CONF./CFP- Language Change in Post-Soviet Bilingual Communities, Uppsala, Oct 3
Posted by: Nino Amiridze <nino.amiridze@let.uu.nl>
Second Call for Abstracts:
Language Change in Bilingual Communities: Focus on the Post-Soviet
Countries and Their Immigrant Communities Elsewhere
Workshop at
The 23rd Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics
October 3, 2008, Uppsala, Sweden
http://www.let.uu.nl/~Nino.Amiridze/personal/organization/PSB08.html
Call for Abstracts
The workshop aims at giving a perspective on post-Soviet bilingualism
while concentrating on the typology of linguistic changes under
language contact.
During the Soviet era, languages of the former Soviet republics have
been influenced by Russian, the Soviet lingua franca. The collapse and
the disintegration of the former Soviet Union has caused reshaping of
the relations between various ethnic groups within individual States,
on the one hand, and between Russia and the rest of the States, on the
other hand. Language situation and linguistic hierarchy within the
newly independent countries have considerably changed, depending on
the relations with Russia, and the growing influence of wider
globalization.
The fall of the Soviet Union has caused unprecedented waves of
immigrants from the former Soviet republics to various parts of the
world. Immigrant communities from the former Soviet Union do not
always have institutional support for their native languages in the
host countries. Keeping mother languages exclusively as a means of
communication in the family and within the community, the speakers
used to preserve some features of the languages that eventually got
changed in the varieties spoken back at home by their compatriots. On
the other hand, under the influence of the language(s) of the host
countries, changes have occurred in the immigrant languages.
Globalisation has influenced the area into a more open attitude with
respect to sign language and bimodal bilingualism. The former Soviet
Union maintained the medical model of disability, treating the deaf as
a disabled group. However, in some of these States there are attempts
to change the medical model with the social one, and view the deaf as
a cultural and linguistic minority. One of the positive consequences
of changing the approach is the promotion of bilingual education in
the schools for deaf, rather than pursuing exclusively oralist
educational policy. As a result of the changing attitudes towards sign
language and Deaf culture, deaf people in the Post-Soviet States will
become bilingual in a sign and a spoken language (a case of bimodal
bilinguality).
The following three topics will be addressed during the workshop:
* Contact-induced changes that have occurred in the languages of the
Post-Soviet States under the declining role of Russian as a dominant
language and the growing influence of other regionally and globally
dominant languages;
* Contact-induced changes and contact-induced preservation in the
language varieties spoken by communities that have immigrated from the
Post-Soviet countries since 1991 to various parts of the world.
* Bimodal bilingualism and language situation in deaf communities of
the Post-Soviet States. How changing of attitudes towards deafness
affects sociolinguistic situation of users of sign languages across
the former Soviet Union. Influences of the structure of one of their
languages over that of the other language.
Invited Speakers
* Anna Komarova (hearing) (Moscow Centre for Deaf Studies and
Bilingual Education), Development of Bilingual Education of the Deaf
in Post-Soviet Countries.
* Tatiana Davidenko (deaf) (Moscow Centre for Deaf Studies and
Bilingual Education), Sign Language Diversity in Post-Soviet Countries
(translation from the RSL into English by Anna Komarova).
* Kristina Svartholm (hearing) (Stockholm University), Bilingual
Education for the Deaf. A Swedish Experience.
Important Dates
Abstract submission: June 16, 2008
Notification: July 7, 2008
Workshop: October 3, 2008
Organizers
* Nino Amiridze, Utrecht University (The Netherlands)
* Anne Tamm, University of Florence (Italy) and Institute for the
Estonian Language
* Manana Topadze, University of Pavia (Italy)
* Inge Zwitserlood, Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands)
Publication
If after the workshop there will be interest in publishing either a
proceedings or a special journal issue, then the organizers will take
responsibility of finding a suitable forum and will act as editors.
Submission
Abstracts (in English, maximum 3 pages, including data and references)
have to be submitted electronically as portable document format (.pdf)
or Microsoft Word (.doc) files via the EasyChair conference management system:
http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=psb08
If you do not have an EasyChair account, click on the button "I have
no EasyChair Account" on that page and follow the instructions. When
you receive a password, you can enter the site and upload your abstract.
Workshop Web Page
http://www.let.uu.nl/~Nino.Amiridze/personal/organization/PSB08.html
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