36.908, Calls: de Gruyter Mouton, Language and Social Life series - "Language on the Streets in Eastern Africa" (Jrnl)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-908. Fri Mar 14 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.908, Calls: de Gruyter Mouton, Language and Social Life series - "Language on the Streets in Eastern Africa" (Jrnl)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Justin Fuller
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Steven Franks, Joel Jenkins, Daniel Swanson, Erin Steitz
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Erin Steitz <ensteitz at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 14-Mar-2025
From: Evgeniya (Jenia) Gutova [languageinformal at gmail.com]
Subject: de Gruyter Mouton, Language and Social Life series - "Language on the Streets in Eastern Africa" (Jrnl)


Journal: de Gruyter Mouton, Language and Social Life series
Issue: Language on the Streets in Eastern Africa
Call Deadline: 15-Jun-2025

We are delighted to invite you to contribute to the book Language on
the Streets in Eastern Africa, contracted with de Gruyter Mouton,
Language and Social Life series. In the context of the current
project, eastern Africa is broadly defined to include Tanzania, Kenya,
Uganda, the DR Congo, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique, Somalia, and
Zambia. The book investigates the use of informal language in eastern
Africa – a linguistically rich area, with languages both native to the
region and from elsewhere, including English, French, Arabic, and
Kutchi. Additionally, Swahili plays a significant role as a lingua
franca in a large part of the region, but with notable variations.
Most linguistic studies on this region have so far focused on language
use in formal domains, while less attention has been paid to the
informal language and its use. By informal language we are referring
to the language of everyday communication mostly used in casual
contexts as opposed to the acrolect varieties (Tannen 2005). It
includes varieties used among peers, friends, and workmates, among
others. Informal language has also been associated with less educated
sects of the society (e.g. Mattiello 2008). At the same time, the
informal language is more ubiquitous, used in many different contexts
and for different reasons. We welcome contributions discussing the
following or related areas:
- Slang, colloquialisms
- Language in music
- Language use in the social media
- SMS language and leetspeak – an informal language or code used on
the internet, in which standard letters are often replaced by numerals
or special characters that resemble the letters in appearance (e.g.
Lundin 2010; Mapunda 2023)
- Code-Switching
- etc.
If you are interested in writing a contribution, we will appreciate it
if you could let us know at your earliest convenience by sending an
email with your full name and a preliminary title of the proposed
contribution to languageinformal at gmail.com. Please send a synopsis of
ca. 250-300 words by June 15, 2025. The contribution of ca.
7,000-9,000 words is to be submitted by April 15, 2026.
Tentative timeline
Confirmation of participation: at your earliest convenience
Deadline of synopses: June 15, 2025
Contribution (first version): April 15, 2026
Final/revised contributions: September 15, 2026
Book sent to the publisher: January 15, 2027
Book published: 2027
Feel free to forward the call to anyone you think might be interested,
and feel free to contact us with any questions at
languageinformal at gmail.com.
Editors:
Gastor Mapunda, Associate Professor, University of Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania
Evgeniya (Jenia) Gutova, postdoc researcher, University of Tromsø,
Norway
References
Lundin, L. (2010). “Buzzwords – bang*splat!” The A.D.D Detective.
(http://criminalbrief.com/?p=10866).
Mapunda, G. (2023). “Uc4c 2FA8” – A Linguistic Analysis of Sayings on
Bajaji Passenger Tricycles in Dar es Salaam City. UTAFITI Journal of
African Perspectives, Vol. 18/1: 84-107.
doi:10.1163/26836408-15020074.
Mattiello, E. (2008). An Introduction to English Slang: A Description
of Its Morphology, Semantics and Sociology. Polimetrica.
Tannen, D. (2005). Conversational style: Analysing talk among friends.
Oxford University Press.

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis
                     Lexicography
                     Pragmatics
                     Sociolinguistics
                     Text/Corpus Linguistics




------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List to support the student editors:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Mouton https://cloud.newsletter.degruyter.com/mouton

Elsevier Ltd http://www.elsevier.com/linguistics

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Oxford University Press http://www.oup.com/us

Wiley http://www.wiley.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-36-908
----------------------------------------------------------