[Bilimsel Haber] CONF./CFP- Language Change in Bilingual Communities: Focus on Post-Soviet Countries, Uppsala, Oct. 3, 2008

[Gonul Pultar]

CONF./CFP- Language Change in Bilingual Post-Soviet Communities, 
Uppsala, Oct 3

Posted by: Nino Amiridze <nino.amiridze at let.uu.nl>



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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