (UKLVC14) Call for Papers: soon to be published Organised by Linguistics and English Language / University of Edinburgh 26-30 June 2023, Sydney (Australia) - Hybrid conference International Symposium on Bilingualism (ISB14) * Call for Symposia and Papers is open Organised by Macquarie University 17-21 July 2023, Lyon (France) AILA 2023 * Call for Symposia and Papers is open Organised by ENS de Lyon


	Please send us your comments and suggestions! The next edition will be published around the 1st of November.

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Avatar displays travel info in Dutch Sign Language

New report on minority languages in Germany

INTERESTING LINKS

EUROPE

Soillse conference calls on Scottish decision-makers

Friulian Pac-Man directs kids to digital playground

FCNM Opinions on North Macedonia & Slovenia

DialogForumNorden against Danish border controls

Aina: Catalan Alexa & Siri

Course 22/23

Free online conference on Multilingual Children

Language-conscious teaching in primary school

INTERESTING LINKS

WORLD

Mercator Regional Dossier Highlights online

Minority Languages in the City: 16/17 March 2023

INTERESTING EVENTS