"In books we learn the truth" - Echoes and passages between orality and writing
Argumentary of the scientific event
Anchored in the geographical areas of Siberia, South America and Canada, this study day aims to create a space for dia-logue on the use of indigenous languages from both a historical and contemporary angle, and to contribute to scientific research on indigenous and minority oral traditions. On the one hand, the paradigms of oral transmission will be questioned: how are knowledge, know-how and interpersonal skills
communicated? What can be transmitted only orally - or, on the contrary, what escapes the spoken word? What are the differences
between indigenous and Western ways of knowing? Does current research on orality follow productive and decolonial methodologies that give voice and power of action to the communities concerned?
On the other hand, at a time when oral languages are increasingly disappearing, this study day will examine the transition from oral to written, as well as the ways in which oral and written coexist and inter-act. Questions relating to the actors, methods, reasons and motivations behind the creation of a written language, alphabet or teaching aids will be at the heart of this second section, all the more so as their evolution will have a significant impact on the future vitality of minority languages.
This study day will be the first in a series devoted to indigenous languages: subsequent ones will examine in greater depth the role of pedagogy and educational institutions, while looking to the future by analyzing current and future revitalization efforts and seeking to determine the.s role researchers and institu-tions have - or should have - in such endeavors.
Provisional program of the scientific event
Monday, April 20, 2026
Inalco - Maison de la Recherche
Auditorium Dumézil
2, rue de Lille - Paris 7e
- 3 - 3:10pm - Presentation, introductions
- 3:10pm - 4:10pm - Panel I : South America
- Maximiliano Duran (Research mathematician and linguist, Université de Franche-Comté): The Electronic Dictionary of Quechua for NLP
Carola Mick (Maîtresse de Conférences en sciences du langage, Université Paris Cité): TITREIsabelle Martin (???) : TITLE (written contribution)
- 4:10pm - 4:40pm - Discussion
- 4:40 - 4:55pm - Coffee Break
- 4:55pm - 6:15pm - Panel II : North America
- Claudine Chamoreau (Directeur de recherche émérite au CNRS, SeDYL): TITRE
Sauvane Agnes (Docteur en linguistique, CNRS): Revitalization, standardization and transcriptions of Innuaimun: multiple tensions in a post- and decolonial context
- Qaggun Chelsey Zibell (Assistant Professor of Iñupiaq Language, University of Alaska Fairbanks): TITLE
Alessandro Jaker (Linguist and Professor, Sisseton Wahpeton College): TITRE
- 6:15 - 6:45pm - Discussion
- 6:45 - 7pm - Closing of the first day
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
Inalco - Maison de la Recherche
Auditorium Dumézil
2, rue de Lille - Paris 7e
- 9 - 9:30am - Accueil café
- 9:30 - 10:30am - Panel III : Siberia
- Alia Catherine Satterfield (PhD student, Inalco, CREE) : TITRE
- Alexandra Lavrillier (even, evenk) ?
- Eva Toulouze (oudmourte) ?
- 10:30am - 11am - Discussion
- 11am - 11:15am - Coffee Break
- 11:15am - 1:10pm - Panel IV: Siberia
- Olga Ulturgasheva (Associate Professor in Social Anthropology, University of Manchester): "In Ice We Learn the Truth": Eveny Winter Storytelling, Gulag Ghosts, and the Move from Voice to Text
- Stephan Dudeck (Research Fellow in Arctic Studies, University of Tartu): Writing Without Letters? Khanty Writing Practices, Orality, and the Hybridity of Knowledge Transmission
- Art Leete (Professor of Ethnology, University of Tartu) : Connections Between Oral History, Archives and Indigenous Writings on the Example of the Kazym War of the Khanty and Forest Nenets against the Soviets in the 1930s
- Tatiana Moldanova (????) : TITLE
- 12:50pm - 1:20pm - Discussion
- 1:20 - 1:30pm - Closing of the second day
- 1:30 - 3pm - Lunch
- 3pm - 5pm - Screening of the film : Whale Hunter and followed by a discussion
Organization
- Peter Stockinger, Professeur des universités (Inalco, PLIDAM)
- Dominique Samson Normand de Chambourg, Senior Lecturer (Inalco, CREE)
- Alia Catherine Satterfield, PhD student, (Inalco, CREE)