Presented by the Embassy of France in Australia and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Network in the Office of the DVC (Indigenous Strategy and Services)

The Pacific region boasts a third of the world’s total living languages.

Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Polynesia and Australia - contain more than 2,000 living language (UNESCO). 145 of Australia’s more than 250 known Indigenous languages continue to be spoken today, despite approximately 110 being classified as severely or critically endangered. While Papua New Guinea with some 850 languages is the country with the world’s greatest language diversity. Vanuatu on the other hand has over 100 languages for a population of around 250,000 – making it the country with the world’s highest linguistic density per capita.

Join us for a public forum following the Competing Voices symposium. A panel of experts will examine ideas around national policies that recognize and protect minority languages, education systems that promote mother-tongue instruction, as well as creative collaboration between community members and linguists. 

Please join us after the panel for refreshments and performances by Clint Bracknell and the Stiff Gins.

PANELLISTS:

• Emelda Davis, the founding member of the Australian South Sea Islanders (Port Jackson) (ASSI PJ)
• Professor Bernard Rigo, Professor of Oceanic Languages and Cultures at the University of New Caledonia Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Director of the Centre of New Studies of the Pacific (CNEP)
• Dr Nicholas Theiberger, an ARC Future Fellow in the School of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Melbourne
• Professor Nick Enfield (panel moderator ), Chair of the Department of Linguistics at the University of Sydney, and a Research Associate in the Language and Cognition Group at the Max Planck Institute in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

For more information about the speakers, see this page.

Event details

• When: 5.30pm - 7.00pm
• Where: Law School Foyer, Level 2, Sydney Law School, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
• Cost: Free and open to all with online registration requested
• RSVP: Register online now
• Contact: Sydney Ideas                   E| [email protected]                    T| 9351 2943
• More info: www.sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas