MINELRES: Mercator Newsletter 2 - May 2003

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Hamersma <jhamersma@fa.knaw.nl> 


News 

Mercator-Legislation Working Papers no.11 and no.12 

General
First Mercator International Symposium on Minority Languages and
Research hailed as a success
 

May

Irish Newspaper becomes Daily

Situation of language rights in Basque country has worsened
(Kontseilua.org)

The first general Occitan Dictionary has been published (Vilaweb / Avui
/ Lleng�es vives digital)

Text of former Basque Magazine made available on the Internet

Austria submits the first report on the European Charter for Regional or
Minority Languages

New publication on the Linguistic Enclaves in the European Union

Follow-up body of Catalan Language has been created

Minority language media network launched at Mercator symposium

 
April

Report on the workshop "Linguistic diversity - an inclusive approach"

Double standards on minority rights in the European Union (MRG) 

Survey on language use in Barcelona area: negative figures for Catalan
(AVUI)

Public support for the Breton language (Ouest France)

Catalunya Nord: campaign for secondary school as demand for
Catalan-medium education increases

Council of Europe's assembly calls for a legal instrument to protect
sign languages 

Turkey plans to liberalise language policy towards non-official
languages (Radikal)

North Frisian Language Institute under threat

Polemic due to Spanish ministry of education's plan to double class
hours of Spanish language subject (AVUI)
 

March

Latvia will ratify Framework Convention for the Protection of National
Minorities (Minelres)

Macedonia will include Albanian language on passport cover (RFE/RL)

European Court of Human Rights declares application on education reform
in Latvia inadmissible (Minelres)

New Discussion List on Gallo Launched

New Gaelic On-Line Magazine

Basque Government�s Minister for Culture underlines commitment to
existence of Daily Press in Basque

New criticism on legal framework of regional language education in
France (AVUI)
 

February

Isle of Man government is to give greater support to Manx (Isle of man
government/Celtic league)

Current events regarding Mirandese (P�blico/O informativo/Correio da
Manh�)

Reactions against the closing of Egunkaria, the only Basque-language
newspaper (El Peri�dico/Vilaweb)

No right to affirm Cornish ethnicity in school

New Catalan University Law includes language aspects 

Latvia "not ready" for bilingual education

EBLUL makes a proposal of amendment to the future European Constitution

Finland adopts new language law 

Russian university branches in Estonia under attack
 

Publications 

�  Working Paper no. 11

Recent changes in Turkey's Language Legislation, by Dr. �zlem Eraydin
Virtanen (Adnan Menderes University, Nazilli, Turkey). English and
Catalan versions
 

�  Working Paper no. 12 

The Evolutionary Process of Laws on the State Language, Education, and
Naturalisation: A Reflection of Latvia�s Democratisation Process, by Dr.
Aija Priedite, Doctor of Philosophy and Director of the Latvian Language
Programme Unit (responsible for the implementation of the National
Programme for Latvian Language Training). English and Catalan versions


�  Mercator-Legislation Bulletin no. 53 (I Quarter 2003) English and
Catalan versions

Constitutional Law no. 1/2001 of December 12th, Portugal 
Bylaw on the learning of languages and dialects used traditionally by
Turkish citizens in their daily lives, 2002 Turkey 
Regulation on the Language of Radio and Television broadcasts, 2002
Turkey
European Court of Human Rights: Chamber judgement in the case of
Podkolzina v. Latvia, 2002

 

�        Dossier no. 13 English and Catalan versions

The Protection of Minority Languages in the Czech Republic and in
Slovakia, a Requirement for EU- Accession, by Bernat Pujadas
(Mercator-Legislation)


New
Mercator-Legislation Inquiry
Let us know your opinion about Mercator-Legislation�s website: answer a
questionnaire about our site. It is available in Catalan, English,
French and German.
 

Network of Schools
In our previous newsletter we mentioned the setting-up of a network of
bi- and trilingual primary schools around Europe. This network is going
to facilitate the exchange of information between schools and people
involved or interested in education in minority languages. Please
contact us if you wish to participate in or be a member of this network.
To view the current status of our network please log on to the 'Network
of Schools' section on our website or have a look at an online
presentation of the project in English or German.


Virtual Library

Mercator-Education has obtained a grant from the umbrella organisation
of the Fryske Akademy to build a virtual library for minority languages
in the European Union. The preparations for the project (1 � year) will
start in June 2003. 

European Languages Mercator-Legisation 
The minorised languages of some of the states applying for EU-membership
- Hungary, Poland, Cyprus, Estonia, Czech Republic and Slovenia - have
been added to our on-line guide about legislation on these languages in
European Union member states. English and Catalan versions.
 

Some interesting books


Call for Working Papers
Mercator-Linguistic Rights & Legislation wishes to make it possible for
its users, namely young scholars doing research in the field of
glottopolitics, to submit their works in progress in order to have them
published as part of the "Working Papers" collection. It is intended
that this collection will include research works or short papers (20-35
pages) focusing on linguistic rights, legislation and policies
concerning European minorised or lesser-used languages, as well as
comparative works on the legal situation of different languages and
their use in public life. For further information, please contact us:
mercator@ciemen.org
 

Books
Linguistic Enclaves in the European Union. V International Symposium on
European Languages and Legislation (Miranda do Douro, April 2002), with
articles in Mirandese, Portuguese, Spanish and English. 
LLL - Links of Language Legislation. Handbook on the main EU language
legislation documents 
LLL - Enlla�os de Legislaci� Ling��stica. Guia d'acc�s als principals
documents de legislaci� ling��stica de la UE

These are publications in paper format. If you want to purchase a copy
(cost: � 9 + post expenses), please contact: mercator@ciemen.org
For more information about us, please visit Mercator-Legislation�s
website.

http://www.ciemen.org/mercator/central-gb.cfm