African Linguistics

Degree: Master of Arts in African Linguistics
Mode of Study: Full-time
Duration: 1 year
Start date: September, February
Language of instruction: English
Share |

The one-year MA in African Linguistics is a unique within the Netherlands. You will be taught by specialists in a wide range of African language families, such as those from the West-African coast, Bantu, Cushitic, Kordofanian, Omotic and Berber. Teaching will be in individual tutorials, whenever possible, enabling you to study the language families of your choice.

The programme is run by the Department of African Languages and Cultures, a department internationally noted for the expertise of its teaching and research staff in the field of African linguistics.

The information about this programme is available in the following languages:

What can the programme offer you, as a prospective African linguist? In addition to expert teaching on the African language families, there are several reasons to choose this master’s:

1. Unique study options—such as a specialisation on Berber (Tamazight) languages and linguistics

2. Opportunities to choose your specialisation from a wide range of linguistic research areas. The department’s teaching is particularly strong in the fields of:

  • Phonology—especially tone and vowel harmony
  • Morphology
  • Syntax
  • Semantics
  • Anthropological linguistics
  • Historical linguistics
  • Contact linguistics

3. Access to locally-held African knowledge and personal and institutional contacts, as the programme has roots deep within African universities. The department works intensively with the universities of:

  • Dar es Salaam in Tanzania
  • Legon in Ghana
  • Maputo in Mozambique
  • Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso
  • Addis Ababa in Ethiopia

4. Contact with international experts in the field at the annual international Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics (CALL) that is hosted by the department.

Prof. Mous

“Our students learn to describe African languages and to analyse the phonetic systems and grammatical rules.”

“One-third of the world’s languages are spoken in Africa. The study of these languages has entered a new era: the time of surveys is over and we are now able to go deeper into these languages and the cultures in which they are embedded.

The purpose of this master’s programme is to train students to be fully equipped to independently gather primary data on an African language, to analyse the data in detail, and to understand them in their cultural and linguistic context and to report on the findings in a way that is appreciated in the international academic arena.

Our programme has an excellent reputation worldwide. Each year we organise a colloquium on African languages in which some eighty international academics participate, and we publish the highly
respected journal, the Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. Also, the University Library in Leiden is one of the best of its kind.

My personal motivation is academic curiosity. Recently I have been doing research at the Research Centre for Linguistic Typology in Australia, a well-known centre for linguistic description. I have acquired a great many new ideas there and inspiration for teaching
and research.”