International Conference on “Vulnerable and Endangered Languages in Europe” (VELE2024)

The international scientific conference “Vulnerable and Endangered Languages in Europe” (VELE2024) took place at the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, from October 2 to 4, 2024. The conference results from the project “Vulnerable Languages and Language Varieties in Serbia”, led by the Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and financed by the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia within the IDEAS program.

The conference aimed to cover various aspects of language endangerment and vulnerability. Over 30 researchers participated in the conference, presenting their research based on numerous linguistic varieties.

Fellows of the Institute for Balkan Studies SASA took part in the conference with the following topics: Annemarie Sorescu-Marinković: “Vlachs and Vlach in Eastern Serbia: A Long-Lasting Asymmetry between Ethnicity and Mother Tongue,” Mirjana Mirić: “When Two Roma Communities Meet: Consequences for the Vulnerability of Romani in the Belgrade Suburb of Batajnica,” Anđela Babić: “Banat Bulgarian Vulnerability in Serbia,” as well as with a co-authored presentation: “Do Younger Speakers Use Minority Languages Less Frequently? The Pilot Study of Language Use among Linguistic Minority Communities in Serbia” (Dušan Vlajić, Anđela Ređić, Mirjana Mirić).

The conference was opened by Annemarie Sorescu-Marinković, the project leader, Dalibor Sokolović, representative of the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade, Ana Stevanović Zdravev, program and project manager of the Science Fund, and Ljudmila Popović, representative of the Republic of Serbia in the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages at the Council of Europe. Closing remarks were made by the organizers, as well as by Vojislav G. Pavlović, the director of the Institute for Balkan Studies SASA.