Thematic areas of the symposium

1. Categorisation of minor(i)sed languages 

The terminology itself, and in particular its abundance arises from many situations which seek to describe and also need to be questioned, or at least it needs to be clarified- Is a ‘language of belonging” (Defays, 2018) a “language of identification”?  (Fabà Prats and Torres-Pla, 2019). These notions can be rooted in several areas: the Humanities and Social Sciences - particularly in law.  

Languages can also be viewed as legal objects, in terms of selecting one or more official/ national languages and/or the (non)-recognition of others. Considered elements of nation/group identification, they have legal consequences (teaching, administrative communication language, etc..) and set down a major challenge for States. There is still not much legal work on these issues( Bertile, 2008), so it is worth highlighting this aspect. 

Papers will focus on (non-exhaustive list): 

• Categorisation and linguistics rights

• Theorising the categorisation of minority languages

• Case studies: categorisation of one or more languages/ in a given cultural and linguistic area

• Minor(i)sed languages in national and international legal and legislative texts

• Terminology for National Language Policies

• Reappropriation of terminology by linguistic community or communities

• The role of terminology in the relationship between claims for categorisation/recognition and national language policies. 

2. Minor(i)sed language transmission

A language can only exist if it is transmitted. The interrogations relating to transmission/sharing are therefore critical in the case of endangered languages. This section will focus on some issues relating to acquisition, teaching and learning (taking into account Barzotto’s(2004) proposal to integrate various linguistics behaviours from students. Alongside, the standardised and formalised language, language policies and family language policies (Haque, 2019), or the place of the standard (Andión & Gil, 2013), and also, the consideration of polynomiality (Ottavi, 2010) at the didactic level.

Papers will focus on (non-exhaustive list):

• Transmission methods for a minor(i)sed languageMilitancy and Linguistic transmission

• Image of the language and its uses

• Duty to remember: a gateway to transmission

• The teaching/learning dichotomy in contextualised situations

• Family language policies

• From family transmission to learning: the role of the school

• Teaching linguistic diversity: the place of ‘standard’ and variation in teaching

3. Epistemology: minor(i)sed languages and scientific production

Following Catalan-Occitan sociolinguistics, known as “peripheral” sociolinguistics (Lafont, 1997; Boyer,2012), we must question the researcher's behaviours in specific contexts like minorised areas (Agresti, 2020).  Who researches minority issues? How? Why? And with whom? Which legitimacy? What place should be given to speakers and linguistic communities in the research process? Does civil society take ownership of the results of academic research? 

These questions give a range of possibilities for researchers from different backgrounds and geographical areas to work with members of minorised language communities. 

Concepts such as the “etic/emic” point of view  (Sardan, 1998), language planning “from above”, “from below”, or “mid-level”, or movements such as Linguistics for Development (Métangmo-Tatou; Zouogbo (ed.),2022), which is especially developed on the African continent, could be used. In addition, the study of language images in scientific productions and official speeches makes it possible to understand, apart from linguistic incorporation and adaptation processes, how academic production participates, directly or indirectly, in language policy and the development of African languages. 

Papers will focus on (non-exhaustive list):

• Image(s) of minorised languages in academic texts. 

• Production and reproduction of knowledge in minorised languages. 

• Scientific popularisation in minorised languages. 

• Publish, Perish.. Or Resist? Minorised languages as a tool of Scientific Production. 

• Minorised languages in Human Sciences: between academic fascination and institutional exclusion.