LINGUIST List 15.1236

Sat Apr 17 2004

Confs: Lang Description/Amsterdam/Leiden, Netherlands

Editor for this issue: Marie Klopfenstein <marielinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. w.wetzels, Endangered Languages Research in the Netherlands

Endangered Languages Research in the Netherlands 

Date: 23-Aug-2004 - 28-Aug-2004
Location: Amsterdam/Leiden, Netherlands
Contact: Leo Wetzels
Contact Email: wlm.wetzelslet.vu.nl 

Linguistic Sub-field: Language Description 

Meeting Description:

The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) has created
an Endangered Languages Programme, which is sponsoring three
endangered language projects: two in Africa, and one in
South-America. On August 26, 2004, a one-day workshop will be
organized in the Cultural Center of the Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam,
The Netherlands). Preceding and following the NWO workshop there will
be two conferences: one on African linguistics, and one on Amazonian
linguistics and anthropology. 

Andean Amazonian Linguistics

The NWO workshop on the endangered languages program as well as the
conference on languages and cultures of the andean/amazonian border
area will be held in the cultural center de Griffioen of the Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
	
August 26, 2004, NWO workshop Endangered Languages Program
	
Morning program:
Opening session Dr. R. Smeets (Unesco, Chairman program committee)
	
Lecture Prof. Dr. M. Mithun (University of Santa Barbara)
Language death and language maintenance
	
Lecture Prof. Dr. P. Newman (Indiana University)
The Endangered Languages issue is a not quite so hopeless cause:
Recent progress vs. nagging problems
	
Dr. J.A.B.K. Essegbey,. K.G.E. Dorvlo M.Phil and Dr. F.K. Ameka
(Leiden University, The Netherlands)
The languages and cultural heritage of the Southern Ghana-Togo
Mountain Groups
	
Dr. A. Amha, M. Seyoum MA and Dr. M. Mous (Leiden University, The
Netherlands)
Stemming the Tide: The Dime and Zargulla languages of South West
Ethiopia
	
D. Mahecha MA, J.M.G. Higuita MA and Leo Wetzels (Vrije Universiteit,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
The Puinave and Nukak languages of Columbia
	
Afternoon program:
	
The aim of the afternoon workshops is to bring researchers together to
discuss a number of issues that field researchers have to deal with
and that center around the involvement of the researcher in activities
for the speech community where the research is carried out. During
each workshop a number of questions are raised and discussed both by a
panel of experts and the audience.
	
14.00-14.45 Workshop 1:
Endangered Languages Research and Intellectual Property Rights
Chair: Leo Wetzels
Many cultural expressions are considered part of a peoples
intellectual property. In this workshop, the motives will be discussed
for deciding which expressions should be considered as aprt of an
individuals or peoples intellectual property.
	
Panel members:
Jerzy Koopman (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) will open the
workshop with a short lecture on Intellectual property law and
cultural expressions
Other panel members:
Jon Landaburu (CELIA, Paris, France)
Marcelo Fiorini (Hofstra University, USA)
Paul Newman (Indiana University, USA)
	
15.00-15.45 Workshop 2:
Orality and Literacy
Chair: Felix Ameka
This workshop will discuss the ways in which one can take advantage of
the orality in endangered languages in their documentation. It will
examine the kinds of features in oral performances in traditions and
in everyday discursive practices that get lost as these are reduced to
writing. Participants will share experiences in this domain. The
workshop will also explore ways in which modern technologies of
multi-media documentation can be used to minimize the loss of orality
features as communities aspire to alphabetic literacy in their
languages.
	
15.45-16.15. Tea
	
16.15-17.00 Workshop 3:
Reading materials
Chair: Maarten Mous
The aim of this workshop is to provide some thoughts and practical
hints for researcher who want to prepare reading materials such as
story books for the language community. Many of us use stories for our
analysis and feel an urge to make such materials available
locally. The reaction of the community members towards such
initiatives is in general very positive and it tends to boost their
self confidence. Questions that will be addressed are very practical,
for example: Should the publication be bilingual or monolingual? If
bilingual how should the two languages be arranged? Do we use
drawings? What is the best font size? What is an appropriate
translation? etc. The workshop is accompanied by a small exhibition of
reading materials.
	
17.00-17.30 Plenary discussion session
	
17.30 Closing of the workshop followed by a cocktail
	
August 27/28 Symposium on Languages and Cultures in the
Andean/Amazonian Border (for information concerning submissions see
below).
	
August 27
	
Morning program
	
Key-note speaker Willem Adelaar (Leiden University, The Netherlands).
The Importance of Toponymy for Disappearing and Recently Extinguished
Languages
	
Presentation of papers
Program will be announced at the end of April
	
Key-note speaker Stella Telles(Universidade Federal de
Pernambuco,Brazil)
Title: Por onde andam os adv�rbios - fam�lia Nambikw�ra
	
Afternoon program:
	
Key note speaker Jon Landaburu (CELIA, Paris, France)
La modalit� �pist�mique dans quelques langues du sud de la Colombie.
	
Presentation of papers
Program will be announced at the end of April
	
Key-note speaker Marcelo Fiorini ( Hofstra University, USA)
What the Birdman Said: Music, Sentiment, and Discourse in Nambikwara.
	
Evening Program
	
Conference Dinner
	
August 28
Morning program
	
Presentation of papers
Program will be announced at the end of April
	
Key note speaker Aryon Rodrigues (UFB, Bras�lia, Brazil)
Tup� languages in Rond�nia and in eastern Bolivia
	
Afternoon program
	
In the afternoon, a program will be offered that especially addresses
a non-specialized public interested in the problem of disappearing
languages or curious to know about it. Among other themes, attention
will be given to the UNESCOs decision to declare the oral and graphic
expressions of the Waj�pi Indians as a ''Masterpiece of the Oral and
Intangible Heritage of Humanity''. Since, for the larger public, the
importance of patrimonialisation of intellectual activity/tradition is
poorly understood, an effort is being made to bring to Amsterdam a
member of the Waj�pi people and an outside specialist of the Waj�pi
culture, in order to explain the cultural, mythological and social
significance of the Waj�pi painting (including body painting)
tradition.
	
Symposium on Languages and Cultures of the Andean/Amazonian Border
Area
	
The conference on languages and cultures in the Andean/Amazonian Border 
Area will be held at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, on August 27 and 
28, 2004.
	
Participants will NOT be asked to pay any registration fee. However,
since for matters of organization we must know how many persons we may
count on, we kindly request those that wish to attend (part of ) the
presentations to notify Leo Wetzels by e-mail until July 15th 2004.
	
We encourage participants to also attend the NWO Endangered Languages
Research workshop on the 26th of August (see above). Please register
separately for this event with the secretary of the Endangered
languages Program, Marc Linssen (e-mail linssennwo.nl) before July 1,
2004.
	
Suitable addresses for accommodation in Amsterdam can be found at the
following web site.
http://www.amsterdam.nl/asp/get.asp?ItmIdt=00001372&SitIdt=00000005&VarIdt=00000002
	
Under the heading Special Hotels, you find a clickable web-page
http://www.dakloos.nl, with the addresses of a number of relatively
cheap and very decent hotels in Amsterdam and the Amsterdam region.
	
On the web-page below you will encounter a city map of Amsterdam:
http://www.amsterdam.nl/asp/get.asp?ItmIdt=00000494&SitIdt=00000005&VarIdt=00000002
	
Click on the field city map at the bottom of the list that you find in
the upper right corner. The conference center is not on the map, but
it is close to the VrijeUniversiteit (VU). On the city map you find a
search engine. Fill in under straat: De Boelelaan ; under Huisnr.:
1105. This is the address of the VU. Type enter. The location of the
VU will appear on the map. If you type next the name of the street and
the street number of the hotel you are interested in, you can estimate
the distance of your hotel to the Vrije Universiteit. The conference
center is about 10 minutes southwards from the VU, by tram 5, or
express tram (Metro) 51 (Station Uilenstede). Both trains also cross
the city in different ways. Consequently, the best location of the
hotel of your choice is on the tram line 5 or the express tram line
51. On the next web-page you find a public transportation map:
http://www.gvb.nl/reisinfo/tekst-lijnenkaart.htm#
	
On this map you see a number of small yellow fields. The center of
Amsterdam corresponds to the field number 5700 (the part of the city
that is located on the waterfront). You click on these fields in order
to zoom in. The Vrije Universiteit is in field 4714, located two
fields down from zone 5700 and one to the left. By clicking up and
down on the transportation map you can easily check if your hotel is
close to one of the tramlines 5 or 51.
	
Please let us know if you need any help. For any supplementary
information, do not hesitate to contact any of the members of the
conference committee:
	
Gabriel Antunes g.antuneslet.vu.nl 
Cristina Borella c.borellalet.vu.nl 
Leo Wetzels WLM.Wetzelslet.vu.nl