International Conference 2011

International Conference “Minority languages and scientific communication” on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Societât Sientifiche e Tecnologjiche Furlane

Scientists from across Europe gathered on Friday 16 December 2011 in Udine for the International Conference “Minority languages and scientific communication”, organised by the Societât Sientifiche e Tecnologjiche Furlane to mark the tenth anniversary of its foundation.

The conference, held in the “R. Gusmani” Conference Hall of Palazzo Antonini, Via Petracco 8, University of Udine, brought together representatives of the most important European “stateless languages”, who compared their respective experiences of using a minority language in teaching, in research and in professional practice in technical and scientific fields.

Taking part in the conference was Maria Gil, head of scientific communication at the Elhuyar, Foundation, a private association highly active in the field of science outreach in the Basque language at every level, which in forty years has generated a whole range of enterprises in the educational, promotional and publishing sectors relating to science in Basque.

For Catalonia, Sandra Cuadrado i Camps of the terminology centre Termcat was present, together with Aureli Argemí of Ciemen in Barcelona, who gave the keynote address jointly with the Slovene Bojan Brezigar, editor of the daily Primorski Dnevnik and formerly president of the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages.

Also taking part in the conference were Dr Delyth Prys, head of Language Technologies at Bangor University in Wales, Professor Robert Dunbar of the University of the Highlands and Islands, Anne Dykstra of the Fryske Akademy in Leeuwarden in Friesland, and Mariannig Le Béchec of the Point BZH association, who spoke on the presence of Breton in the new technologies sector.

The presence of Sardinian and Friulian in the university and scientific sphere was finally illustrated by Diego Corràine of the Sotziedade pro sa Limba Sarda of Nuoro and by William Cisilino of ARLeF in Udine.