Welcome to the page of the First
International Seminar of Minority Languages (SILM) organised by the Royal
Academy of Valencian Culture (Real Academia de Cultura Valenciana o
RACV), dedicated in this first edition to Minority Languages in the European
Union.
See what's NEW.
The language of a community is one of the most characteristic
features in its culture. In a time when cultural globalisation presses in favour of a
progressive and impoverishing linguistic uniformity, the interest to strengthen and to
defend lesser-used languages grows steadily because they are unequivocal signs of
collective identity and of cultural wealth.
The Real Academia de Cultura Valenciana (RACV) has been implied
since its foundation in 1915 in the promotion of the patrimonial culture of the Valencian
people and in particular of their mother language, Valencian. Now this old scientific
institution widens its research field embracing the study of minority languages, persuaded
that in a global world co-operation among the different threatened cultures is the only
possible way to preserve this invaluable wealth, an authentic humankind's heritage.
