Gibraltarians For A Multilingual Society recently participated in the second Gibraltar International Conference at the University of Vigo.

A statement from GFAMS follows below:

Following the success of the first edition of this conference held in 2023 at the University of Cambridge, which focused on Gibraltarian authors and their writing, it was agreed to make this an annual event and to expand its scope to include linguistic and cultural perspectives, which are inextricably linked to the literary aspect.

Professor Elena Seaone, from the University of Vigo’s Language Variation and Textual Categorisation research group, headed the organising committee which also included academics from both the University of Vigo and the University of the Balearic Islands. This year’s conference brought together researchers and academics from Spanish, British, Swiss, Dutch, German and Italian universities as well as a number of Gibraltarian writers, the Gibraltar Government Archaeologist, local podcaster Rouge and linguists from GFAMS.

The excitement that Gibraltar’s languages stir up internationally among researchers was very palpable during this conference where participants were able to discuss and exchange opinions on different aspects of our multilingual culture over two full days of presentations. According to a GFAMS spokesperson, ‘In Vigo we witnessed how Gibraltar has become a focal point for linguistic research. It was particularly heartening to see how many young researchers are choosing to study aspects of Gibraltar’s linguistic landscape. This annual conference will help to consolidate a base of dedicated researchers committed to unravelling the intricacies of our languages.’

In its capacity as a cultural and educational organisation GFAMS feels that it is crucial for it to participate in this forum as it is absolutely indispensable to provide an insider’s perspective of Gibraltar’s  linguistc complexities. There were two presentations by the local NGO: ‘The past, present and future of Ligurian and Haketía in Llanito’ by Dale Buttigieg, and ‘The role of Llanito in preserving Gibraltar’s multilingual culture’ by Manuel Enriles. Further to the individual presentations, GFAMS as well as Dale Buttigieg’s Llanitollanito platform were referred to by a number of researchers as part of their presentations. This highlights the extent to which the local association is very quickly becoming a reference point for matters relating to language in Gibraltar. 

The conference also provided an excellent opportunity for GFAMS to hear from leading Gibraltarian authors, Mark Sanchez, who was one of three plenary speakers, Giordano Durante,  Jonathan Teuma and Trino Cruz Serruya. Their contributions were greatly appreciated by the attendees. The spokesperson for the association claims, ‘Local writers have a huge role to play in promoting and preserving multilingualism in our community. It is, therefore essential that we value their contribution, at so many different levels, to our culture and identity and give them the recognition that they deserve.’ The important role that both traditional and online media play was also highlighted, with one of the presentations focussing on Davina and Rouge’s Street Talk podcast. 

The association is already looking forward to next year’s edition of the Gibraltar International Conference which will be hosted by the University of Basel in Switzerland and organised by Professor Ina Habermann and Marta Rodríguez-García. ‘We believe that it is imperative that this conference be hosted in Gibraltar in the near future as it would allow a wider sector of our society to experience the enthusiasm and passion that our languages, literature and culture generate at an international level. For this reason GFAMS has committed to host this conference in a couple of years’ time,’ concluded the spokesperson.