WLP Workshop on the Languages of Papua  

The next WLP...
 
WLP5
mid 2019 (date TBA)

WLP focuses on the most linguistically diverse part of the world, Melanesia, which straddles countries of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Melanesia contains around a fifth of the world’s 6,000 languages in under 3% of its land area and less than 0.2% of its population. The scope of the workshop includes all languages known as "Papuan", plus the Austronesian languages that are spoken in the vicinity of Papuan languages in New Guinea plus parts of Indonesia, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

These languages are astonishingly diverse, barely known to science, and face the threat of extinction without trace in the coming century unless concerted international efforts are made to meet the huge challenge of documenting them. WLP addresses the scientific issues raised by these languages, covering the whole gamut of linguistic questions from phonology to syntax to typology to historical linguistics, as well as topics bordering musicology, anthropology and prehistory; it also includes papers on digital archiving, documentary linguistics, scientific infrastructure and the training of linguists from minority language groups. In addition, WLP addresses various practical issues concerning the cultural and linguistic rights of minority groups in Indonesia, Timor Leste and Papua New Guinea, including language support and maintenance, and, in particular, the need for education programs that allow children to receive part of their schooling in their mother-tongue.


Previous WLPs

WLP4 23-26 January 2017, Manokwari, Indonesia | Photo gallery

WLP3 20-24 January 2014, Manokwari, Indonesia | Photo gallery

WLP2 8-12 February 2010, Manokwari, Indonesia | Photo gallery

WLP1 8-10 August 2007, Manokwari, Indonesia | Photo gallery


Nicholas Evans, Australian National University, Canberra / ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language

David Gil, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Jena

Yusuf Sawaki, Center for Endangered Languages Documentation, Manokwari



Center for Endangered Languages Documentation

Universitas Papua

The Australian National University

Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History

ARC Centre of Excellence for the Dynamics of Language
Page location: https://indoling.com/wlp/index.html
Page last modified: 13 Feb 2017, Auckland
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