13 March 2017

WOCAL9 Conference: African Languages in a Global World

Introduction

Faithful to its well-established tradition, WOCAL furthers its research concerns with the status of African languages in the modern world. The particular focus of WOCAL9 centers on the nature and manifestations of the impact of globalization on African languages. In the face of such a transformative globalization wave, societies are being radically deconstructed, giving birth to new societal forms and practices. Languages of course are no exception to this trend; they, in particular, are involved in the process both as objects to and agents of change. The main aim of the conference is to bring under in-depth scrutiny a wide range of linguistic and cultural phenomena and factors that influence African languages within the context of global change. Special emphasis will be given to the status of endangered languages.


Proposed sub-themes:

  • African linguistics (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, etc.)
  • Language contact and diversity
  • African languages in legislation and policies.
  • Amazigh studies
  • Arabic on the African continent: Language contact phenomena (Impact of Arabic on African languages; Arabic script, lexis, etc.)
  • Language and development
  • African languages and technology
  • African sociolinguistics (Language planning language policy/ policy implementation …)
  • Dialectology and isoglosses
  • African Languages in education
  • African languages and translation
  • African Sign Languages

There is usually a focus on a certain endangered language in every conference. Amazigh and other endangered sub-Saharan languages are going to be the focus of this conference. 

Conference time/dates:

  • Conference dates:     August 25th - 28th, 2018
  • Pre-conference day:     August 24th, 2018, Study day on the Amazigh and Arabic languages
  • Pre-WOCAL:  Endangered Languages Documentation Project
  • A 10-day pre-WOCAL school: on Documentary linguistics in Africa: August 11th– 20th, 2018

Registration

Submissions are solicited for theme session presentations which should last for 20 minutes with 5-10 minutes for questions (maximum 30 minutes total), and they should be in line with the following guidelines:

  • Fill out the Abstract Submission Form
  • Abstracts should be no more than 500 words and should NOT include the authors’ names.
  • The bio should not exceed 100 words.

 Should you have queries, please send us an email to: wocal9rabat@gmail.com, or take a look at the website from WOCAL9.

The deadline for abstracts is November 30th, 2017. Notification of acceptance will be given by December 31st, 2017. Please note that the congress language is English. Papers can be presented in French or Arabic. However, all abstracts must be submitted in English.

Conference fees: 

  • Professors and senior researchers 160 $
  • Doctoral students 80 $
    • Early birds: April 31st, 2017
      • Professors and senior researchers 150 $
      • Doctoral/Master students 70 $

 

Venue: Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences. Mohammed V University in Rabat

Plenary speakers: To be determined

Partner: Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO)