The Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning (Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden, NL), the Endangered Languages Archive (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin, DE), and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social and Language Documentation (Minde, PT) cordially invite researchers, scholars, and members of community organisations to join the international conference on Minority Languages in the City.

The conference will take place on 16 & 17 March 2023. The conference will be held in person at the Oranje Hotel in Ljouwert/Leeuwarden (Netherlands) in the historic heart of the Frisian capital.

Theme

As a result of globalisation and urbanisation, many cities are hotspots of linguistic diversity. Many cities are thus home to a range of minority language communities with different histories, different levels of recognition and support, and very different needs.

Researchers from countries such as Belgium, Germany, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom and the United States will come to Leeuwarden to discuss the topic and also present their own research. 

Keynotes

Three main speakers will introduce the day's sessions. They are: 

Ruth Kircher (Mercator/ Fryske Akademy): Multilingual migrants in Montreal: A regional perspective on language attitudes and social identities
Robert Blackwood (University of Liverpool): Minority languages in urban linguistic landscapes: Beyond documenting multilingualism in France
Agnieszka Legutko (Columbia University): Minority languages in the city and at university: The Mapping Yiddish New York project.

The full programme and Book of Abstracts can be found on the conference website.