journal: Journal of African Languages and Linguistics

Impact Factor: 0.5

Published since January 1, 1979

Journal of African Languages and Linguistics

ISSN: 1613-3811

Edited by: Felix K. Ameka, Nancy C. Kula, Sara Petrollino, Jenneke van der Wal

About this journal

Objective
The Journal of African Languages and Linguistics was founded in 1979 and has established itself as an important refereed forum for publications in African linguistics. The Journal of African Languages and Linguistics welcomes original contributions on all aspects of African language studies, synchronic as well as diachronic, theoretical as well as data-oriented. The journal further contains a list of recently published books on African languages and linguistics, which many libraries find to be of use for the acquisition of books. The Journal of African Languages and Linguistics is a peer-reviewed journal of international scope.

Topics

Any topic within African languages and linguistics studies

Article formats
Research articles, Book reviews

Contributors should submit their manuscripts prepared following the guidelines in the Instructions for authors. The manuscripts should be submitted per e-mail to jall@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Your Benefits

Your benefits:

High-impact forum in African linguistics
Original contributions on all aspects of African language studies
Theoretical and data-driven approach
High quality peer-review

History

The Journal of African Languages and Linguistics was founded in 1979.

Abstracting and Indexing

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Supplementary Materials

Topics

Volume 44 Issue 2

October 2023

Publicly Available November 30, 2023

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iii

Download PDF

Editorial

Open Access November 29, 2023

Editorial: JALL welcomes new Editors

Felix K. Ameka

Page range: 127-128

Download PDF

Articles

Open Access November 29, 2023

The noncausal/causal alternation in Kagulu, an East Ruvu Bantu language of Tanzania

Sebastian Dom, Leora Bar-el, Ponsiano Sawaka Kanijo, Malin Petzell

Page range: 129-153

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Abstract

This paper explores the formal correspondences between the members of verb pairs participating in the noncausal/causal alternation in Kagulu, a Bantu language from Tanzania. Our investigation shows that Kagulu has a predominance of equipollent verb pairs, with the anticausative and causative correspondences following close behind. We argue that, diachronically, the causative correspondence was much more prominent than it is in present-day Kagulu. However, due to morphophonological changes triggered by the historical causative suffix *- i , a significant number of verb pairs that are diachronically causative can be synchronically reanalyzed as equipollent. This study highlights the complexity of diachronic morphology in synchronic analyses of comparative-typological phenomena such as the noncausal/causal alternation, and contributes to the growing body of research on noncausal/causal verb pairs in African languages.

November 29, 2023

The Wolof argument-focus constructions as copulaless clefts

Corentin Bourdeau

Page range: 155-173

Abstract

In Wolof (Niger-Congo), focus is expressed morphosyntactically via specific focus constructions. This article deals with two of them, namely the subject-focus and the complement-focus constructions. I propose to analyse them as copulaless cleft constructions of the form focus | topic , that is, constructions in which the focus and the topic are juxtaposed. In such clefts, the topic of the sentence is expressed by means of a noun phrase which is headed by the definite article la when the focus corresponds to the syntactic object, and by the morpheme a when the focus corresponds to the syntactic subject of the sentence.

Open Access November 29, 2023

Preverbal clitic clusters in the Tanzanian Rift Valley revisited

Andrew Harvey, Hannah Gibson, Richard Griscom

Page range: 175-239

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Abstract

This paper examines preverbal clitic clusters in the Tanzanian Rift Valley, an area of high linguistic diversity with representatives of the Bantu, Cushitic, and Nilotic families, as well as Sandawe (possibly a distant member of the Khoi-Kwadi family), and the language isolate Hadza. An earlier work (Kießling, Roland, Maarten Mous & Derek Nurse. 2008. The Tanzanian Rift Valley area. In Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse (eds.), A linguistic geography of Africa , 186–227. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) identified preverbal clitic clusters as a widespread feature across many languages of the Rift Valley, and posited the preverbal clitic cluster as a feature characteristic of a ‘Tanzanian Rift Valley Area’. The current paper provides further detail on preverbal clitic clusters across the languages of the region and examines possible routes of development for these structures. From this analysis, the picture that emerges is complex: contact scenarios cannot be restricted to ones in which West Rift Cushitic or its predecessor languages are the only models for the development of a preverbal clitic cluster and, in the case of Sandawe (and perhaps the Datooga varieties), it appears as if the development of a preverbal clitic cluster cannot be linked to contact at all. In terms of what this means for the ‘areality’ of the Tanzanian Rift Valley, this paper forgoes discussions about geographical delineation or arguments for or against a ‘Tanzanian Rift Valley Area’ in favour of highlighting the individual historical events (c.f. Campbell, Lyle. 2017. Why is it so hard to define a linguistic area? In Raymond Hickey (ed.), The Cambridge handbook of areal linguistics , 19–39. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press) that may have given rise to preverbal clitic clusters in the languages of our sample, as well as encouraging continued investigation into the nature of these histories, both from a linguistic and interdisciplinary perspective.

November 29, 2023

Review article: messages from (not so distant) relatives in the Nuba Mountains: on how (not) to reconstruct Proto-Bantu

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

Page range: 241-281

Abstract

The rich morphological systems and discourse-based syntactic structures of a range of modern Bantu languages have attracted the attention of many linguists. The present contribution takes articles in a volume on the reconstruction of Proto-Bantu grammar edited by Bostoen et al. (2022. On Reconstructing Proto-Bantu Grammar, Niger-Congo Comparative Studies 4. Berlin: Language Science Press. 808 pp. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7560553) as a basis, in order to address the origin of these grammatical properties. More specifically, historical as well as synchronic features of Bantu languages are compared with Tima, a related language spoken in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan, and classified as a member of the Kordofanian family within Niger-Congo by Greenberg. Contrary to a popular view, it is claimed here that subject inversion and corresponding (extended) ergative alignment marking with transitive verbs is not only a property of Tima as a Niger-Congo language, but also of several Niger-Congo languages classified as Bantu. Tima consequently may perform a role similar to that of Tocharian in the history of Indo-European studies. The present contribution also raises methodological issues related to lexicon-based Bayesian phylogenetics as against Greenberg’s method of multilateral comparisons, and the historical-comparative method. In addition, it addresses the question of the extent to which the spread of typological features coincides with so-called “belts” postulated in the typological literature on African languages.

Book Review

November 29, 2023

Serge Sagna: Cross-Categorial Classification. Nouns and Verbs in Eegimaa

Olivier Bondéelle

Page range: 283-287

Volume 44 (2023)

Volume 43 (2022)

Volume 42 (2021)

Volume 41 (2020)

Volume 40 (2019)

Volume 39 (2018)

Volume 38 (2017)

Volume 37 (2016)

Volume 36 (2015)

Volume 35 (2014)

Volume 34 (2013)

Volume 33 (2012)

Volume 32 (2011)

Volume 31 (2010)

Volume 30 (2009)

Volume 29 (2008)

Volume 28 (2007)

Volume 27 (2006)

Volume 26 (2005)

Volume 25 (2004)

Volume 24 (2003)

Volume 23 (2002)

Volume 22 (2001)

Volume 21 (2000)

Volume 20 (1999)

Volume 19 (1998)

Volume 18 (1997)

Volume 17 (1996)

Volume 16 (1995)

Volume 15 (1994)

Volume 14 (1993)

Volume 13 (1992)

Volume 12 (1991)

Volume 11 (1989)

Volume 10 (1988)

Volume 9 (1987)

Volume 8 (1986)

Volume 7 (1985)

Volume 6 (1984)

Volume 5 (1983)

Issue 2

Volume 4 (1982)

Volume 3 (1981)

Volume 2 (1980)

Volume 1 (1979)

Journal Impact Factor	0.5	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
5-year Journal Impact Factor	0.3	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
Journal Citation Indicator	0.14	2022, Journal Citation Reports (Clarivate, 2023)
CiteScore	0.7	2022, Scopus (Elsevier B.V., 2023)
SCImago Journal Rank	0.144	2022, SJR (Scimago Lab, 2023; Data Source: Scopus)
Source Normalized Impact per Paper	0.278	2022, CWTS Journal Indicators (CWTS B.V., 2023; Data Source: Scopus)

More information about journal rankings

Submit

Submission
All contributions, as well as books for review, and all correspondence concerning editorial matters are to be sent to Dr. Felix Ameka.

Your benefits of publishing with us

Rapid online ahead-of publication with short turnaround times
High quality manuscript processing
Accepted papers will be published online first as DOI-citable, forward-linked articles for quickest possible visibility for the scientific community
Optional open access publication
Every article easily discoverable because of SEO and comprehensive abstracting and indexing services
Secure archiving by De Gruyter and the independent archiving service Portico

Submission process

Submission of your paper
Peer review process (you will be guided through every step)
Decision on your paper (10 weeks from submission to first decision)
If accepted your paper will be published with immediate open access
Publication online and in print (8 weeks from acceptance to publication)

Please note

Manuscripts must be written in clear and concise English or French
For the proper formatting of reference entries, authors should refer to the De Gruyter Mouton journal style sheet
Before submitting your article please have a look at our Instruction for Authors , Publication Ethics Statement and our copyright agreement
Our repository policy allows you to distribute 30 PDF copies of your published article to colleagues (the PDF has to include the information that it is an author's copy). Please also feel free to distribute the link to the online abstract
Once your article is accepted you have the option to publish it open access
If you have any general questions please visit our FAQ page for journal authors

We look forward to receiving your manuscript!

Hybrid Open Access

Authors have the option to publish their article under an open access license. The standard article processing charge for a hybrid open access article is 2,000 Euro (plus VAT if applicable). Please note that corresponding authors from institutions with which we have a transformative agreement, can publish open access without paying the fee. More information on the eligible institutions and articles can be found here.

Editorial

Editor-in-Chief
Felix K. Ameka
African Languages and Cultures
Leiden University Centre for Linguistics
P.O. Box 9515
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands
e-mail: F.K.Ameka@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Co-Editors
Nancy C. Kula
2.605, Colchester Campus
University of Essex
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester
CO4 3SQ
e-mail: nckula@essex.ac.uk

Sara Petrollino
Faculty of Humanities
Leiden Univ Centre for Linguistics
LUCL T&C van Afrika
Room number 0.25
Reuvensplaats 3-4
2311 BE Leiden
e-mail: s.petrollino@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Jenneke van der Wal
Faculty of Humanities
Leiden Univ Centre for Linguistics
LUCL T&C van Afrika
Room number 1.25
Reuvensplaats 3-4
2311 BE Leiden
e-mail: g.j.van.der.wal@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Emeritus Founding Editor
Paul Newman
Indiana University, Bloomington, USA

Editorial Assistant
Isabella Jordanoska
Leiden University, The Netherlands
e-mail: jall@hum.leidenuniv.nl

Executive Committee
Enoch O. Aboh
Anneke O. Breedveld
Maarten Kossmann
Constance Kutsch Lojenga
Maarten Mous
Saskia van Putten
Thilo C. Schadeberg
Harry Stroomer

Editorial Board
Thomas Bearth (Zurich, Switzerland)
Hounkpati B. C. Capo (Garome)
Ellen Hurst Harosh (Cape Town, South Africa)
Lars Hellan (Trondheim, Norway)
Larry M. Hyman (Berkeley, USA)
Zelealem Leyew (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
Lutz Marten (London, UK)
Joyce T. Mathangwane (Gaborone, Botswana)
A. Motingea Mangulu (Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Emmanuel Ngue Um (University of Yaounde 1, Camaroon)
Gerard Philippson (Paris/Lyon, France)
AKUMBU Pius Wuchu (Paris, France)
Mechthild Reh (Hamburg, Germany)
Bert Remijsen (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Sharon Rose (San Diego, USA)
Hannah Sande (Berkeley, USA)
Eno-Abasi Urua (Uyo, Nigeria)
Baye Yimam (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 1613-3811
Print ISSN: 0167-6164
Type: Journal
Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
First published: January 1, 1979
Publication Frequency: 2 Issues per Year
Audience: researchers and professionals in the field of African languages and linguistics