Workshop on sociolinguistic language documentation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Workshop format

The format of the workshop will involve a mix of plenary sessions and working group sessions. During the working group sessions, groups of around eight people will meet to discuss an assigned topic in sociolinguistic language documentation. During the plenary sessions, there will be short presentations where participants can introduce their research, as well as reports from chairs of the working groups summarizing the discussions of their group on a given day. The working groups for the workshop are listed below.

Working Group 1: Conversation

The use of natural conversations for language documentation and sociolinguistic research, with a focus on social organization and social identity, special genres, and oratory

Chairs: Mark Dingemanse (mark.dingemanse@mpi.nl) and Eyo Mensah (eyomensah2004@yahoo.com)

Members: Kathryn Franich, Ghislaine Assomo, Gertie Hoymann, Philip Mutaka, Angela Ngumbu, Linda Nkamigbo, Ngwana Ntube

Working Group 2: Songs, Dances, and Games

Documenting songs, dances, games, and related cultural events, as a way of documenting the sociolinguistic relations among people in a community and across communities

Chairs: Akin Akinlabi (akinlabi@rci.rutgers.edu) and Daniel Ochieng Orwenjo (orwenjo@yahoo.com)

Members: Golden Ekpo, Pius Akumbu, Charlotte Fofo Lomotey, Maarten Mous, Cheikai Mbah Luc Musoro, Mathaus Njeck, Tove Rosendal, Anissa Strommer

Working Group 3: Value of languages (preliminary working group instructions)

Which factors inform the “market value” of an indigenous African language in a “polyglossic” multilingual environment?

Chairs: Pius Tamanji (tamanjip@yahoo.fr) and Ekkehard Wolff (wolff@uni-leipzig.de)

Members: Anna Belew, Joseph Baya, Gabriel Mba, Ayu'nwi Neba Fusi, Cecilia Kotey, Seunghun Lee, Angela Nsen

Working Group 4: Multilingualism

Social mechanisms nurturing multilingualism

Chairs: Josephat Rugemalira (jmruge@uccmail.co.tz) and Mandana Seyfeddinipur (ms123@soas.ac.uk)

Members: Felix Ameka, Pascal Assine, Nthatisi Bulane, Angiachi Demetris, Awasom Jude Nformi, Emmanual Ngué Um, Nelson Tschonghongei

Working Group 5: Language and culture

Knowledge as coded in language and reflected in social and cultural practices

Chairs: Doris Kemmermann (DorisKemmermann@gmx.de) and Abdelrahim Mugaddam (sudan_98@hotmail.com)

Members: Susanne Krüger, Gratien Atindogbe, Dadak, Ndokobai, Nancy Nyindem, Christina Thornell, Jacquis Welaze, Endashaw Woldemichael

Questions to consider

Since the workshop is focused on issues of sociolinguistic documentation, participants should be prepared to consider the following questions with respect to their working group's area of focus (in addition to others they deem important):

1. In what ways do African sociolinguistic contexts appear to be different from Western contexts?
2. What kinds products (e.g., recordings, videos, transcriptions) are required to document the important features of African languages relevant to the group's topic? What kind of metadata needs to be collected?
3. How would one go about structuring a field research project to gather the necessary kinds of documentation related to the group's topic? What special challenges are there as set against more usual kinds of fieldwork?
4. What special ethical considerations are there in working with communities to gather data relevant to the topic?
5. What kinds of training opportunities are needed for researchers to successfully undertake documentation in this area?
6. How can a more sociolinguistically-informed approach to language documentation result in the creation of more effective community language resources?