36.369, Confs: Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics / Cameroon

Tue Jan 28 02:05:05 UTC 2025

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-369. Tue Jan 28 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.369, Confs: Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics / Cameroon

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Date: 28-Jan-2025
From: Ruth Karachi Benson Oji [roji at pau.edu.ng]
Subject: 4th African Pragmatics Conference

4th African Pragmatics Conference

Date: 24-Feb-2026 - 27-Feb-2026
Location: University of Dschang, Cameroon, Central Africa, Cameroon
Contact: Professor Akin Odebunmi; University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Contact Email: akinsola.odebunmi at mail.ui.edu.ng
Meeting URL: https://africanprag.org/event/4thapraconf/

Linguistic Field(s): Applied Linguistics; Discourse Analysis;
Pragmatics; Sociolinguistics; Text/Corpus Linguistics
Subject Language(s): Afrikaans (afr)
                     Akan (aka)
                     English (eng)
                     French (fra)
                     Hausa (hau)
Language Family(ies): African Pidgin; Arabic; Dutch based; German;
Portuguese based

Conference Overview
Pragmatics, the study of language in the context of use and users, has
developed significantly over the years with an excellent feat in
dealing with context-dependent and context-shaping communication
across several domains thanks to the influences of its theories. While
the West had a thankfully and domineeringly pioneering role in
creating and nurturing the theoretic trajectories of pragmatics,
Africa, in recent times, has also contributed to the pool. Thus,
theories and models such as the speech act theory (Wittgenstein, 1953;
Austin 1962; Searle 1969, 1983; Bach and Harnish 1969, 1979);
intention-based theories (Grice 1975, Sperber and Wilson 1995); the
pragmatic act theory; face, politeness and impoliteness theories
(Lakoff 1974; Brown and Levinson 1987, Culpeper 2008; Culpeper and
Hardaker 2017); interlanguage pragmatics (Kasper and Blum-Kulka 1993);
variational pragmatics (Barron  & Schneider, 2008, 2009);
intercultural Pragmatics (Kecskes 2014); the complicity model
(Verschueren 2022) and sundry other interventions are currently being
complemented with African-developed models such as  the contextual
beliefs model (Odebunmi 2006); postcolonial pragmatics (Anchimbe and
Janney 2011); emancipatory pragmatics (Ameka and Terkourafi 2019) and
cognition pragmatics (Odebunmi 2024).
This huge theoretic arsenal of pragmatics has recently been shown to
possess the ability  not only to describe how language  works in
context and how intentions and agendas are constructed or
co-constructed but also how pragmatic analysis is used  to address
pressing social issues. It is within this intersection that this 4th
conference of the African Pragmatics Association (APrA) has captured
the question of social justice in Africa.
Social justice has often been based on five principles: equal access
to economic, social and political resources; diversity; equity;
participation and human rights. These principles are also partly
reflected in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR): “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and
inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the
foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world …” and in the
words of Professor Thuli Madonsela at the Social Justice Summit and
International Conference in Stellenbosch, 29 and 31 August, 2019: “As
long as there is injustice somewhere, there can’t be sustainable peace
anywhere.”
Although social justice is still a desire in most global communities,
it is a more serious concern in Africa where multiple social, economic
and political obstacles wrapped in ideological realities undermine the
right for social justice. Thus, a pragmatic approach, with a
multidisciplinary dimension, enhances the understanding of social
justice, and its interfaces with issues of identities, ethnicity,
sociality, culture, ecology and power dynamics.
This 4th conference of the African Pragmatics Association seeks to
foster interdisciplinary dialogue and critical thinking on the
intricate and multidimensional relationship between pragmatics and
social justice in Africa.
It invites submissions which address the sub-themes below (and more in
related areas) contextualised in the social justice question in
Africa, and grounded in pragmatic theories:
•       Language, pragmatics,  and power
•       Language, discourse and identity
•       Pragmatics, equity and social inequality
•       Pragmatics, culture and social justice
•       Religion and social justice
•       The (new) media and social justice
•       Gender and social justice
•       Literature and social justice
•       Politics, governance and social justice
•       Medicine and social justice
•       Law and social justice
•       Pragmatics of resistance and pragmatic strategies for social
change
•       Language and social change
•       Social justice in institutional settings
•       Intercultural communication and social justice
•       Digital Communication, digital language and social justice
•       Critical language awareness and social justice
•       Language policy and social justice
•       Policy discourse analysis and social justice
Submissions on any pragmatically-relevant topics are also welcome.
Abstracts, including panel proposals, which should be between 200 and
300 words long, should be sent to the LOC at: apra2026 at uds-dschang.org
The languages of the conference are English and French, but panels may
be organised in other languages spoken in Africa (e.g., Kiswahili,
Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Hausa, Akan, Arabic, Pidgin, Portuguese,
Dutch, German,).
Keynote Speaker:
Professor Bernard MULO FARENKIA, Cape Breton University, Canada
Plenary Speakers:
1.Prof Evangeline AGWA FOMUKONG SEINO, University of Bamenda, Cameroon
2. Prof AYU' NUI NEBA, University of Buea, Cameroon
3. Prof MBIYDZENYUY SALA Bonaventure, University of Yaounde 1,
Cameroon
Important Dates
•       Abstract Submission Deadline: August  30, 2025
•       Notification of Acceptance: Progressive
•       Early Bird Registration Deadline: October 15, 2025
Registration Fees
- International (non-African) Participants: $100 (early bird), $120
(late/on-site registration)
- Non-African Students: $50 (early bird), $70 (late/on-site
registration)
- African Participants (scholars and others): $60 (early bird), $85
(late/on-site registration)
-African students: $30 (early bird), $40 (late/on-site registration)
- Local Participants: 25000 FCFA (early bird), 30000FCFA (late/on-site
registration)
-Local students: 10000FCFA (early bird), 12000 FCFA (late/on-site
registration)
For more information, please visit: https://africaprag.org/ or
contact: apra2026 at uds-dschang.org
Local Organising Committee
Convener: Prof Jean Rousseau TANDIA MOUAFOU, HoD of the Department of
Foreign   Applied Languages University of Dschang
Chair: Prof Lucas AFUTENDEM NKWETTA, Coordinator of the English and
Commonwealth        Studies of the Department of Foreign Applied
Languages University of Dschang, Cameroon.
Secretary: Prof Herbert ROSTAND NGOUO, University of Maroua, Cameroon

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