SALALS conference 2023

The annual conference of the Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society (SALALS) will be hosted by Walter Sisulu University, Department of Arts on its Mthatha Campus from 3 – 6 July 2023. The Department of Arts is proud to play host to this conference here in the Eastern Cape.

The conference will be face-to-face in the post pandemic era, with the theme: “Standardizations, descriptions, and delimitations of Southern African languages: past, present and future”.

African languages on our continent have played second fiddle to the former colonial languages of English, French and others, often being reduced to written forms with sometimes questionable and controversial orthographies. These written forms have led to unending debates, raising questions of who, why and how they were arrived at. To date, issues pertaining to the intellectualization of these languages abide, particularly in this age of digitalization. The conference theme for this year therefore aims to shine a light on this and other related issues pertaining to Southern African languages, as listed in the themes and subthemes below.

This call for papers, therefore, affords students, academics, researchers, and language practitioners in various fields an opportunity to share their research findings and recommendations with others. All abstract submissions will be peer-reviewed and evaluated based on originality, technical as well as research depth, accuracy, and relevance to the sub-themes of the conference.

The first day of the conference will host workshops and days 2 – 4 will be for paper and poster presentations. Workshop proposals and abstracts for papers and posters are invited in the following areas:

• Orthography and lexicography development
• Digitization of indigenous languages
• Intellectualization of indigenous languages as academic languages
• Language in learning and teaching
• Language policy and planning
• Indigenous languages and social justice
• Indigenous languages and social media
• Forensic linguistics
• Translation and interpreting as tools for access
• General linguistics

Workshop proposals and abstracts for papers and posters in other areas of general linguistics, applied linguistics and language practice will also be considered.

Important dates

The submission deadline for workshop proposals is Friday, 17 February 2023 at midnight (23:59) South African Standard Time, with notice of acceptance in the week of 24 February 2023. Submission deadline for abstracts for papers and posters is 27 February 2023 at midnight (23:59) South African Standard Time, with notice of acceptance on the week of 22 March 2023.

Registration for the conference will open on 23 March 2023 and close on 10 May 2023.

Registration fees

Early registration: 23 March 2023 to 14 April 2023 Registration fee:
ZAR2 200.00 for non-members
ZAR1 400.00 for paid-up members*
ZAR750.00 for students that are not paid-up members
ZAR550.00 for students that are paid-up members

Normal registration: 14 April 2023 to 08 May 2023 Registration fee:
ZAR3 300 for non-members
ZAR2 500 for paid-up members*
ZAR1 750 for students that are not paid-up members
ZAR1 500 for students that are paid-up members

Late registration: 09 May 2023 to 31 May 2023
Registration fee:
ZAR3 600 for non-members
ZAR3 000 for paid-up members*
ZAR2 000 for students that are not paid-up members
ZAR1 600 for students that are paid-up members
No refunds. Substitutes are welcome at no extra cost.

*If membership for 2023 has already been paid, please send proof of membership with proof of conference registration payment to ymadolo@wsu.ac.za & snokutywa@wsu.ac.za.

To submit your abstract or Workshop Proposal, please follow the following link:

http://linguistlist.org/easyabs/2023salalswsu

Contact details

Please contact Dr Yolisa Madolo (ymadolo@wsu.ac.za) or Mr Sinoyolo Nokutywa (snokutywa@wsu.ac.za) with any inquiries.

Registration form