📢 Inaugural issue alert / Erste Ausgabe: Language Policy in #Africa (LPIA) is a new journal, supporting the idea that #AfricanLanguages are key to Africa's development, also in the context of #decolonisation
We are very pleased to have LPIA on Bern Open Publishing 🥳 Take a look at the the very first issue here:
https://bop.unibe.ch/LPIA/issue/view/1362
#linguistics #languagepolicy #diamondoa

Are you a linguist fluent in any of these Nigerian languages: Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Edo, Efik, or Nigerian Pidgin?

Do you have a passion for preserving African languages and ensuring they’re not left behind in the digital age?

Are you skilled in phonetics, transcription, or language data annotation?

If this sounds like you, we’d love to have you on board!

Join us at @dsnai as we work to preserve and promote African languages through cutting-edge AI-powered projects.

Show your interest here: https://bit.ly/Callforlinguists

#Vacancy #datasciencenigeria #AfricanLanguages #Linguists #AIforAfrica

Is there any relationship between the Mande word 'jugu' for 'dangerous' and 'juju' in other west African (mostly thinking Igbo but I've heard the word used by other speakers so I suspect it's either not actually Igbo, or one of those 'pan-African' terms) languages?

#linguistics #AfricanLanguages #AfricanHistory #etymology

AI Could Understand Several African Languages Very Soon

​A new collaboration between Orange, OpenAI and Meta will begin creating spoken word language models for various African languages.#ai #aiinafrica #africantechcompanies #africanlanguages #artificialintelligence
This Progam Could Make AI Accessible in Native African Languages

Now Live:
Join us at the First Keynote of the Design Justice AI Institute - Prof Kwesi Kwaa Prah: “African Languages in an AI World”
https://youtube.com/live/umCNBoBTfL0?feature=share
#DJAI2024 #AfricanLanguages

The CALL call is out! Submission is open for talks at the 53rd annual Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics here at Leiden University (with online option), 26th-28th Aug 2024 (deadline 1st June)

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/2024/08/53rd-colloquium-on-african-languages-and-linguistics

#linguistics #AfricanLinguistics #AfricanLanguages

Repost from the African Linguistics School:

"We are pleased to announce that ALS7 will take place at the University of Education, Winneba in Ghana from July 22 to August 2, 2024! Applications are now open!"

(Applications open until 31st March)

https://sites.google.com/view/als6/apply

#linguistics #AfricanLanguages #AfricanLinguistics @linguistics

@topafricatrends
Cool fact!

But it's not the only writing system specially adapted to an African language. Another example is the Vai syllabary: https://omniglot.com/writing/vaisyllabary.htm

#WritingSystem #AfricanLanguages

The 2023 @kiswahiliprize shortlist will be announced on Monday! #KiswahiliPrize #AfricanLit #AfricanLanguages @MRM_Ltd @alaf_ltd

So… here’s my first #poll on Mastodon! If I were to make (without government funding) a fully functional (all Translation Equivalents, Senses and Example Sentences) online #dictionary in all 11 #SouthAfrican official #languages, together with #dialect and #indigenousknowledgesystem information, what would you expect in terms of affordability? Please boost for the reach. #lexicography #AfricanLanguages #survey

https://archive.org/details/ngugi-lol

The Language of Languages: Reflections on Translation by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Topics
#translation, #literarytranslation, #linguistics, #sociolinguistics, #colonialism, #Africanlanguages, #PanAfricanism, #languagepolicy, #languagepolicies

With clear, conversational prose, this is the first book dedicated entirely to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s writings on translation.

Through his many critically acclaimed novels, stories, essays, plays, and memoirs, Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has been at the forefront of world literature for decades. He has also been, in his own words, “a language warrior,” fighting for indigenous African languages to find their rightful place in the literary world. Having begun his writing career in English, Ngũgĩ shifted to writing in his native language Gikũyũ in 1977, a stance both creatively and politically significant. For decades now, Ngũgĩ has been translating his Gikũyũ works into English himself, and he has used many platforms to champion the practice and cause of literary translations, which he calls “the language of languages.”

https://archive.org/details/awing-english

Awing - English Dictionary and English - Awing Index by Alomofor Christian

Topics
#Mbɨ́ɨwiŋə, #Awing, #Mbwewi, #Cameroon, #Kamerun, #bilingualdictionary, #bilingualdictionaries, #translationdictionary, #translationdictionaries, #Africanlanguages, #indigenouslanguages, #languagesofCameroon, #languagesofKamerun, #languagesofAfrica

CABTAL (Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy), Yaoundé.

https://archive.org/details/indigenous-languages-of-cameroon

Indigenous Languages of Cameroon by Emmanuel N. Chia

Topics
#Cameroon, #Kamerun, #linguistics, #sociolinguistics, #Africanlanguages, #Africanlinguistics, #languagesofCameroon, #languagesofKamerun, #indigenouslanguages, #indigenouslinguistics

Paper is undated; the most recent citations within are dated 1981.

Today's to-do list at the Interpreters' Co-op...

- write to an agency about #africanlanguages
- finalize contracts and start composing a letter about them
- arrange to be on the radio
- consider a national gathering of interpreter co-ops

Today's to-do list at the Interpreters' Co-op...

- register with the state of Minnesota as a (potential) vendor
- prepare to sign a thick contract with the county to be even more official than we already are
- keep looking for #africanlanguages

Can people engage in debates about digitisation using indigenous languages? How does linguistic colonialism manifest itself in digital technologies? What are the implications of digital platform use for the future of African languages?

Looking forward to this online event on "African languages and technological transformations: debating knowledge, rights and power on a digital continent":
http://kingsdh.net/2023/02/23/africa-week/

#digitalhumanities #digitalculture #digitalrights #platformstudies #colonialism #linguisticcolonialism #decolonisation #language #africanlanguages #commodon #mediastudies #internetstudies #africaweek

https://archive.org/details/ocean-of-letters

Ocean of Letters: Language and Creolization in an Indian Ocean Diaspora by Pier M. Larson

Topics
#IndianOcean, #history, #Africanhistory, #historyofAfrica, #Madagascar, #Comoros, #theComoros, #SouthAfrica, #Azania, #Malagasydiaspora, #Malagasy, #Africanliterature, #literatureofAfrica, #imperialism, #colonialism, #antiblackness, #slavery, #slavetrade, #blackchattelslavery, #linguistics, #sociolinguistics, #Africanlanguages, #languagesofAfrica

@danie10
Ps. pls invite Phumzile Phago over :)

ps2. is there a #languages mastodon yet?

#language #africa #african #languages #africanlanguages
#bantu #tsonga #xhosa #zulu

#Lanfrica aims to curate #AfricanLanguage resources. https://lanfrica.com

#AfricanLanguages

Call for papers

Third workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Language (RAIL) https://www.sadilar.org/index.php/en/2-general/329-third-workshop-on-resources-for-african-indigenous-language-rail

Suggested topics include the following:
* Digital representations of linguistic structures
* Descriptions of corpora or other data sets of African indigenous languages
* Building resources for (under resourced) African indigenous languages
* Developing and using African indigenous languages in the digital age...

#AfricanIndigenousLanguages #DigitallySmallLanguages #AfricanLanguages