This book presents an in-depth and comprehensive state-of-the-art account of the study of ‘African languages’ and ‘language in Africa’ since its beginnings as a ‘colonial science’ at the turn of the 20th century in Europe. Compiled by 55 internationally renowned scholars, this groundbreaking account looks at past and current research on ‘African languages’ and ‘language in Africa’ under the impact of paradigmatic changes from ‘colonial’ to ‘postcolonial’ perspectives. It addresses current trends in the study of the role and functions of language, African and other, in pre- and postcolonial African societies. Highlighting the central role that the ‘language factor’ plays in postcolonial transformation processes of sociocultural modernization and economic development, it also addresses more recent, particularly urban, patterns of communication and outlines applied dimensions of digitalization and human language technology.
Author(s): H. Ekkehard Wolff
Series: Cambridge Handbooks in Language and Linguistics
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 823
Front Matter
Contents
Contributors
Preface
General Introduction
Abbreviations and Acronyms
1 - African Linguistics Conceptions and Scope
2 - African Linguistics in Europe
3 - African Linguistics in North and Francophone Africa
4 - African Linguistics in North-Eastern and Anglophone Africa
5 - African Linguistics in Luso, Hispanophone, and Southern Africa
6 - African Linguistics in the Americas, Asia, and Australia
7 - Comparative African Linguistics
8 - A Typological and Areal Perspective of African Languages
9 - Niger-Congo Linguistic Features and Typology
10 - Afroasiatic Linguistic Features and Typologies
11 - Features and Typologies in 'Nilo-Saharan' Languages
12 - Features and Typologies in ‘Khoisan’ Languages
13 - Sociocultural and Political Settings of Language in Africa
14 - Into and Out of Africa
15 - Language Endangerment and Language Documentation in Africa
16 - Situated Language Use in Africa
17 - Special-Purpose Registers of Language in Africa
18 - African Languages in Urban Contexts
19 - African Languages and Mobile Communication
20 - Multilingualism and Education in Africa
21 - Intellectualization of African Languages
22 - African Languages and Human Language Technologies
References
Index
