Welcome!

The World Congress of African Linguistics is the only truly international and pan-theoretical conference in the field of African Linguistics, with a strong emphasis on the participation of African scholars. Read more about the conference series here.

The 10th WOCAL will take place online and at Leiden University, June 7-12, 2021. The conference theme is African languages for sustainable societies and knowledge creation.

Keynote speakers

African languages for sustainable societies and knowledge creation

Language plays a vital role in our societies that are more and more shaped by communication and information, and Africa is no exception. As languages provide the framework for interpreting the world, African languages can contribute tremendously to our understanding of how people communicate and how language structures this interaction. Only by using African languages in all spheres of social life in African societies does communication become inclusive and information truly accessible to all and lead to reducing  inequality and establishing  sustainable societies. African linguistics has a key role to play in helping to bring this about.

The conference features contributions on all African languages including sign languages; synchronic and diachronic studies, literatures in African languages; all subdisciplines of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, discourse analysis, language planning and policy, language documentation; and applied and educational linguistics.

We would have loved to welcome you to Leiden in person – as this is currently impossible, we invite you to take a virtual tour. We hope to see you in Leiden on a different occasion! 

WOCAL10 sponsors: