Introduction

Language Documentation is becoming an important application area which unites many areas of linguistics in a common practical goal: the use of modern methods for the efficient documentation of the languages of the world.

There are many reasons for wanting to pursue this goal. One reason is simply that descriptions of languages have often been hidden in texts which are inaccessible either because they are out of print or otherwise hard to get, or because descriptive results are not clearly separated from methodological procedures, argumentation, etc., as in linguistic articles, books and conference proceedings. Another reason is that the 6000 known languages of the world, each of which is a complex and unique repository of knowledge about the range of human cognitive and behavioural capacities, are rapidly disappearing because of globalisation tendencies and climate change, which affect population movements and the attitudes of the younger generation towards the language of their parents. When a language dies, this knowledge, which has developed over the whole time-span of human existence, vanishes. Language death has been described as the social and intellectual analogue of the death of plant, animal and insect species - the `linguistic gene pool' is shrinking.

This class will concentrate on documenting selected languages in West Africa, using materials from existing research and teaching cooperation with West African universities, mainly in Nigeria and Ivory Coast. The languages covered will be:

1. Nigerian, Ghanaian and Liberian English and their history
2. Ivory Coast French and its history
3. Selected West African Languages such as Ega (Kru/Kwa, Ivory Coast), Anyi (Kwa, Ivory Coast) and Ibibio (Nigeria) and their history

The practical, operational goal of the class is to produce model CD-ROM and web-based multimedia documentation of the languages concerned, for use in joint teaching projects with West African universities. The class is addressed primarily to students of English, Linguistics and/or French who are interested in the issues described here. We will use a number of sources, including the introductory textbook:
Heine, Bernd & Derek Nurse, eds. (2000). African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

For further information, check our teaching web site and our Language Documentation site for initial orientation.