"Threatening Languages. Can Linguists Contribute to a Better World?"

This talk has two aims. In line with one of the conference's overarching themes, I first want to address the issue of how the humanities, interpreted in a very broad sense, can and should contribute to an improved society. While there are many ways in which this can be done, I focus here in particular on social justice. To illustrate this within my own field, I then zoom in on the topic of linguistic nationalism, and ethnolinguistic discrimination. I critically review ideologies of language policy and education, as well as ways in which academia fails to make a difference - my own work included.

Umberto Ansaldo started his academic path as a student of Chinese language and literature at the University of Venice, Italy, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Stockholm, Sweden. Since then he has been conducting research on languages of East, South, and Southeast Asia with a focus on socio-historical and typological processes. He has also published and edited a number of volumes and articles on Pidgin and Creole languages, their evolution, and their historiography. Between 2005 and 2010 Professor Ansaldo led a project that resulted in a comprehensive description and documentation of an endangered contact language known as Sri Lanka Malay. In July 2018 Professor Ansaldo took up a new post as Head of the School of Literature, Arts and Media (SLAM) at the University of Sydney. In the previous two decades, Professor Ansaldo taught at the National University of Singapore, the University of Amsterdam, and most recently served as Head of the School of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. Besides linguistics, he has taught courses on modern Asia, conflict studies, and self-defense and his most recent interest is in higher education management and academic leadership.

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