THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES, MONA
Faculty of Humanities and Education
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS AND PHILOSOPHY
JAMAICAN LANGUAGE UNIT (JLU)
November 12, 2010
Mrs. Liz Millman
Jamaica 2K
U.K.
Dear Mrs. Millman,
The Jamaican Language Unit/Unit for Caribbean Language Research (JLU/UCLR), a unit within the Dept. of Language, Linguistics & Philosophy, UWI, Mona will be holding an International Conference on Language Policy in the Creole-speaking Caribbean, to be held in Kingston, Jamaica from 13-14th January, 2011. The JLU/UCLR would therefore like to invite you to this conference, which is being held as part of the activities of our working group, The International Centre for Caribbean Language Research (ICCLR).
The conference hopes to bring together professional linguists, on one hand, and those who, because of their role in culture, education, administration and politics, hold responsibility for language policy, on the other. Emerging out of this would be language policies informed by the best available knowledge. We are hoping to have in attendance Ministers responsible for Culture, Education and Justice from across the region, along with a team of international scholars who have studied and researched the language situations of the Creole Speaking Caribbean. To guarantee communication between these two groups, it is hoped to have in attendance a small number of individuals who are professional linguists and who have held political or administrative power in countries across the region. In this regard, Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor-General of St. Lucia, and Sir Colville Young, Governor of Belize, have agreed to be in attendance.
The very specific aim of the conference is to, in the first instance, discuss and approve a draft of a Charter on Language Rights and Language Policies in the Creole Speaking Caribbean. To arrive at this draft, earlier versions of the draft will be circulated to stakeholders within the region for comment, critique and discussion. This would take place during the month of November, 2010 as part of the build up to the conference. An anticipated outcome of the conference is the development, for each country, of a programme of activities that is geared toward implementing, at the local level, the terms of the Charter on Language Rights and Language Policy.
We do hope you will be able to attend as we are looking forward to having your presence at the conference.
Yours sincerely,
Hubert Devonish
Professor of Linguistics & Coordinator of the JLU/UCLR
University of the West Indies, Mona
Jamaica
