The evaluation committee of the 2022 Linguapax International Award has selected once again a community project that goes far beyond linguistic revitalisation. The ADN Maya collective, led by the rapper Pat Boy, promotes the rethinking of the use of Maya language and the renewal of the musical tradition in that language through artistic education of young Maya and Maya/Spanish speakers, and the creation of spaces to make the contemporary Maya…
Linguapax International is collaborating in the III International Conference on Revitalisation of Indigenous and Minoritized Languages to be held between 13 and 16 September 2022 at the University of Girona. The Conference will be a meeting point for people working towards the revitalization of indigenous and minoritised languages around the world in order to exchange and disseminate ideas, experiences and knowledge. Our organization participates through the following activities: Panels: Languages,…
Kit Woolard, Professor Emerita at the University of California, San Diego, has agreed to join the Linguapax Advisory Board, made up of more than twenty international experts on matters relating to linguistic diversity. Professor Woolard, who specializes in linguistic anthropology, is a worldwide known researcher, mostly because of her contributions to the field of linguistic ideologies, and has published extensively on topics related to bilingualism, the link between language and…
We are in the midst of a digital revolution that will change the way we live, work, interact and speak. While technology is advancing for just a handful of languages, most others are in danger of becoming extinct in the digital realm, as pointed out by Andras Kornai, one of the language experts and activists gathered for the presentation of the special issue on Language Technologies and Linguistic Diversity of…
On 20 May, in a one-day webinar, UNESCO presented its recent publication “State of the Art – Indigenous Languages in Research: A Collection of Selected Research Papers”. The authors presented their work and engaged in a dialogue on the state of Indigenous language research across different topics. The volume is the result of a collective effort which started in December 2018, when a global call for papers was launched, marking…
Linguapax Asia members participated at the screening of the documentary YONAGUNI at the Italian Institute of Culture in Tokyo on 21 April 2022. The film by Italian artists Anush Hamzehian and Vittorio Mortarotti depicts with exceptional artistic sensitivity the dwindling community and the disappearing Dunan language of the Yonaguni Island, in the Ryukyu Archipelago, in the South of Japan. A prominent socio-linguist Patrick Heinrich, who is a former Linguapax Asia…
Several members of Linguapax Asia have contributed articles to the recent publication “Language Communities in Japan”, by Oxford University Press. The book offers a comprehensive sociolinguistic overview of the linguistic situation in Japan, including national languages, community languages, and languages of culture, politics, and modernization. In the book, Linguapax Asia’s Sachiyo Fujita-Round introduces “Language communities of the Southern Ryukyu: Miyako, Yaeyama, and Yonaguni”, and Daniel Quintero presents a historical overview…
On 8, 9 and 10 April, the beautiful city of Ancona (Italy) hosted the kick-off meeting of the 5 partners of the project La langue des oiseaux: the Italian cultural association MALTE – Musica Arte Letteratura Teatro Ecc., the Sens Interdits association of Lyon (France), the Boat People Projekt of Göttingen (Germany), the Djarama Association of Ndayane (Senegal) and Linguapax. “La Langue des Oiseaux” is a European Erasmus+ project which…
The CD Creación Musical en Lenguas Originarias is a project that was made in collaboration with artists, both women and men, from different communities who speak different native languages. Among them we find the Mixe and Mayan rappers “Mixe-Represent”, from Tamazulapan del Espíritu Santo (Oaxaca), and “Pat Boy”, native of Felipe Carrillo Puerto (Quintana Roo). Meanwhile, María Reyna from Tlahuitoltepec (Oaxaca), with a Bel Canto style, uses an opera technique…
Robert Phillipson, Professor Emeritus at the Copenhagen Business School and member of the Linguapax Advisory Board, dealt with the issue of Linguistic Hegemony on two occasions. The first was the Forum Vives “Objective 2025 on Universitary Language Policy”, at the University of Valencia, on 25 November 2021. In the opening lecture “Constraints and challenges in strengthening multilingualism in higher education”, he focused on the challenge shared by the universities that…