The Centre for Transnational Studies
School of Modern Languages
University of Southampton, UK
8-10 July 2004

An international conference on
Language and the future of Europe: ideologies, policies and practices

Keynote speakers
Jan Blommaert, University of Ghent
Susan Gal, University of Chicago
Thomas Ricento, University of Texas

With the accession to the EU of ten new member states on 1 May 2004, the
process of social transformation within and across national boundaries
throughout Europe will be given a new impetus. At the same time, the
accelerated process of unification has renewed and heightened the
tension between national and supra-national interests. One of the most
tangible manifestations of this tension - between the promotion of, and
resistance to, social, economic and political unification - is in
conflicting language ideologies, policies and practices. At this
decisive moment in contemporary European history, the Centre for
Transnational Studies at the University of Southampton, UK, invites
contributions to debates on these issues at a conference to be held in
Southampton on 8-10 July 2004.

The conference will give an opportunity to look behind political
rhetoric and consider both the attitudes that lie behind policy and the
specific practices with which effective policy must be compatible. It
will also consider the impact of European policies and practices on the
wider world, including the consequences of colonial and neo-colonial
legacies. Papers are invited on all aspects of this European theme, but
proposals which analyse the relationships between language ideologies,
policies and practices will be particularly welcome.

It is anticipated that selected papers will be published following the
conference.

Papers could focus on the following topics:

language rights

language and citizenship

international and global languages

the contest for domination of linguistic markets

discourses of ethnolinguistic and European identity

language and transnational relations

mobility, migration and linguistic identities

multilingual cities

official and working languages of the EU

national language policies

translation

language in education

regional and minority languages

regionalism versus globalisation

the negotiation of communities / the creation of publics


Please send proposals for papers by 31 January 2004 to lipp@soton.ac.uk
(preferably in Word or PDF). Abstracts should be no longer than 250
words, with no more than essential references.

The conference web site can be found at
http://www.lang.soton.ac.uk/lipp/.
For further information, please contact a member of the organising
committee.

Organising committee

Christopher Brumfit, Professor of Language in Education
cjb1@soton.ac.uk

Michael Kelly, Professor of French
mhk@soton.ac.uk

Clare Mar-Molinero, Reader in Spanish sociolinguistics
cmm@soton.ac.uk

Patrick Stevenson, Reader in German sociolinguistics
prs1@soton.ac.uk