The papers delivered during the Plenary Sessions at the 27th Annual Conference on African Linguistics dealt with a theoretical issue, an overview of African linguistics from the perspectives of a retired distinguished professor of African linguistics and languages, and an analysis of an African language teaching-learning issue. These widely diverse papers reflect the diverse nature of the contents of this volume.

The selection of papers for this volume was therefore guided by a desire to reveal recent research in theoretical and non-theoretical issues relating to African linguistics and languages. Accordingly, the chapters of this book deal with issues that relate to phonology, syntax, historical linguistics, and language and society, as well as pedagogical issues that relate to the learning and teaching of African languages. Hence, this volume offers a broad based appeal to readers of different backgrounds and interests.

Most of the theoretical discussions are contained in the phonology and syntax sections of this book. Accordingly, topics focus on several languages. One of the chapters on historical linguistics deals with a West African language while the others deal with a South African language. The paper on the metrics of Arabic and Hausa poetry offers a valuable insight into these two languages. The last section contains papers that cover a wide range of topics: from synonyms and homonyms, to an account of Igbo Concubinage, and issues involving translation and substrate theories.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul F.A. Kotey has faculty affiliations with the Department of African and Asian Languages and Literatures, the Program in Linguistics, and the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He recently published the first tone marked pronunciation dictionary on Twi-English/Englsih-Twi.

CATEGORY
Linguistics, Language/AFRICA