New book: Sharing a World of Difference. The Earth's Linguistic, Cultural and Biological Diversity.

Written by Terralingua researchers Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Luisa Maffi, and David Harmon, and coordinated by UNESCO's Education Sector, the booklet describes the world's biodiversity and its linguistic and cultural diversity, as well as the threats these face. A trilingual version in Spanish, French and Catalan has just been published by Linguapax.

Book: Voces Diversae: Leser-Used Language Education in Europe

Language diversity is a defining characteristic of Europe. This volume presents 24 papers, edited by Dónall Ó Riagáin, from a conference on lesser-used language education held in Dublin in April 2004 during the Republic of Ireland's tenure of the European Union Presidency and organised by Foras na Gaeilge. The languages presented in the volume stretch from the Aran Islands to the Siberian Republic of Khakassia, from the Artic Circle to the Mediterranean. Case studies deal with Basque, Breton, Estonian, Friulan, Irish, Kalmyk, Kashubian, Khakas, Maltese, Sámi, Scottish Gaelic, Sorbian, Ulster Scots, Welsh, and the languages of Hungary, Slovenia and Tatarstan. Others deal with such central topics as teacher training, language acquisition and early bilingualism, with the frameworks for learning, teaching and assessment proposed by the Council of Europe, the services of Mercator-Education, and the importance of networking for the future.

 

Linguapax Award 2006

On the occasion of the International Mother Language Day, Linguapax disclosed the identity of the Linguapax award winner 2006: Natividad Mutumbajoy, a member of the Ingano people of Colombia, who has been working restlessly to promote multilingual education and especially for the revitalisation of the Inga language in a context of poverty and a 40 year civil war.

More information at: http://www.linguapax.org/en/premisLPXang.html

 

Book: Words and Worlds. World Languages Review

The World Languages Review aims to examine the sociolinguistic situation of the world. The book describes the linguistic diversity that currently characterizes humanity, evaluates trends towards linguistic uniformity, and establishes a set of guidelines or language planning measures that favour the weaker or more endangered linguistic communities. It is of interest to all people concerned by language diversity, especially those engaged in language planning such as government officials, institution leaders, researchers, and community members. More information at: http://www.multilingual-matters.com

Linguapax advises the Government of Paraguay on the draft of a new law of language policy

The Linguapax Institute, in collaboration with the Institute Ramon Llull, has advised the Government of Paraguay in the drafting of a law on language policy that is to be debated at the Parliament of that country. Last March, Fèlix Martí, president of the Scientific Committee and Antoni Milian have been invited by the National Commission on Bilingualism of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Paraguay to help preparing the first law on language policy and planning. The Constitution of Paraguay (1992) recognizes both Guarani and Spanish as official languages. However, there is no law on language planning yet that develops the use of Guarani and the other authochtonous languages of Paraguay in the different domains.

Linguapax and CIESAS have published the illustrated books 'Adivinanzas mexicanas' and 'Adivinanzas en mixteco. La lengua de la lluvia'

The books , printed by Artes de México, has been devised as a contribution to the revitalization of the autochthonous languages of Mexico. The first book is a compilation of riddles produced by native speakers of two varieties of the Nahuatl language. Specifically, the riddles were gathered in Oapan, in the state of Guerrero, by José Antonio Flores Farfán, researcher of CIESAS. The illustrations that go with each riddle were originally drawn in amate paper by the local artist Cleofas Ramírez Celestino.
The second book is a compilation of riddles in three varieties of the Mixtec language, gathered by Alejandra Cruz and illustrated by Octavio Moctezuma. Both editions present the texts with translations into English, Spanish and Catalan, thanks to the support of the Goverment of Catalonia.

 

The Linguapax Institute has coordinated the translation to Catalan, Kurdish, Kalmyk and Crimean Tatar of some of the OSCE recommendations

The Linguapax Institute, with the support of the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, has coordinated the translation to Catalan, Kurdish, Kalmyk and Crimean Tatar of The Hague recommendations on the education rights of national minorities, The Oslo recommendations regarding the linguistic rights of national minorities and The Lund Recommendations on effective participation of national minorities in public life. The translations are available at: http://www.linguapax.org/en/docang.html

For more information about the recommendations
:http://www.osce.org/hcnm