SIL International Media Release
Bamako International Forum on Multilingualism
(January 2009) The African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) organized the Bamako International Forum on Multilingualism in Bamako, Mali, 19–21 January. The aim was to celebrate the International Year of Languages on the African continent through an event of international scope and perspective.
Dr. Barbara Trudell (right) with Ivorian scholar Dr. Paulin Djité, University of Western Sydney
Barbara Trudell, Director of Academic Affairs for SIL Africa Area and an international literacy consultant, delivered a paper titled "Multilingualism in sub-Saharan Africa: Describing a phenomenon, leveraging a resource." Her paper was one of eight in the panel, Presentations on the problematic of linguistic diversity within each major world geo-linguistic space and on the political, economic and cultural stakes arising from the status of languages in continental and international organizations.
Purpose of the forum
- To meet the objectives of an international seminar that ACALAN had been planning for several years on the "partnership between African languages and the working languages of the African union"
- To strengthen the process of promoting languages and multilingualism as vehicles for democracy, fundamental human rights, state of law, peace and dialogue in the world. This responds to the objectives of a New York seminar on Peace through languages held on 18 March 2008
SIL is a founding member of Maaya—the World Network for Linguistic Diversity, under whose auspices ACALAN organized the forum, in partnership with UNESCO, OIF, the Union Latine, the Governments of Austria and Mali, international institutions and other interested stakeholders.
Related links of interest
- Why Languages Matter: Millennium Development Goals through local languages
- SIL Multilingual education
- International Year of Languages
- SIL participates in International Year of Languages
- SIL literacy and education
- Ethnologue on languages of Africa
- Barbara Trudell, Ph.D.
- Geolinguistics and minority language dialects (August 2008 media release)
- National-language policy conference (July 2008 media release)
- Linguistic diversity in cyberspace conference (July 2008 media release)
- Mother-tongue-based multilingual education conference (July 2008 media release)
- Language, nationhood and education policies in East Africa (June 2008 media release)