Presentation

The preservation of linguistic diversity has become a major concern to many researchers, politicians and leaders of linguistic communities. Some forecasts indicate that more than half of the six thousand languages currently spoken could disappear during the twenty-first century. Language policies have a deep impact on the life of languages and both their theoretical and practical aspects should be examined. There also is a need to assess the new cultural, social, political, economic and technological factors affecting linguistic diversity at a global scale. More than 230 researchers, social actors, policy makers and people involved in the promotion of languages took part in the debates offered by the World Congress on Language Policies which was organised by the Linguapax Institute, in co-operation with the Governments of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, the Cultura de Paz Foundation and Forum 2004. The congress was held in Barcelona, from April 16 to 20 and consisted of six keynote addresses and five concurrent workshops the conclusions of which were presented in the closing session.

Introduction by Fèlix Martí (President of the Linguapax Institute)

Opening session
Messages by Koichiro Matsuura (UNESCO) and John Packer (OSCE)

Informative session
'El model català de política lingüística' by Lluís Jou Director General of the Department of Language Policy of Catalonia
Catalan Language Policy Report 2001 (English version)

Plenary sessions

• Albert Bastardas 'Language policy in the age of globalization: intercommunication and diversity from the perspective of "complexity"'
  
  
• E. Annamalai 'Language policies in multilingual societies'
  
  
• Tove Skutnabb-Kangas 'Language policies and education: the role of education in destroying or supporting the world's linguistic diversity'
  
  
• Lachman Khubchandani 'Demographic imperatives in language planning'
  
  
• Emmanuel N. Emenanjo 'Language policies and cultural identities'
  
  
• Peter Mühlhäusler 'Theoretical approaches to language planning'

Workshops

Workshop 1: Language laws and their implementation. Language laws and other legal documents as tools for the promotion of languages: drafting, implementation and follow-up.

• Jean-Claude Corbeil 'Les législations linguistiques et leur application'
  
  
• Virginia Unamuno 'La Carta Europea de les llengües regionals i minoritàries i la legislació lingüística: de la incidència formal a la incidència pràctica.
  
  
• Zeynep Beykont 'English Only Laws in the US'
  
  
• Aleksandra Gjurkova 'Language policy and minority language issues: An interactive relation'
  
  
• Tamara Borgoyakova 'Language law in Russia: models of implementation in Tyva and Khakassia'
  
  
• Robert Dunbar 'Minority language legislation and rights regimers: a typology of enforcements mechanisms'
  
  
• Miyawaki Hiroyuki 'Colonial language policy and their effects'
  
  
• Paula Kasares 'Cinco estatus diferentes para la lengua vasca y los derechos lingüísticos'
  
  
• Alfred Matiki 'Language planning and linguistic exclusion in the legislative process in Malawi'
  
  
• Angel Pachev 'Europeanisation trends and linguistic diversity'
  
  
• Uldis Ozolins 'Post-imperialist language situations. The Baltic States'
  
  
• Snezana Trifunovska 'International legal aspects of protection of minority languages in Europe'
  
  
• Lluís de Yzaguirre 'El dret a no usar el castellà'

Workshop 2: The management of linguistic diversity in large cities. Managing linguistic diversity in large urban centers to ensure the preservation of diversity and prevent linguistic tensions and conflicts.

• Joan Rubin 'From Assimilation Toward Accommodation in Montgomery County'
  
  
• Ignace Sanwidi 'La gestion de la diversité linguistique dans les grandes villes subsahariennes'
  
  
• Anxo Lorenzo 'Modelo de política y planificación lingüística desarrollado en Galicia para la revitalización social de la lengua gallega'
  
  
• Maitena Etxebarria 'Política lingüística y realidad sociolingüística en el caribe colombiano'
  
  
• Raymond Renard 'La politique linguistique de l'Organisation International de la Francophonie dans son " espace francophone"'
  
  
• José Antonio Flores Farfán 'Language revitalization and development in Mexico. The case of Mexicano'
  
  
• Davyth Hicks 'Scotland's linguistic landscape: The lack of policy and planning with Scotland's place-names and signage'
  
  
• Karita Laisi 'Comparing the language policy change in Guatemala and Ethiopia'
  
  
• Nijolé Merkiené 'Language planning and practice: the Lithuanian model'
  
  
• Leila Dodykhudoeva 'The sociolinguistic situation of the Autonomous Region of Gorno Badakhshan'
  
  
• Tariq Rahman 'Language teaching and power in Pakistan'
  
  
• Jerzy Smolicz, I. Nical and M. J. Secombe 'Assimilation or Pluralism ? Changing Policies for Minority Languages Education in Australia and the Philippines
  
  
• Albert Fabà, Noemí Ubach, Pilar López, Alfred Castells, Mercè Romagosa (Consorci per a la Normalització Lingüística) i Joan Solé (Direcció General de Política Lingüística) (Comissió Ofercat) 'Tarragona, Santa Coloma de Gramenet i Manresa: tres ciutats, tres models del procés de normalització lingüística a Catalunya?'
  
  
• Janis Valdmanis 'Relevance of economic factor in language policy in major cities of Latvia'

Workshop 3: Models of language policies: case studies. The study of concrete models and successful experiences in the field of language policy. Their evaluation according to cost-effectiveness criteria

• Gisèle Delage, Guy Dumas 'Politiques linguistiques: Le modèle québécois'
  
  
• Vida Mikhalchenko 'Language Policy in the Russian Federation'
  
  
• Vic Webb 'Language policy development in South Africa'
  
  
• Tatiana Agranat 'The beginning of the Votic language revival'
  
  
• Tatiana Kryuchkova 'Effective language politics. The case of Karelian'
  
  
• Bartomeu Melià 'Usos y normas en el guaraní paraguayo'
  
  
• Aisa Bitkeeva 'Language Policy in the Republic of Kalmykia'
  
  
• Ina Druviete 'Language policy and protection of languages in Latvia'
  
  
• Özlem Eraydin Virtanen 'Language policy and international relations: The Central-Asian experience'
  
  
• Rainer Enrique Hamel 'Language Policies in NAFTA, Mercosur, and the EU: Regional Blocs as a Barrier against English Hegemony?
  
  
• A.Coretchi, A. Pascaru, C. Stevens 'The Republic of Moldova : Dimensions of the Gagauz sociolinguistic model'
  
  
• Laisan Moukhariamova 'République du Tatarstan : Experience de mise en place de la " souveraineté linguistique "'
  
  
• Atanasia Stoianova 'National Minorities Education in Moldova: the Legal Framework and Practice'
  
  
• Dónall Ó Riagáin 'Irish- official yet lesser used'
  
  
• Mart Rannut 'Estonian language strategy in progress'
  
  
• Carlos Andrade 'El pueblo zápara de Ecuador y Perú frente a sus proyectos de revitalización lingüística'
  

Workshop 4: The role of civil society in language policy processes. The effective participation of civil society (civic organisations, NGOs, etc.) in the design, implementation and follow-up of language policies.

• Bojan Brezigar 'Role of civil society and NGOs to promote minority languages'
  
  
• Denis Cunningham 'Civil society and language policy: A role for associations'
  
  
• Alie van der Schaaf 'Developments in bilingual education in Europe'
  
  
• Kara Brown 'Between two Unions: The revival of Võro in Post-Soviet and Pre-European Estonia'
  
  
• Malika Ahmed Zaid 'La dynamique associative de Kabylie pour le devélopement de la langue berbère'
  
  
• David Ferguson 'Practical and theoretical difficulties for NGO action for language equality in a European perspective'
  
  
• Carmen López 'Participación indígena en la implementación de políticas lingüísticas en la educación: una experiencia con comunidades guaraníes bolivianas'
  
  
• Joe MacDonnacha 'Power differentials in language planning'
  
  
• Angeline Martel 'De/constructing with global paradigms. On governance, democracy and policies for language communities.
  
  
• J. Jabier Íñigo 'El acuerdo Bai Euskarari: (Sí a la lengua vasca) como experiencia de implicación de los agentes sociales en la normalización de la lengua'
  
  
• Miquel Martí: 'Gestió de la diversitat cultural i lingüística en l'educació'
  
  
• Martha Muntzel 'Educational philosophy and minority languages'
  
  
• Mary McGroarty 'Niches for minority language use: What does civil society support?
  
  
• Vicent Romans 'Escola Valenciana. Federació d'associacions per a la llengua'

Workshop 5: New information technologies and small and medium-sized languages. The challenge of new technologies and the production of linguistic resources to promote language diversity and the culture of peace

• Diana Rumpite 'Teamwork in Virtual Environments - Effective Approach in Language Learning'
  
  
• Bernard Salvail 'La francisation des technologies de l'information au Québec. Une intervention à succès variable'
  
  
• Gotzon Egia 'Las ventajas de ser pequeño: notas sobre la presencia de la lengua vasca en Internet'
  
  
• Éda Heloisa Pilla 'Por una política lingüística para el portugués contemporáneo de Brasil'
  
  
• Joan Martí i Castell 'La diversitat lingüística en la societat de la informació'
  
  
• Olga Kazakievitch 'A sounding dictionary of an endangered language'
  
  
• Marta Torres, Miquel Strubell 'El projecte Atlantis: recursos vinculats a les noves tecnologies per a les llengües minoritzades de la UE'
  
  
• Monica Ward 'Using new technologies to produce language material for minority and endangered languages
  
  
• Victor Montviloff 'Meeting the challenges of language diversity in the information society'
  
  
• Pamela Nuñez 'Cómo ayudan las nuevas tecnologías a proteger las lenguas minoritarias'

Conclusions

Workshop 1
Workshop 2
Workshop 3
Workshop 4
Workshop 5

Complementary activities

Presentation of the book 'Orekan' by the association Zenbat Gara (Basque Country)
Presentation of the film 'Last word' by Grau Serra

Photos

Some pictures of the Congress.