Bulletin

Issue: March 2004

News

Busy international schedule for linguists

Dr David Bradley of La Trobe University's Linguistics Program has been elected to the executive committee of the Comite International Permanent des Linguistes (CIPL) of the International Permanent Committee of Linguists.

Dr Bradley has been appointed for a five-year term on the UNESCO-supported international steering body for the discipline of Linguistics.

His specific responsibilities on the committee are issues concerning language endangerment, a topic on which he has presented plenary papers at a number of UNESCO and other international conferences.

The appointment came on top of a very busy international schedule for Dr Bradley and his postgraduate students.

He convened the 36th International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Languages and Linguistics in Melbourne from 26-30 November 2003, and led a workshop on the endangered languages of China.

This conference, the major and longest-running annual international gathering for Asian linguistics, had previously only been held in Asia, Europe or North America. Over 70 papers including three plenaries were presented, and there were over a hundred participants, including a very large contingent of La Trobe staff and students.

Earlier the same month, Dr Bradley was among La Trobe staff and postgraduate students to attend the UNESCO-sponsored Conference on Language Development, Language Revitalisation and Multilingual Education in Minority Communities in Asia, in Bangkok.

He presented an invited plenary talk on 'Issues in Orthography Development and Reform', based on over 30 years of experience in helping minority groups of Southeast and East Asia with language development. This talk discussed theoretical and practical issues relating to sound and writing, and how to develop and improve writing systems in consultation with the community.

back to top

back contents next