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Researching African Languages & Linguistics
Journals | Conference Proceedings | Theses & Dissertations | Monographs & Edited Volumes | Web Resources| Reference | Language MaterialsJOURNALS
Journal literature constitutes a key resource for African linguistics researchers. Below is a list of some of the critical journals in the field. Users can search for specific articles within journals by clicking on the links next to the journal. Many are in the Language, Linguistics, and Behavioral Abstracts (LLBA) database which indexes major linguistics journals. All journals can be found in the IUWorldcat catalog, with the print issues shelved at the call number given and the newest issues in the periodicals section of the Reference Room (first floor of the Wells Library's East Tower). To find journals not listed here, please see the Finding & Accessing African Studies Journals web page.
General Linguistics:
| Anthropological Linguistics | [Full-text available] |
| International Journal of the Sociology of Language | |
| Journal of the Acoustical Society of America | [Full-text available] |
| Journal of Phonetics | [Full-text in ScienceDirect] |
| Journal of Linguistics | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text available] 1997-present [Full-text available] 1965-2007 |
| Language | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text in JSTOR] 1925-2007 |
| Lingua | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text in ScienceDirect] 1949-present |
| Linguistic Inquiry | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text in MIT] 1998-present [Full-text in JSTOR] 1970-2003 |
| Natural Language and Linguistic Theory | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text in JSTOR] 1983-2005 [Full-text in Springer] 1997-present |
| Phonetica | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text available] 1998-present |
| Phonology | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text available] 1997-present [Full-text in JSTOR] 1988-2007 |
| For other linguistics journals: | [Click here] |
African Linguistics:
| Africana Linguistica | [abstracts in LLBA] |
| Afrika und Übersee | [abstracts in LLBA]
(no full-text) |
| Annual Publication in African Linguistics
(formerly Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere) |
[abstracts in LLBA]
(no full-text) |
| Journal of African Languages and Linguistics | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text available] |
| Journal of African Cultural Studies | |
| Journal of West African Languages | [abstracts in LLBA] |
| Mandenkan | [Full-text available] |
| Nordic Journal of African Studies | [Full-text available] |
| South African Journal of African Languages | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text available] |
| Southern African Linguistics and Applied Languages | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text available] |
| Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika | Click to see catalog record
(print only) |
| Studies in African Linguistics | [abstracts in LLBA] [Full-text available] |
Conference proceedings provide an alternative venue to find research materials from books and journals. Finding them in IUWorldcat requires a keyword search using the conference name.
Africana Linguistics Conferences:
Other Conferences:
Theses and dissertations are valuable scholarly works that provide extensive research-driven information on a particular topic. There are several ways to access theses and dissertations on African linguistics:
MONOGRAPHS & EDITED VOLUMES
Use IUWorldcat to identify useful titles. Books on African linguistics include several types:
General Works (books which cover Africa or a region of the continent generally)
African languages: an introduction / edited by Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse. NY: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
African voices: an introduction to the languages and linguistics of Africa / edited by Vic Webb and Kembo-Sure. NY: Oxford University Press, c2000.
Festschriften (essays in honor or memory of an important individual) African linguistics: essays in memory of M.W.K. Semikenke / edited by Didier L. Goyvaerts. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Pub. Co., 1985.
Living through languages: an African tribute to René Dirven / edited by Christa van der Walt. Stellenbosch: Sun Press, 2006.
Grammars & Language-Specific Books (books which focus specifically on a particular language or dialect) Introduction to the morphology of Setswana / Caspar J.H. Krüger. Muenchen: LINCOM Europa, 2006.
Le dialecte peul du fouladou: (Casamance-Sénégal): étude phonétique et phonologique / Gloria Lex. Muenchen: LINCOM Europa, 2001.
Book Series: (use the catalog's advanced search function and search "Title:") Indiana University Working Papers in Linguistics (IU Linguistics Club)
LINCOM Studies in African Linguistics (LINCOM Europa)
Mande languages & Linguistics (Rüdiger Köppe Verlag)
Summer Institute of Linguistics and the University of Texas at Arlington publications in linguistics (SIL/UT-Arlington)
Topics in Chadic Linguistics (Rüdiger Köppe Verlag)
Trends in African Linguistics (Africa World Press)
Trends in Linguistics (Mouton de Gruyter)
Festschriften (essays in honor or memory of an important individual)
Grammars & Language-Specific Books (books which focus specifically on a particular language or dialect)
Book Series: (use the catalog's advanced search function and search "Title:")
WEB RESOURCES
Electronic Bibliography for African Languages and Linguistics (EBALL) (Jouni Filip Maho)
African Language Resources on the Internet (Yuusuf S. Caruso, Columbia University Libraries)
African Languages / Linguistics (Karen Fung, Stanford University Libraries)
African Language Resources on the Internet (Yuusuf S. Caruso, Columbia University Libraries)
African Languages / Linguistics (Karen Fung, Stanford University Libraries)
REFERENCE WORKS
Encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and other reference works can provide introductory and basic information on a variety of topics, whether a language or a linguistic concept.
- Atlas of the world's languages / Christopher Moseley and R.E. Asher. NY: Routledge, 2007. (click to see catalog record)
- Linguistic atlas of South Africa: language in space and time / I.J. van der Merwe and J.H. van der Merwe. Stellenbosch: Sun Press, 2006. (click to see catalog record)
- Linguistic atlas of South Africa: language in space and time / I.J. van der Merwe and J.H. van der Merwe. Stellenbosch: Sun Press, 2006. (click to see catalog record)
LANGUAGE MATERIALS AT IU:
Dictionaries and grammars are purchased for as many African languages as possible. Vernacular texts and linguistic materials are collected selectively in other languages and in creoles. Linguistic materials and vernacular texts and literature are collected in depth for the following languages which are a national resource in the U.S., are national or widely used languages in Sub-Saharan Africa, and are used in research at Indiana University:
| Afrikaans | Hausa | Ndebele | Shona | Tswana | Xhosa |
| Bambara | Igbo | Rundi | Somali | Tumbuka | Yoruba |
| Chewa | Kpelle | Rwanda | Sotho | Twi (Akan) | Zulu |
| Fula | Liingala | Sango | Swahili | Wolof |
Materials in Amharic are not a focus since Michigan State University maintains a comprehensive collection.
The Liberian Collections Project has brought together a strong collection of Liberian language materials. It is especially strong for Kpelle, Loma and Vai. Other Liberian languages, e.g. Bassa, Kissi, Kru, Grebo, et. al., are also represented in this collection.
To find material, try searching in the catalog by the English name of the language without prefixes, such as Zulu (not isiZulu), Swahili (not Kiswahili), or Chewa (not Chichewa). It may also help to use the word "language", e.g. "Wolof language" or "Hausa language".
