On 20-21 November, the Institute of Occitan Studies will be hosting a European Conference on language transmission in the family.

The conference, which will specifically look at Occitan and other regional European languages, is jointly organised by the European Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD) with support from the following Councils: Général des Hautes-Pyrenees, Regional Midi-Pyrenees, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, Poitou-Charentes and the Ministry of Culture and Communication, and in partnership with the technical IUFM and the City of Tarbes.

The main subject of the conference is the importance of transmitting Occitan within the family, which is crucial within the current sociolinguistic situation.  Presentations will be made by specialists in language planning from all over Europe, and individual case studies will be presented on a variety of language situations, from successful examples of language transmission to new and innovative projects that are aimed at increasing the transmission of language in a non-formal context.

Indeed, parents who speak the Occitan language should be encouraged to transmit it within the family, and those who have the opportunity to pass the language on to their children should be advised to do so.  In order to achieve this, there is a need to provide theoretical and practical assistance to parents.

For more information, please see the agenda.