Revaluing minority languages

The 16^th International Conference on Minority Languages (ICML XVI) and the 34th Summer School and Conference of Applied Language Studies will be held in Jyväskylä and Närpes, Finland, August 28-30, 2017.

Conference theme: Revaluing minority languages

Minority languages have long been used by different groups of social actors for identity and community building purposes, such as the symbolic, material, and political mobilisation of linguistic and cultural rights. Currently, under changing political, economic and cultural conditions around the world, minority languages are subject to multiple, overlapping and even contradictory discourses and practices of valuation and revaluation.

The peripheral position of minority languages, as structured by nation-state logics, and the central role endowed to them in the political projects of various minority groups are now complexified by both the increasing economic value of minority languages as a resource of distinction and authenticity, and by the intensified mobility of languages and their speakers. Some of the consequences of this complexification result in re-evaluating the relationship between minority and migrant languages and the trajectories of so-called “new speakers” of minority languages.

ICML XVI will address critical questions such as how minority languages are valued, by whom and under what conditions.

The conference is open to researchers, students and stakeholders from across the multidisciplinary field of minority languages.

Academic Programme

In addition to the talks delivered by plenary speakers, the programme will consist of panel discussions, paper and poster sessions, colloquia and workshops.

Plenary speakers:

• Professor Helen Kelly Holmes (University of Limerick, Ireland)
• Professor Ingrid Piller (Macquarie University, Australia)
• Director Robert Adam (University College London, UK)
• Professor Sari Pöyhönen (University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

Pre- or post-conference workshops will be organized by plenary speakers.

Invited panels

• Historical language minorities in Finland and neighboring countries
• Immigration and integration in the Swedish speaking regions of Finland

Further information

The submission of proposals for papers, posters, colloquia and workshops within the research theme Revaluing Minority Languages will open in January 2017 and closes on February 28, 2017. Visit the conference website for regular updates on ICML XIV. The conference organizers can be contacted at [email protected] or on Twitter @ApplingJYU #ICMLXVI