Etxepare Basque Institute and UWTSD opens applications for Visiting Chair in Sociolinguistics for the third successive year

Applications for the Fellowship in the field of Basque sociolinguistics and language policy and planning based at the Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth have opened this week (15 January).

In 2022 UWTSD and the Etxepare Basque Institute signed a partnership agreement to support academic exchange between Wales and the Basque Country in the field of sociolinguistics and language policy and planning.

The Fellowship, named after the eminent linguist, the late Dr Alan R. King, offers an opportunity for a scholar from the Basque Country to come to Wales to research and to contribute to teaching and knowledge exchange in these fields which are of such significance for both countries and their languages.

The contribution of the late Dr. Alan R. King to the field spanned four decades, over several continents and he spoke over twenty languages including Nawatl, Hawai’ian, Hebrew, Basque and Welsh Throughout his life he used his extraordinary linguistic talent to make the learning of languages easier for others, by creating practical resources for minoritized and threatened languages. Among his publications in English on Basque are ‘A Basque Course: A Complete Initiation to the Study of the Basque Language’ (1982), ‘The Basque Language: A practical Introduction’ (1994), ‘Colloquial Basque’ (1996), the latter with Begotxu Olaizola, with whom he taught Basque in Aberystwyth in the early 1990s. During this period he learned Welsh to a remarkable level and from then on played a key part in facilitating the connections between Wales and the Basque Country.  

The Fellow will be selected through an open call – details on CAWCS and Etxepare websites – and the successful candidate will come to Wales in the autumn of 2024.

The first Alan R. King Fellow to come to Wales was Dr Imanol Larrea Mendizabal from Soziolinguistika Klusterra. Dr Harkaitz Zubiri Esnaola from the Faculty of Education, Philosophy and Anthropology of the University of the Basque Country was the 2023 Etxepare Alan R. King Professor in Residence.

Professor Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, Director of CAWCS said:

“We’re delighted to open the call for the Alan R King Chair in Sociolinguistics for 2024 as part of our partnership with the Etxepare Basque Institute. This Chair has proven to be an important development in this key field, which is a priority both here in Wales and in the Basque Country. We look forward to building on the successful residencies of Dr Imanol Larrea in 2022 and Dr Harkaitz Zubiri in 2023 as we welcome a new Chair later this year.”

Note to Editor

Contact: Prof Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, Director of CAWCS: elin.jones@uwtsd.ac.uk

1. The Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies (CAWCS) was established by the University of Wales in 1985 as a dedicated research centre conducting team-based projects on the languages, literatures, culture and history of Wales and the other Celtic countries. Its fields of research include Early Celtic Languages, Hagiography, Medieval Welsh Literature, Enlightenment and Romanticism in Wales and Europe, Welsh and British Name Studies, Welsh Lexicography, Literary Translation, Contemporary Sociolinguistics and Language Policy and Planning in Minoritized Languages. It is home the University of Wales Dictionary of the Welsh Language, which celebrated its centenary in 2021.
    
2. The Etxepare Basque Institute promotes collaboration in the areas of culture and academia with international partners (universities, cultural entities, festivals, art centres, etc.) to enhance the international presence and visibility of the Basque language and contemporary Basque creativity and to promote international cooperation and exchange.
    
3. The partnership between the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and the Etxepare Basque Institute was agreed in 2022 in order to establish the Alan R. King Chair in Sociolinguistics, named after the eminent linguist. It is an annual programme with the aim of setting a firm foundation for the relationship between Wales and the Basque Country in this priority field for both countries. The Alan R King Chair is one of ten themed Chairs supported by the Etxepare Basque Institute at universities across the world and the only one that focusses on language policy and planning.
    
4. CAWCS offers unique opportunities for postgraduate students to work alongside specialists in a dynamic and supportive environment. It is located in Aberystwyth, adjacent to the National Library of Wales, which is an internationally-renowned copyright library with excellent research facilities. We welcome enquiries about MPhil/PhD topics in any of our research areas. For more information about research opportunities, or for an informal chat about possible topics, contact our Head of Graduate Studies, Dr Elizabeth Edwards: e.edwards@wales.ac.uk

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