The International Conference on Minority Languages (ICML) is a conference series first held in Glasgow in 1980, focused on lesser-used or minoritized languages. It has taken place periodically since, settling on a biennial schedule in 2001.
The 20th edition of the conference was held in Colombia in June 2025, at the Universidad Externado de Colombia. It was announced that the 2027 edition (ICML XXI) will be held in South Tyrol and hosted by Eurac Research.
Conference editions and locations As of 2025, the conference has been held 20 times, with just 3 of these occurring in the same area twice - Leeuwarden, Friesland (1989 and 2019), Wales (Cardiff in 1993 and Carmarthen in 2023) and the Basque Country (1999 and 2021, although the latter went online-only). EditionLocationOrganising Institution/sI1980GlasgowAssociation for Scottish Literary Studies, University of GlasgowII1983TurkuÅbo Akademi UniversityIII1986GalwayDepartment of Old and Middle Irish and Celtic Philology, NUI GalwayIV1989LeeuwardenFryske AcademyV1993CardiffDepartment of Celtic Studies, University of WalesVI1996GdánskKashubian-Pomeranian Association, University of Gdańsk, Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznanVII1999BilbaoDeputy Ministry for Language Policy of the Basque GovernmentVIII2001Santiago de CompostelaDirección Xeral de Politica Linguistica, Xunta de Galicia, Conselleriá de Educación e Ordinación UniversitariaIX2003KirunaDepartment of Finnish, University of StockholmX2005TriesteThe Slovene Research Institute (SLORI)XI2007PécsResearch Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Research Institute for Ethnic and National Minority Studies, Faculty of Political and Legal Sciences of the University of PécsXII2009TartuXIII2011Flensburg/SønderborgXIV2013GrazXV2015BelgradeFaculty of Philology, University of BelgradeXVI2017Jyväsylä & NärpesXVII2019Leeuwarden Mercator European Research Centre on Multilingualism and Language Learning, Fryske AkademyXVIII2021OnlineUniversity of the Basque CountryXIX2023CarmarthenUniversity of Wales Trinity Saint DavidXX2025BogotáUniversidad Externado de ColombiaXXI2027Bozen/BolzanoEurac Research
Academic focus The conference series has always had a multidisciplinary focus, although is largely attended by linguists sociolinguists, and other social sciences. The common point is therefore the focus on language, primarily 'minority' languages although terms such as regional, minoritized, lesser-used, indigenous, are all also used depending on the specific context.
Beyond linguists and sociolinguists, the conference has attended to attract media scholars, legal scholars, political scientists and historians. An example of the multi-disciplinarity of the conference can be seen in the 2023 programme.
Notable keynote speakers The conference has featured many well-known academics and practitioners in the 20 editions held over 45 years. One of the most renowned was the sociolinguist Joshua Fishman, who spoke at ICML IX in Cardiff, 1993.
The two most recent editions have seen the serving United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues as one of the keynote speakers, Fernand de Varennes in Carmarthen 2023, then Nicolas Levrat in Bogotá 2025. Carmarthen also saw serving member (and vice-chair) of the Committee of Experts to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Vesna Crnić-Grotić.
Renowned Welsh scholars/activists, Colin H. Williams and Ned Thomas were both listed as Honorary Presidents at the 2023 conference, speaking as dinner speakers during the official conference dinner.
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