A History of African Linguistics

Bringing together a team of leading scholars, this volume forms the first global history of African linguistics as an autonomous academic discipline, covering Africa, America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Defining African linguistics, the volume describes its emergence from a 'colonial science' at the turn of the twentieth century in Europe, where it was first established mainly in academic institutions of former colonial powers. Its riddance from the 'colonial project' is traced, following its 'de-colonialisation' and subsequent spread from imperialist Europe across all inhabited continents, with particular reference to its academic establishment in the various regions of Africa. Providing inside views of African linguistic research and its ramifications over time, active researchers in its various subfields present highly informative accounts of current and past research priorities and achievements. The twenty-six authors are themselves representatives of the various regions of both the world and Africa, in which African linguistics has become entrenched in academic institutions.

1. The history of African linguistics H. Ekkehard Wolff; 2. Western Europe: African linguistics and the colonial project Roland Kießling; 3. African linguistics in Central and Eastern Europe, and in the Nordic countries Roland Kießling, Nina Pawlak, Alexander Zheltov and Arvi Hurskainen; 4. African linguistics in North Africa Abderrahman el Aissati and Yamina el Kirat el Allame; 5. African linguistics in North-Eastern Africa Ronny Meyer, Maria Bulakh, Angelika Jakobi, Marie-Claude Simeone-Senelle, Wolbert Smidt and Rainer Voigt; 6. African linguistics in Southern Africa Sonja E. Bosch and Inge M. Kosch; 7. African linguistics in Eastern Africa Amani Lusekelo; 8. African linguistics in official English-speaking West Africa Bruce Connell and Akinbiyi Akinlabi; 9. African linguistics in official French-speaking West and Central Africa Philip Ngessimo Mathe Mutaka; 10. African linguistics in official Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking Africa Anne-Maria Fehn; 11. African linguistics in the Americas G. Tucker Childs and Margarida Petter; 12. African linguistics in Asia and Australia Shigeki Kaji, Sun Xiaomeng, Yang Chul-Joon and John Hajek.

H. Ekkehard Wolff is Professor Emeritus at Universität Leipzig, where he retired from the Chair of African Linguistics (Afrikanistik) in 2009. He has taught extensively in Ethiopia, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa and Finland. He has published over twenty-five books, including The Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics (Cambridge, forthcoming), Multilingualism and Intercultural Communication: A South African Perspective (2017) and Language and Development in Africa (Cambridge, 2016).