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Mercator
Newsletter - n. 30, December 2006
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From January 2005 the Mercator Common Newsletter is a monthly newsletter. This way you will be kept informed with more recent and updated information. |
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New titles Mercator-Education Library |
Mercator Media Seminar: "Linguistic diversity and the media: strategies and resources for language acquisition" |
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Mercator centres |
| Two of the Mercator projects, Education and Legislation, have officially ended on the 31st of December 2006. The Mercator Media project will continue to be co funded by the Commission until the end of April 2007. As part of the activities for this year Mercator Media organises a one-day Seminar on in Cardiff on the 26 of January. The two other Mercator projects as well as Mercator Media are determined to continue our activities in the respective fields of expertise. This is why we have planned to apply for funds in the new European Commission Life Long Learning Programme 2007-2013. If we succeed, the new activities will restart in Autumn 2007. In the meantime all three Mercator centres will keep active with other projects related to our research areas. |
| News December 2006 |
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Amnesty International says linguistic rights are limited in Estonia December 2006 – Amnesty International has called on authorities in Estonia to end the discrimination of the country's Russian-speaking minority. The rights watchdog issued the report Linguistic minorities in Estonia: Discrimination must end last December 7 in Tallinn. Estonia, a country that has been a member of the European Union since 2004, is constituted by 68% of Ethnic Estonians, 25% of Russians, with the remaining percentages consisting primarily of Belarusians, Ukrainians and Finns. According to the report, persons belonging to the Russian minority enjoy “very limited minority rights, and often find themselves de facto excluded from the labour market and educational system through a system of rigorous language and citizenship requirements for employment and limited possibilities of studying in minority languages in higher education”. The report includes some recommendations and also calls on the Estonian authorities to recognize its Russian-speaking minority as a linguistic minority. In order to do that, the rapporteurs point out that Estonia should reconsider its current definition of what constitutes a national minority. According to them, this definition should enable all those who lived in Estonia before 1991 and their descendants to qualify as belonging to a minority, regardless of their citizenship status. The report also recommends Estonia to sign and ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Amnesty International report Third Report on Estonia by the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) State programme “Integration in Estonian Society 2000-2007” Regulations on advertising in Irish still to be drafted after three years of enactment of the official Languages Act December 2006 – The Joint Oireachta Committee for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs started the discussion last week about the regulations on advertising in Irish by public bodies. Section 9.1 of the Official Languages Act establishes that the Minister “may by regulations provide that oral announcements (whether live or recorded) made by a public body, the headings of stationery used by a public body and the contents and the lay-out of any signage or advertisements placed by it shall, to such extent as may be specified, be in the Irish language or in the English and Irish languages[…]” During the meeting of the Joint Committee, Minister Éamon Ó Cuív said that he was still willing to bring forward proposals to draft the regulations. The statement comes after having issued some guidelines in September 2004 stating that “regulations under Section 9 of the Act regarding bilingual advertising will be made by the Minister shortly”. Certainly, section 12 of the aforementioned act says that the Minister “shall issue to public bodies guidelines in relation to the preparation by public bodies of draft schemes”, but also that “as soon as practicable after the commencement of this section the Minister shall prepare a draft of any guidelines that he or she proposes to issue […]”. Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, the representative body for 23 Irish Language Voluntary organizations, has criticized the Minister’s attitude by saying that “over two years have passed and the Minister is now saying that the homework is not yet done”. In their point of view, “it is important that the Minister is continually pressed to fulfil the promise he made when the Language Bill was being discussed in the Houses of the Oireachtas 3 years ago”. Official Languages Act 2003 Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge Department of Community Rural and Gaeltacht Afairs (Gaelic and English) The French national assembly rejects an amendement for the constitutional recognition of the “regional” languages December 2006 – Marc Le Fur, elected deputy for the Breton department of Côte-d'Armor (Aodoù an Arvor), presented an amendment before the French Assembly which called on the French Constitution to recognize the so-called “regional” languages in the plenary session of December 13. The constitutional debate was on the agenda as a result of the discussion of a bill on the electoral census in New Caledonia, a France’s overseas territory where a self-determination referendum is planned for 2014. The debate on New Caledonia and its consequences on the Constitution allowed Marc Le Fur to attempt for the second time the modification of Article 2 of the French Constitution, which establishes that “the language of the Republic is French”. The Breton deputy proposed to add a second clause to the former article guaranteeing “respect for regional languages, which are part of our common heritage”. According to Le Fur, the constitutional amendment is essential for France to ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, an international instrument signed by France in 1999 but which has not been yet ratified, as the Constitutional Council of France declared that the implementation of the Charter would be unconstitutional and incompatible with article 2. In fact, it is interesting to remember that article 2 of the Constitution was urgently approved just before the deadline to ratify the European Charter. The final vote resulted in 57 votes against the modification and 44 in favour. La Fur said that in spite of the result, “the cause is progressing”. The deputy reminded that “last time, the amendment was rejected by more than 25 votes”. As usual, though, the linguistic debate in France has been greeted with mistrust by the leftist parties –although some of their deputies voted in favour– and the extreme hostility of some right-wing members of the Assembly such as Jean-Pierre Soisson, as can be seen in the minutes of the plenary that Mercator Legislation offers. French Constitution Mercator related news Minutes of the plenary session (in French) Postponement of a popular iniciative bill for “the sicilian language, culture and media” December 2006 – The Promotion Committee for a Popular Initiative Bill for the “Sicilian Language, Culture and Media” has postponed the collection of signatures in support of this bill. The reason of the postponement is due to the fact that the Regional Commission in charge of validating the signatures has not yet been established. Nevertheless, the campaign to give support to the bill’s Promotion Committee remains open. Until now this campaign has been extremely successful and has overcome the most optimistic forecasts. Although Sicily has a sixty years special autonomy statute which guarantees, for instance, exclusive powers on primary education, the statute makes no explicit mention to language demands but it does not rule them out either. The bill’s objectives are not purely linguistic in nature, as it also aims at promoting literary, cultural and wider social aspects of Sicily. The demands, which are respectful with the official status of Italian language, focus on three main issues: “1. The introduction of the study of Sicilian language, culture and society to all schools at different educational levels; 2. The introduction of bilingualism in legislation, in the administration and in public signs, and 3. The creation of a regional public TV and radio service with a certain amount of programs broadcast in Sicilian language.” Bill for “The Sicilian Language, Culture and Media” from l’Altra Sicilia Association (in Italian) Statute of Autonomy of Sicily (in Italian) Mercator related news Convention protections denied to Cornish in draft report (Source: Celtic League) December 2006 – In its long awaited draft “UK Framework Convention Compliance Report”, the Westminster Government has once again shied away from including the Cornish under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. As has been reported previously on the Celtic League news site, the report is almost three years overdue from the Council of Europe deadline. According to the draft report, since the UK government ratified the FCPNM, a number of Cornish organisations and individuals have made representations to the Government arguing that the Cornish should be considered within the scope of the FC's application in the UK. The Government therefore included these organisations in its consultation prior to the preparation of this 2nd report under the FC. The Government has considered the arguments put forward for the inclusion, but has not been convinced that a move away from the Race Relations Act formula can be justified. This means that the Government is sticking to its belief that the Race Relations Act (RRA) is the only possible recourse for an ethnic group in the UK to be included under the Framework Convention. In other words, it implies that a Cornish individual must bring and win a civil court case in order to be included under the Convention, like the Welsh and the Scottish have done in the past. However, in the Compliance Report itself, mention is made of minority ethnic groups (e.g. Chinese, Black people), who the government indicates receive official support as per the Convention (FCPNM), but do not have RRA case law references either. It seems, therefore, that the Westminster Government is unclear about its own criteria. Campaigners have until 20 January 2007 to recommend changes to the draft document, an electronic copy of which can be obtained by contacting: neil.harris@communities.gsi.gov.uk. First UK report (1999) Celtic League Cornwall County Council Controversy in Catalonia about a Spanish government decree that increases at three hours per week the teaching of Spanish in primary schools December 2006 – The Spanish government approved on the 7th of December the Royal Decree 1513/2006 that establishes the minimum contents that primary education pupils have to achieve on finishing this educational cycle. The royal decree could mean an increase to three hours per week of Spanish language lessons at primary schools in Autonomous Communities with co-official languages. In Catalonia, the decree has produced a great controversy among politicians, in cultural and linguistic organizations as well as among education professionals. The majority consider that this decree, apart from interfering in the government of Catalonia’s competences in education, attempts against its model of linguistic immersion which already guarantees the achievement of linguistic competence in the two languages by all pupils at the end of their primary education. This model has been praised in the Council of Europe’s evaluation report on the application by the Spanish State of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The Catalan executive has decided to present a requirement for incompetence to the Government of the State after considering a juridical report according to which the decree trespasses the article 111 of the Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, where shared competences between the State and the Generalitat are established. The report considers that the Spanish decree has exceed its area of regulation since it sets up more than 55% of schools schedule. Thus, the Government Catalonia has asked to revoke 5 articles of the Spanish decree (6, 7,11.2, 13.5, 13.6), the final first disposition and the annexes I, II and III. It does not discard either the presentation of an appeal before in the Spanish Constitutional Court if an agreement is not reached within the framework of the bilateral commission State-Generalitat. The Royal Decree (in Spanish) Catalan Statute of Autonomy Report of the Council of Europe (08/04/2005) |
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Welsh-language broadcaster to unveil new brand identity The Welsh-language broadcaster S4C is to launch a new brand identity to take it forward to its 2009 digital switchover deadline and beyond. Due to be launched on January 18, the rebranding, through Proud Creative, presents a contemporary image and attitude to be integrated across S4C's on-air, off-air and online activities. The current S4C identity has been in place since 1993. S4C launched in 1982 and airs more than 80 hours of programming a week, with Welsh programming taking the prime time slots, including sport, music, live events, drama, news and children's shows. Iona Jones, S4C chief executive, said: "The new brand reflects S4C's agenda for creative excellence. It demonstrates a renewed confidence in our content and will help the channel stand out as a multi-platform operator in the all-digital environment." Proud Creative won the rebranding over five other shortlisted companies and assembled a team that included the consultancy arm of onedotzero and creative production collective Rare to work on the project. The initial series of channel indents are based on the concept based on "uncontrollable attraction", reflecting the Welsh viewers' feelings of an emotional affinity with the country. Director Simon Ratigan put his own creative twist on the creative aspects. Dylan Griffith, creative consultant to S4C and overall creative director of the project, said: "While the identity and tone of voice of the rebrand are inherently Welsh, we have avoided traditional Welsh icons. Our aim has been to reflect the broad and contemporary appeal of S4C's programming." Digital terrestrial television channels to be obliged to broadcast 30% in Galician The autonomous government of Galicia plans to establish a new body to regulate broadcasting content to be known as the ‘plataforma de control de contidos para as emisións’. One of its objectives will be to see new digital terrestrial television channels fulfil an obligation to broadcast 30% of the time, where they do not already do so, in the Galician language. Digital terrestrial television is especially relevant in Galicia because of problems with analogue signal reception. Galicia and Andalucía are the two communities within the Spanish state with the largest audiences for programmes broadcast on digital terrestrial television. The data of ImpulsaTDT indicates that5 over 11% of Galician households now have a receiver adapted for digital, with which it is possible to view the programming of state-wide channels as well as that of CRTVG (Compañia de Radio Televisión de Galicia), the Galician public broadcaster. The establishment of the new regulatory body is included in Galicia’s Plan for the Information Society which is about to be approved by the government. In addition to overseeing the percentage of use of the Galician language, the new body will also ensure, among other things, that the programming of digital channels does not violate the rights of children and that home production constitutes at least 60% of programming. Webnoz: first ever live Breton language talk-show on the Web Webnoz, a new type of Breton language talk-show broadcast live on the internet was premiered on 18 December at a Breton-medium secondary school in Karaez, central Brittany. Staged in the same format as a television talk-show, the programme featured numerous Breton speakers, including singers Nolwen Korbell and Gwennyn, who performed live and gave their opinion on the situation of the language. The young audience applauded a hip hop act in Breton. Writers, business people, and students were also invited to express their views on the significance of speaking, working and living in Breton today. Throughout the programme, a moderator spoke on behalf of those who watched the show live on the internet and were invited to raise questions to participants. Most of them congratulated the organizers for what is seen as a breakthrough in a context where setting-up a fully-fledged traditional television channel in Breton is made virtually impossible by the current French legislation on media and hostility towards regional languages at state level. 2,300 people have watched the programme live on the web, more than twice the expected amount. "We were delighted to see that young people have actively taken part both in front of and behind the screen," says Webnoz founder Lionel Buhannic. "We also found out that many who are in full-board Breton secondary schools were connected to the show." Young people and those who are learning the language are particularly targeted by the founders of Webnoz. "Following every monthly broadcast, a series of learning materials based on the talk-show will complement the programme," says Lionel Buhannic. "Explanations on accents, dialects, expressions and vocabulary used by participants will be available." Parallel to the programme, breizhoweb.com, a web-site dedicated to news in Breton, has also been set up. This initiative is supported by the Regional Council. Jean-Pierre Thomin, in charge of Breton language policy on the Council and Mayor of the town of Landerne (Landerneau), told the audience that this new programme was another example which showed, "that the Breton language can make a major breakthrough in the near future if we are determined." Support was also granted by local authorities and private contributors. On the technical front, a crew from Armor TV, a local internet-based television channel launched in the Aodoù an Arvor (Côtes d’Armor) area of Brittany two weeks ago, provided filming and broadcast services. This new initiative is seen as an important step by many Breton speakers, particularly after a constitutional amendment to recognize regional languages, tabled by Breton MP Marc Le Fur, was once again rejected in the French Parliament last week. However, this time the amendment only just failed as the vote was much closer than on the two previous attempts, which for some, gives a signal of hope. Webnoz will be broadcast live from a different place every third Monday of the month. Next stop will be in Kawan (Cavan) in the Treger (Trégor) area. Links: Spanish prosecutors drop all charges against Basque newspaper, Egunkaria "There is not a single piece of proof to connect Egunkaria with ETA", were the words of Miguel Angel Carballo prosecutor at the Spanish Audiencia Nacional, the tribunal that ordered in 2003 the closure of the only Basque-language daily newspaper. The prosecutors reached their conclusions last Thursday, and have recommended that Egunkaria's board of directors should not be prosecuted. Seven of those arrested in 2003 reported having been tortured by the Guardia Civil, among them the director of the newspaper, Martxelo Otamendi. The daily has been closed since, it's assets seized and sold off, and 180 workers lost their jobs. "The prosecutor thinks that there is not enough evidence to go ahead with the case, and no basis to prove that ETA hid behind a legal newspaper", says Carballo. He adds that after four years of investigation he has found out that "in its 13-year lifetime Egunkaria did not publish a single article, or editorial, in which a desire to bring support to ETA was to be seen." As a result the prosecutor is demanding that the Audiencia Nacional's first criminal court drop the case and drop all charges against the accused. Egunkaria was closed on February 20th 2003. In the middle of the night, the Spanish Guardia Civil broke into the houses of ten members and ex-members of the newspaper's board. They were taken to Egunkaria's premises in Andoain, 16 kilometres from Donostia (San Sebastian). The Guardia Civil closed the newsroom, and took those arrested to Madrid. They were held incommunicado for several days. Seven of the arrested reported that they were subjected to several types of torture. They said they were beaten and forced to do physical exercise until exhaustion. The director of the newspaper, Otamendi, told the judges that the police placed a gun against his temple, and simulated his execution. His head was wrapped in plastic bags several times to suffocate him. Another of those arrested, Pello Zubiria, had to be taken to hospital, because he could not withstand the treatment and tried to commit suicide. They were all freed in the following days, except for Iñaki Uria and Xabier Alegria. Mr Uria spent 17 months in prison, Mr Alegria almost two years. All had to pay bail, amounting to 700,000 euros. The operation was ordered by judge Juan del Olmo of the Audiencia Nacional. "As it has not been proved that Egunkaria helped finance ETA or laundered its money; as it has been seen that neither Egunkaria, nor the accused, have ever helped ETA or justified terrorist actions [...]: it is unfair to proceed with the trial," concluded prosecutor Carballo. The defendants in the Egunkaria case were happy with the prosecutor's demand, but cautioned against any euphoria. In spite of the recommendations the tribunal might well go ahead with the case. "You have to realize that this step is not definitive," said Joan Mari Torrealdai, former member of Egunkaria's board and one of those being prosecuted. Torrealdai explains that here are still two private parties that are asking for the trial to proceed. "The prosecutor can't close the case, only the Audiencia Nacional can do that, and we do not have much confidence." Mr Torrealdai continued, "The case against us was politically motivated by the Government of Jose Maria Aznar, as were many others in Euskal Herria". Berria newspaper (in Euskara) Source: Eurolang Hearing on Proposed Broadcasting Bill in Ireland The Irish Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, organised an oral hearing in early January on the submissions received from various bodies on proposals for a Broadcasting Bill which were published in 2006. The hearing was broadcast live on webcast. A specific time was allotted to discuss the position of Irish in the draft proposals. There were representatives present from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, the public broadcasting body RTÉ and the Irish-language television channel TG4. Pádraig Ó Ceithearnaigh (Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge), Julian de Spáinn (Conradh na Gaeilge) and Aodhán Mac Póilín (Iontaobhas Ultach) spoke on behalf of the Irish language community. There was overall agreement on the importance of Irish in broadcasting. The question now is will this agreement be reflected in a practicable way when the Broadcasting Bill is finally published. The hearing in total can be watched and contributions can be made to the discussion on a discussion board on www.econsultation.ie. |
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Mercator Education gets funding to set up a European Centre of Expertise on Multilingualism and Education Mercator Education in Friesland will continue next year as "a European Centre of Expertise on Multilingualism and Education." For the development of the centre Mercator Education receives a grant of 470.000 euro from the province Fryslân and the Frisian capital of Ljouwert (Leeuwarden). European funding for all Mercator centres ends on the 31st of December this year, without any certainty for support in the future. New possibilities for funding will be created within the new Integrated Longlife Learning Programme (ILLP), but this programme is not finished yet. In spite of this financial setback all Mercator centres intend to carry on with alternative financial support. The Frisian support enables Mercator Education to move into a new direction and to widen its activities and research in the area of multilingualism and education. Apart from the development of the Centre of Expertise, Mercator will continue with its existing projects such as the Network of Schools, its databases, the collection of data about the teaching of minority languages throughout Europe, and its yearly conference. Study visit by a Moldavian delegation to Friesland On 20 and 21 December a delegation from Kazaghstan visited Mercator-Education. The delegation came to Fryslân in order to receive general information on the situation of multilingual education throughout Europe from Mercator Education as well as to study the local situation and experiences with multilingual education in Fryslân. The program included visits to the Frisian broadcast company “Omrop Fryslân” and educational institutions such as AFUK. The other day the Frisian Academy was visited where besides the research in the field of education, Mercator-Education, the Frisian Language Board and the Foundation of Endangered Languages were presented. It was decided that in the near future close cooperation will be established between Mercator Education and institutions within the Kazaghstan Republic. |
| Publications |
| New titles Mercator-Education Library, December 2006 |
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Multilingual education Educaţia multiculturală ca mijloc de management al diversităţii şi de integrare în societatea polietnică: Materialele Conferinţei Internaţionale, 16-17 decembrie 2004, Chişinău = Multicultural education as a tool of diversity management and integration in poliethnic society : International Conference Materials, 16-17 december 2004, Chisinau / [ed. by] Atanasia/ Tatiana Stoianova. – Chişinău : Vector, 2005. – (Tipogr. “Reclama”), 2005. – 288 p. – isbn 9975987044 Schule in mehrsprachigen Regionen Europas = School systems in multilingual regions of Europe / [ed.by] Werner Wiater and Gerda Videsott. – Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2006. – 443 p. – isbn 3631542747 Linguistics Language variation – European perspectives : Selected papers from the Third International Conference on language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE3), Amsterda, June 2005 / [ed.by] Frans Hinskens. – Amsterdam [etc.]: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2006. –279 p. – isbn 9027234817 Lithuanian National minorities in Lithuania / [ed.by] Sudarė Paliukienė and Jonas Rumša. – Vilnius: The Department of National Minorities and Lithuanians living abroad to the government of the Republic of Lithuania, 2000. – 47p. – isbn9986402344 Frisian language Interesting website: www.heitenmem.nl Online journal launched (www.bisal.bbk.ac.uk/)
The first volume of Birkbeck Studies in Applied Linguistics (BISAL) is published as an online journal. There will be one regular volume a year and occasional special issues. Volume 1 features current research of staff and students and colleagues affiliated to the Department in the following areas: Bilingualism and Second Language Acquisition, Sociolinguistics, Sociopragmatics, Discourse Analysis, and Social Psychology. Articles can be downloaded fulltext. |
| Events |
| Mercator Media Seminar: "Linguistic diversity and the media: strategies and resources for language acquisition" |
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Wales Millenium Centre, Cardiff, Wales - 26 January 2007 - Language learning and teaching are fundamental to efforts for the promotion of regional and minority languages. The European Commission places great emphasis on this field in its activities and its Action Plan for Linguistic Diversity and Lifelong Learning sets a framework for specific action by Member States. These include extending and improving language learning and teaching across Europe and creating a better environment for the acquisition of languages. In this context it is timely to assess the current application of media to regional and minority language acquisition. Click here for full details: www.aber.ac.uk/ |
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