Romance Languages in Africa
The project Romance Language in Africa (RoLA) is aimed at developing a comprehensive panorama of the Romance languages throughout the African continent. 38 African countries are characterized by a French, Belgian, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish past that is perceptible today in a sometimes more, sometimes less direct way. Each project partner analyses a specific African area according to a uniform set of criteria and a uniform structure. The scholars lay out the sociolinguistic situation in one or more countries, sketch the linguistic history of the Romance languages concerned, the linguistic characteristics of their local usage, as well as the internal and external language policies applied. The project thus results in the first comprehensive description of the Romance languages in Africa following a coherent and systematic approach, thus allowing to identify differences and similarities between the specific situations.
The project analyses 38 countries: six in Northern Africa, eleven in Western Africa, nine in Central Africa and twelve in Eastern Africa.
Northern Africa
French
Italian
Portuguese
Spanish
- Spain (Canary Islands)
- Spain (Ceuta and Melilla)
Western Africa
French
- Benin
- Burkina Faso
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Guinea
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Niger
- Senegal
- Togo
Portuguese
Central Africa
French
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Gabon
- Republic of the Congo
Portuguese
- Angola
- São Tomé and Príncipe
Spanish
Eastern Africa
French
- Burundi
- Comoros
- Djibouti
- France (La Réunion and Mayotte)
- Madagascar
- Mauritius
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
Italian
Portuguese
Each area is systematically examined with regard to the following aspects:
Sociolinguistic Situation
- Geographical Distribution of Languages
- Social Distribution of Languages
Linguistic History
- Establishment of French/Italian/Portuguese/Spanish
- Milestones of its Development
External Language Policy
- Legislation
- Languages used by Public Authorities
- Languages used in Education
- Languages used in the Media
Linguistic Characteristics
- Pronunciation
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
Internal Language Policy
- Linguistic Purism
- Description of Linguistic Characteristics
- Usage of Linguistic Characteristics
Three aspects set the project apart from earlier descriptions of the Romance languages in Africa:
- Complete panorama of the Romance languages in Africa
- Coherent perspective, achieved by focusing on multilingualism
- Coherent structure thanks to uniform criteria of analysis
Three aspects distinguish the project Romance Languages in Africa (RoLA) from the project Typologies of Francophonies (ToF):
- RoLA deals with all African countries with French history, whereas ToF only presents a small selection.
- RoLA goes beyond the French-speaking world and also examines all African countries with Spanish, Portuguese and Italian history.
- RoLA uses English as a lingua franca bridging the different Romance languages.
Working Language
Analysed Languages
- French
- Italian
- Spanish
- Portuguese
The project is coordinated by the Chair of Romance Languages and Cultures at the University of Passau and carried out in cooperation with 44 academics working in 22 different countries at the subsequent universities and research institutes.
Algeria
- Université d'Alger 2 Abu el Kacem Saâdallah
Austria
Belgium
- Université catholique de Louvain
Benin
- Université d'Abomey-Calavi
Burundi
Cabo Verde
- Universidade de Cabo Verde
Canada
- Cape Breton University
- Université de Sherbrooke
Chad
France
- Centre national de la recherche scientifique
- Université d'Angers
- Université Montpellier 3 – Paul Valéry
- Université Rennes 2
- Université de Rouen
- Université Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle
- Université Paris 4 – Sorbonne
Germany
- Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
- University of Applied Sciences Karlsruhe
- Universität Leipzig
- Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
- Universität Passau (Project Coordination)
Ghana
Italy
- Università di Roma 1 – La Sapienza
- Università di Torino
Mauritius
Mozambique
- Universidade Eduardo Mondlane
Netherlands
Norway
- Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
- University of Oslo
Portugal
- Universidade de Lisboa
- Universidade da Madeira
Seychelles
Spain
- Universidad de Cádiz
- Universidad de La Laguna
Switzerland
Togo
USA
- Pennsylvania State University
- University at Albany
Here you can find publications regarding our projects.
Field Studies - Impressions
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