African languages in contact the focus of annual linguistics conference

The 41st Annual Conference on African Linguistics will examine African languages in contact from May 6 to 8 in Toronto. It is organized by linguists at York’s Keele and Glendon campuses and at the University of Toronto.

The Annual Conference on African Linguistics, held every year since its inception in 1969, is the longest-established annual international meeting for linguists involved with African languages. This is only the second time the conference has been held in Canada. Sessions will take place at Sidney Smith Hall on the University of Toronto’s St. George campus and at York Hall and Glendon Hall at York’s Glendon campus.

The keynote speaker, Professor Sammy Beban Chumbow, former rector of the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon and current vice-president of the Cameroon Academy of Sciences, will present “Language Contact and Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education: Theory and Models”.

Professor Salikoko Mufwene, the Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics at the University of Chicago, will look at “Population Movements and Language Contacts in Africa: Perspectives on Language Evolution” and Professor Sharon Rose of the University of California San Diego will discuss “Insights from Kordofanian on African Language Structures”.

The event is sponsored by York University, Glendon’s Centre for Research on Language Contact and the University of Toronto.

For more information, visit the Annual Conference on African Linguistics Web site.