Endangered Languages Week 2008
Endangered Languages Week 2008
A week of outreach events
Date: 30 April 2008Time: 11:00 AM
Finishes: 8 May 2008Time: 5:15 PM
Venue: Russell Square: College Buildings and Birkbeck
Type of Event: Symposium
What can WE do?
There are approximately 7,000 languages spoken on earth today and half of them are under threat from larger languages and are not being passed on to children.
Through films, displays, discussions and workshops Endangered Languages Week 2008 looks at what is being done to document, archive and support endangered languages around the world. The theme for the week is “What can WE do?” exploring how researchers, students, members of the public, and language community members can work together to address the challenges of global language and cultural loss.
Events and activities
Activities during the week include:
- The UK premiere of the acclaimed new film The Linguists shown at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
- Meet an Endangered Language - a series of short presentations where you will come face-to-face with an endangered language, learn about where it is spoken and why it is threatened, experience its culture, and pick up some basic words and phrases
- Open Day - when we open our doors so you can meet researchers, see displays of staff and student work, and experience the latest state of the art digital technologies used to record, archive and support endangered languages
- What is Your Language Footprint? - a debate on how to encourage personal action in support of language diversity
- A full day workshop on Engagement and Activism in Endangered Languages Research
- A specialist workshop on using Geographical Information Systems for Linguists
- A day of international films on endangered languages with work from Australia, Denmark, Taiwan and UK
- Seminars on moral and ethical issues in language fieldwork
Speakers during the week will include SOAS staff and Dr Lise Dobrin (USA), Prof Maurizio Gnerre (Italy), Dr David Harrison (USA), Dr Cecelia Ode (Netherlands), Dr Nicholas Ostler (UK), Prof Peter Sutton (Australia) and Dr Ljuba Veselinova (Sweden).
Most of the events are free of charge and open to anyone who is interested in endangered languages.
Acknowledgements: Our thanks to Ironbound Films, Final Cut Films, OBE TV, Open Air Radio SOAS, Dr Kim McKenzie, Dr Yih-Ren Lin, and the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
Organiser: Hans Rausing Endangered Languages Project
Contact email: elap@soas.ac.uk
