icml 2011 - XIII International Conference on Minority Languages General Theme "The Institutional Arrangements"

XIII International Conference on Minority Languages
General Theme “The Institutional Arrangements”
http://www.icml13.org/
Dear colleagues,

As announced at the ICML XII in Tartu in 2009, the ICML XIII will take place in the German-Danish border region on 22-25 June 2011. The general theme of the conference “The Institutional Arrangements” refers to the issues of language maintenance, development and transfer, which in most cases nowadays happens through the institutions ? educational institutions such as schools, sports organizations, cultural organisations and activities, official bodies, media and other agents. What kind of institutions have minorities developed in order to protect and promote their languages? What are the roles of such arrangements for language-based minority identities? Would the languages survive without such institutions and if so what would alternative strategies be? How about financial aspect of institutionalized language support? All those questions and many more will be discussed in the separate sections during the conference days. The language of the conference is English. There will be no translation facilities.

The conference is a joint venture between three institutions of the region : The European Centre for Minority Issues, the University of Southern Denmark, Department of Border Region Studies and the Institute for Danish Language and Literature, University of Flensburg. The border region is committed to the protection and promotion of minority languages as a democratic, cultural, and economic value.

The German-Danish border region is a home of 4 minorities ? the German minority in South Jutland/North Schleswig; the Danish minority in South Schleswig, the North Frisians and the Roma & Sinti - and a regional language of Low German. There will be an opportunity to meet the local minorities who would share their experiences with institutional arrangement as well as representatives of the Federal Union of European Nationalities, an association of European minority organizations, located in Flensburg.

On 25 June, an optional tour to the Frisian island of Feer/Föhr is planned to visit the localities and the institutions established there in support of the Frisian language and culture.

Welcome and please visit