The new University of Wales Trinity St David will have a major academic coup
to its name virtually from Day One.
For it has been chosen to host a major international conference by the Foundation of Endangered Languages.
The new university, which takes shape in the autumn as a marriage of Trinity University and Lampeter, will welcome up to 100 academics from all over the world to its Carmarthen campus.
“It really is something of a coup for the university. It is a major annual international conference and we are looking forward to being the host university,” said Dr Hywel Lewis, pictured, who is the MA Bilingual Studies Programme Coordinator at the university.
“The conference will be held here from September 13-15 and has a very topical theme – Reversing Language Shift: How to Re-awaken a Language Tradition.
“The conference was originally due to be held in Ecuador, but when they requested a postponement we were able to step into the breach and offer our facilities here at Carmarthen.”
Dr Lewis attended the conference two years ago when it was held in the Netherlands.
He said the event offered a superb forum for discussion on endangered languages, with academic papers being published and seminars focussing on a whole range of topics.
Dr Lewis said that a snapshot of about 6,000-plus languages worldwide showed key facts –
- 96 per cent of those 6,000-plus languages were spoken by just four
- per cent of the world’s population.
- 52% of languages were spoken by fewer than 10,000 people
- 28% were spoken by fewer than 1,000
- 83% were spoken only in single countries and were particularly exposed to the policies of a single government
- At the other end of the scale, 10 major languages, each spoken by more than 109 million people, provided the mother tongues of almost half of the world’s population.
Dr Lewis said: “Many languages are on the verge of extinction. Their fate can be compared to that of many animals facing extinction, but they probably receive less global attention than the fate of many animals.
“As a Foundation, we are very concerned with highlighting the part language plays in cultural variety and diversification. It is also important to consider the economic repercussions of promoting different languages.
“Languages can play a massive part in the identity and profile of various parts of the globe and they can be powerful economic factors.”
Dr Lewis said he hoped the conference would also attract people from outside the academic world.
“We are hoping that people involved in national policy-making and promoting languages will also attend the conference. That could include senior members of the Welsh Assembly Government.
“Also, the conference will not be all doom and gloom about languages facing extinction. There are some very positive stories, such as parts of the old Soviet Union of Russia where smaller languages are making a comeback after years of oppression.”
You can find out more about the Foundation for Endangered Languages on the
website – http://ogmios.org
