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The 1st Sorosoro Conference on June 9th, 2008
After a development phase from 2006 to 2008, Sorosoro was ready to be launched in June 2008 under the aegis of the Fondation Chirac. Several participants delivered speeches at the microphone of the Levi-Strauss hall of the Quai Branly Museum.
Upload the complete program (in French)
Rozenn Milin
Rozenn Milin, creator and director of the project, presented its main lines and philosophy: the planet now has 6,000 to 7,000 languages, half of which are most likely doomed to extinction during this XXIst century. To remedy the considerable loss of knowledge and culture that this “cultural holocaust” will induce, Sorosoro aims to document as many of these languages as possible using audiovisual media, to complete the work of field scientists.
(Video available only in French)
Erik Orsenna
Writer Erik Orsenna, Goncourt Prize and author of several books on French language, then spoke of the tragedy induced by the loss of diversity, as much in the cultural field as in the biological field. Referring to these languages and endangered cultures around the world, he strongly asserted that “each of these murmurs is a universe that is about to disappear.”
(Video available only in French)
Rigoberta Menchu
As guest of honor, Rigoberta Menchu, Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, spoke at length about her people’s struggle for the recognition of Mayan languages, which were largely destroyed by colonization and are still suffering distressing discrimination. Yet these ancestral languages, wherever they are, carry a singular vision of the world and above all civilizations that are much more sustainable than the Western way of life that prevail everywhere at this time.
(Video available only in Spanish, with French subtitles)
Several renowned linguists then delivered their presentations : Colette Grinevald, from Lyon 2 University, a member of the Institut Universitaire de France and a specialist in Latin American languages; Peter Austin, Director of ELAP (Endangered Languages Academic Program) at SOAS in London and a specialist of aboriginal languages of Australia; Patrick Mouguiama-Daouda, from the Omar Bongo University in Gabon; Juliana Sis Iboy, Director of OKMA (Research and Documentation Centre of Mayan languages in Guatemala); and Hanna Vari-Bogiri of the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu, a specialist of the Araki language, of which comes the word “Sorosoro”.
Colette Grinevald
Linguist at CNRS and Lyon2 University, Member of the Institut universitaire de France
(Video available only in French)
Peter Austin
Director of ELAP (Endangered Languages Academic Programme) at SOAS, London University
Patrick Mouguiama-Daouda
Linguist, Omar Bongo University, Gabon
(Video available only in French)
Juliana Sis Iboy
Linguist, Director of OKMA (Research and Documentation Center de recherche on Mayan languages in Guatemala)
(Video available only in Spanish, with French subtitles)
Hannah Vari-Bogiri
Linguist, University of South Pacifique, Vanuatu, Spécialist of the Araki language (8 speakers)