Papers specifically focussing on European Topics
In the course of AILA 2008 approximately 800 individual papers will be presented, some of them will be detailed out below. There will be many more to discover during your stay in Essen, but here are some short excerpts of papers looking at “The Potential of linguistic diversity in Europe”
Bogner, Andrea (University of Bayreuth, DE) Co-Presenter: Barbara Dengel
Wissenschaft als mehrsprachige Praxis: Vermittlungskonstellationen in der internationalen Wissenschaftskommunikation
Geht man mit der Wissenschaftslinguistik davon aus, dass Wissenschaft “eine von Grund auf kommunikative Veranstaltung” (Weinrich) und jedes wissenschaftliche Wissen sprachgebunden ist, so können die konzeptuellen und kommunikativen Ressourcen einzelner Wissenschaftssprachkulturen erst in einer auf Mehrsprachigkeit angelegten Wissenschaftskommunikation produktiv werden. […] Gegenstand dieses Beitrags ist die Analyse von mehrdimensionalen Konstellationen der Vermittlung in der internationalen Wissenschaftskommunikation. […]
Breiteneder, Angelika (University of Vienna, AT) Co-Presenters: Theresa Klimpfinger/ Marie-Luise Pitzl
A VOICE for ELF in Europe: introducing a new resource
English finds itself in a unique position in the multilingual setting of Europe. It differs from all other European languages in that it is most commonly used as a lingua franca between speakers of different first languages, often in conversations with no English native speakers present at all. The extraordinary status of English in contemporary Europe is, however, often perceived as a threat to the multilingual and multicultural identity of the continent. In our paper we will argue that applied linguists need to keep abreast of the current reality of English in Europe, particularly so since the use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) does not oppose multilingualism, with ELF speakers being bilingual by definition. […]
Faingold, Eduardo (University of Tulsa, US)
Language rights in the 2004 draft of the European Union Constitution
The 2004 draft of the EU Constitution contains language defining the linguistic obligations of the EU and the language rights of its citizens, but the draft fails to achieve language justice for EU citizens who speak regional minority languages. These minority languages include Catalan, Basque, and Galician in Spain, Welsh in the UK, and others. […]
Ferilli, Laura (University of Lausanne, CH)
Les paradoxes de la reconnaissance d’une langue minoritaire : le cas du dialecte du Capo di Leuca
Contre toute attente, le dialecte originaire du Capo di Leuca (au sud des Pouilles, en Italie) n’est pas en voie de disparition. Au contraire, il a survécu aux exodes massifs, au temps et aux cultures. Dans ma présentation, je mettrai en lumière quels sont les moyens que les locuteurs de cette langue minoritaire se donnent pour se faire entendre, en Italie du sud et en Suisse romande—lieu de leur immigration massive depuis les années 50 -, et quel sens cela a pour eux. […]
Stevenson, Patrick (University of Southampton, UK) Co-Presenter: Jenny Carl
Multilingualism in Mitteleuropa: language in the lives of German-speakers in central Europe
Mitteleuropa—central Europe—is an ill-defined geographical concept, but more importantly it represents a historically shifting social and cultural space, shaped in part by the changing relationships between languages. The German language has a uniquely complex history in this region, its footprint transcending both national borders and the boundaries of east and west. ‘Speaking German’ in this context has acquired across time different, contested meanings—valued as a regional lingua franca, reviled as the language of fascist oppression—and the legacy of these meanings today presents both challenges and opportunities for both policy-makers and individuals. […]
Wahl, Piotr (Szczecin University, Poland)
A New Approach to Foreign Languages Teaching in the Multicultural and Multilingual Europe
For the last 50 years the world has changed in an unprecedented way in the process commonly called globalization. A globalized society is multicultural and multilingual, which is especially visible in Europe. Consequently, the basic assumptions of foreign languages teaching (FLT) have to be changed accordingly. This proposal is an attempt to outline a new approach to FLT. […]
Zaprudski, Siarhiej (Belarusian State University, BY)
Belarusian As an Endangered Language
On the one hand, Belarusian is the “titular” language of an independent state Republic of Belarus, the language ostensibly protected by law, one of the acknowledged Slavic languages, that has at least 4 million speakers. On the other hand, its protection by the law is ambiguous. There are many important communicative domains in which Belarusian is either not used at all or used only to an insignificant degree, and the number of its speakers is constantly reducing. […]