SALALS Conference 2025

Theme: Traditions, transformations, and African thought: Imagining Linguistics in Africa for the 21st century

The 2025 conference of the Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society (SALALS) will be held at Nelson Mandela University, 25 -27 June, 2025.

The theme of the conference is “Traditions, transformations, and African thought: Imagining Linguistics in Africa for the 21st century”. In the South African imaginary, “traditions”, “transformation” and “African thought” are core concepts that signify our diverse pasts and present(s). Traditions represent a connection to the past that we experience in the present and use to build a bridge to the future. Transformation, as a notion of change, is inevitable and would require a renewed conceptualisation of language. It is important that this renewed conceptualisation of language is embedded in African thought, but also taking into account Africa’s positioning in the 21st century.

Therefore, how can we imagine a Linguistics in Africa for the 21st century building on our traditions while fostering transformation underpinned by a strong foundation in African thought?

The annual SALALS conference attracts diverse presenters both nationally and internationally to exchange comprehensive and stimulating discussions in the forms of paper and poster presentations, as well as workshops. It also offers thought-provoking plenary presentations, and abundant opportunities for networking.

Join us as we unlock knowledge at the intersection of language, society, and innovation, fostering dialogue that inspires new ideas and collaborative efforts for a brighter future.

We invite abstracts for papers, posters and workshops under the following subthemes and related areas:

o Social justice and humanising pedagogy (linguistic diversity and inclusion)
o Digital humanities (language and technology and 4IR)
o Translation and interpreting
o Multilingualism in context
o First and second language acquisition
o Syntax
o Morphology
o Semantics
o Discourse analysis
o Phonetics and Phonology
o Language and the law (forensic linguistics)
o Gender, language, and power
o Semiotics
o Onomastics
o Language, identity, and culture
o Language, culture, and medicine
o Language, knowledge, and archive
o Language and education
o Language and business
o Language standardisation
o Historical linguistics
o Linguistic migration
o Psycholinguistics

Registration fees

Normal registration: 28 February 2025 to 3 June 2025

ZAR 3 630 for non-members*

ZAR 2 750 for paid-up members

ZAR 1 500 for students that are not paid-up members*

ZAR 1 250 for students that are paid-up members

*The conference fee for non-SALALS members includes membership for the 2025 calendar year.

Late registration: 3 to 17 June (midnight) 2025

ZAR 3 960 for non-members
ZAR 3 300 for paid-up members*
ZAR 1500 for students that are not paid-up members
ZAR1 250 for students that are paid-up members

*SALALS members with outstanding membership fees will pay an additional amount of R880 for registration.

Important dates

28 February 2025 (Friday) – Normal registration opens
21 March 2025 (Friday) – Deadline for submission of proposals (workshops)
4 April 2025 (Friday) – Authors notified of acceptance (workshops)
25 April 2025 (Friday) – Deadline for submission of abstracts (papers and posters)
16 May 2025 (Monday) – Authors notified of acceptance (papers and poster)
30 May 2025 (Friday) – Provisional conference programme published
3 June 2025 (Monday) – Late registration opens
6 June 2025 (Tuesday) – Registration for workshops open
17 June 2025 (Tuesday) – Registration closes
20 June 2025 (Friday) – Final conference programme published

Conference website and email

Website:(To be announced)

For enquiries, please contact Mr Lidon Chauke at: Lidon.Chauke@Mandela.ac.za

Submission guidelines

Abstracts for papers and posters should be between 250-300 words, and workshop proposals may not exceed 500 words.

Please follow the following link to submit your abstract or workshop proposal:

Submission link will be announced soon.

Presenters are encouraged to submit their abstracts in any official language of
South Africa. Abstracts written in any language other than English must be
accompanied by an English translation.

  • If you are not going to present in English, please indicate in the heading of your
    abstract in which language you are planning to present your
    paper/poster/workshop.
  • Please indicate if your abstract is for the main conference or a workshop (and if so
    which workshop).
  • All abstracts will be peer-reviewed.
  • No changes will be made to abstracts once they have been accepted.
  • No abstracts will be accepted after the deadline of 14 March 2025.

Abstracts for workshop proposals

  • Workshop abstracts should include the following:
    ▪ Easy to read title
    ▪ A clear description of the aim of the workshop
    ▪ Workshop proposals may not exceed 500 words
    ▪ Deadline for submission of workshop proposals is Monday 10 February 2025 (midnight)