The University of Cambridge-based Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) is holding a conference themed « language documentation, pedagogy, and revitalization » this Friday, March 25.

The event will bring together academics, students, and members of indigenous communities from all around the world, who’ll reflect on their mutual on-going efforts to collect and classify data on endangered languages. They will also discuss ways of using this data in the future for transmitting and teaching these languages.

Plenary speakers are:

– Peter Austin – director of ELAP (Endangered Languages Academic Programme), from the London-based School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and member of the Sorosoro scientific board – on « Language Revitalization and Pedagogy in Eastern Australia »

– Nikolaus Himmelmann – University of Cologne, Germany – on « Language Documentation ».

Sessions will consist of 20 minutes papers followed by 10 minutes of discussion and questions. They’ll address, among others, interdisciplinary approach, innovation in data collection techniques, archiving issues, teaching languages to children and adults, revitalization at school, in families, and in a broader way, within the communities themselves.

For information, the CRASSH is a young research centre, established in 2001, aiming to « promote collaborations across the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities in order to stimulate innovative and interdisciplinary thinking ». On the occasion of its very first conference on language endangerment, the CRASSH manages to gather quite a diversity of experts: anthropologists, psycholinguists, Internet specialists, museum directors… We can only hope for this first edition to be followed by many others.

Registration for this conference is closed already. Those who wish to be put on a waiting list may email hb380@cam.ac.uk.

Full day programme

University of Cambridge

Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH)

17 Mill Lane, Cambridge CB2 1RX

Tel: +44 1223 766886

Fax: +44 1223 765276