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Zurich Workshop on Afrikaans Linguistics Theory and Structure

Venue

KOL-G-217, Rämistrasse 71, 8006 Zürich

Joint event by the Departement of German and English Linguistics at the University of Zurich

Zurich Workshop on Afrikaans Linguistics Theory and Structure

In October 2021, Zurich university organises a workshop on the linguistics of Afrikaans that will conclude an entire year devoted to this interesting language, which will feature linguistic seminars as well as language courses. It is the first event ever in Zurich solely dedicated to Afrikaans linguistics.

With over seven million native speakers, predominantly in southern Africa, Afrikaans is the fifth largest Germanic language. Although important work has been done regarding the history and the social and political aspects of Afrikaans, the study of its structure is still relatively uncharted territory especially compared to that of related languages.

This workshop aims to show that Afrikaans lends itself to interesting insights for theoretical linguistics and to bring together experts from southern Africa, the Low Countries and elsewhere in front of a Zurich audience.

Four plenary talks will be held by experts on Afrikaans and its theoretical implications. A further set of workshop sessions will be available for more contributions (see Call for Papers below). The workshop will be concluded by a round table session. Our plenary speakers are:

  • Jenny Audring (Leiden University)
  • Theresa Biberauer (University of Cambridge)
  • Andries Coetzee (University of Michigan)
  • Timothy Colleman (Ghent University)

To allow for people from all backgrounds to be introduced to the merit of Afrikaans as a subject for linguistic theory, the working language will be English.

Organisation

The programme encompasses two days with plenary talks, open call contributions and a round table discussion at the end of the second day. The round table panel consist of the invited speakers and will link the previous sessions and establish common grounds and discuss insights on the structure of Afrikaans and theoretical linguistics.

The workshop can be attended in Zürich, but it will also be possible to attend via Zoom for those who are incapable of traveling to Zürich. In that case you will receive the login details a few days before the congress, if you have registered to attend.

Further information

Categories

Languages: English