West_African_Linguistics_Society

Conferences

The West African Language Congresses have been held as follows:

1^st Congress	Accra, Ghana	1961
2^ndCongress	Dakar, Senegal	1962
3^rd Congress	Freetown, Sierra Leone	1963
4^th Congress	Ibadan, Nigeria	1964
5^th Congress	Accra, Ghana	1965
6^th Congress	Yaoundé, Cameroon	1966
7^th Congress	Lagos, Nigeria	1967
8^th Congress	Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire	1969
9^th Congress	Freetown, Sierra Leone	1970
10^th Congress	Accra, Ghana	1972
11^th Congress	Yaoundé, Cameroon	1974
12^th Congress	Ile-Ife, Nigeria	1976
13^th Congress	Freetown, Sierra Leone	1978
14^th Congress	Cotonou, Benin	1980
15^th Congress	Port Harcourt, Nigeria	1982
16^th Congress	Yaoundé, Cameroon	1985
17^th Congress	Ibadan, Nigeria	1986
18^th Congress	Niamey, Niger	1988
19^th Congress	Accra, Ghana	1990
20^th Congress	Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso	1994
21^st Congress	Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire	1998

The interruption in the last five years of the two-year rhythm in the holding of the congresses has been due largely to unforeseen political factors. A venue previously earmarked for the 1992 Congress had to be abandoned because of political upheaval in the country concerned, and it proved rather difficult to find an alternative venue. The same pattern repeated itself between 1994 and 1998. However, we are fortunate to have been able to hold the 21^st Congress at Abidjan, thereby breaking the jinx that has dogged the Society for four years. The next Congress, which will mark the 35^th anniversary of the founding of WALS is scheduled to take place at the University of Ghana, Legon, Accra in the year 2000. Watch out for details of the exact dates at this website.

Papers delivered at the Congresses have usually found their way into various journals, particularly the Journal of West African Languages. However, proceedings of the 2^nd, 8^th and 15^th Congresses are published in book form. They are: Actes du 2e Colloque International de Linguistique Negro-Africaine, Dakar, 1963; Actes du 8e Congres de la Société Linguistique de l'Afrique Occidentale, Abidjan, 1971 and Kay Williamson (ed.) West African Languages in Education, Wien, 1985.