Since its first edition in 1980, the International Conference on Minority Languages (ICML) has been an international forum for researchers working on minority languages in fields such as linguistics, education, media, language policy and legislation.
In 2027, ICML will be held for the first time in South Tyrol, Italy. ICML XXI is organised by Eurac Research, with the involvement of the Center for Autonomy Experience, the Institute for Minority Rights and the Institute for Applied Linguistics.
The conference brings together academics, practitioners and policymakers and aims to encourage multilingual and interdisciplinary exchange.
Conference themes
The themes of ICML 2027 build on the long-standing areas of interest of the conference series:
Linguistic vitality and minority languages
Education in and for minority languages
Media and minority languages
Language policy and legislation in the context of autonomy and minority rights
Minority languages and social/linguistic (in)justice
Contested languages
Minority languages in the age of artificial intelligence and new technologies
History of ICML
The first International Conference on Minority Languages was held in Glaschu/Glasgow, Scotland, in 1980 and was sponsored by the Association for Scottish Literary Studies (ASLS). Since then, ICML has been hosted in different countries and minority-language contexts.
Initially held every three or four years, the conference has taken place every two years since its eighth edition in Santiago de Compostela in 2001. In 2025, the twentieth edition was held in Bogotá, marking the first ICML conference outside Europe.
Further information on the history of the conference can be found in Durk Gorter's article: Minority Languages Today: short history of the International Conferences on Minority Languages (1980-2009).