science

West African Linguistic Society

West African Linguistic Society is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand West African Linguistic Society rather than just read about it. In short: The West African Linguistic Society (French: Société de Linguistique de l’Afrique de l’Ouest)(abbreviated as WALS or SLAO) is an academic scholarly society formed in 1965 to encourage research in the West African languages and literature. Every other year, WALS hosts a conference for its members to meet and discuss current issues in African linguistic research.

Key takeaways

West African Linguistic Society belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect West African Linguistic Society to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of West African Linguistic Society from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The West African Linguistic Society (French: Société de Linguistique de l’Afrique de l’Ouest)(abbreviated as WALS or SLAO) is an academic scholarly society formed in 1965 to encourage research in the West African languages and literature. Every other year, WALS hosts a conference for its members to meet and discuss current issues in African linguistic research. The society also publishes the Journal of West African Languages. Its current headquarters are in Benin City, Nigeria.

Purpose

WALS fosters research on West African languages and provides a permanent forum for interaction and exchange of ideas among African-language scholars. WALS additionally aims to foster conversation among language boundaries between Anglophone and Francophone West Africa. WALS is a non-profit organization. Throughout its establishment, WALS has helped develop programs in African linguistics at a variety of universities in the region. The society has a number of working groups that focus on more specific topics, such as French and English language education and African short story creation.

Programming WALS hosts a biennial congress on West African linguistic research. Past locations of the congress meeting have been in numerous countries, such as Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria. As its members often either speak English or French, hosting countries alternate between Anglophone and Francophone ones. WALS is now a member of the Federation Internationale des Langues et Literatures Modernes (FILLM).

Membership Membership of WALS is largely drawn from academics and researchers in universities and research institutes. Members primarily come from West African countries, but include scholars from all over the world, including countries such as the United States and Austria. Professor Lendzemo Constantine Yuka of the University of Benin is the current president of WALS. Notable members have included:

Joseph Greenberg, American linguist who classified West African languages Kay Williamson, British linguist who specialized in Ijo languages of south-eastern Nigeria Adams Bodomo, professor of African linguistics at the University of Vienna Lynell Zogbo, Bible translator of African languages Francis Egbokhare, Nigerian academic and linguist Imelda Udoh, professor of linguistics specializing in phonology at University of Uyo

Relevant Literature Lendzemo Constantine Yuka and Adams Bodomo. 2022. "Towards the development of linguistics in West Africa: The contributions of the West African Linguistic Society." Beyond Babel: Scholarly organizations and the study of languages and literature, Tom Clark (Editor), pp. 43-58. John Benjamins.

External links WALS Facebook Journal of West African Languages website

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with West African Linguistic Society

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what West African Linguistic Society claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to West African Linguistic Society before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about West African Linguistic Society ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of West African Linguistic Society

In research: West African Linguistic Society appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses West African Linguistic Society in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: West African Linguistic Society is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Linguistic societies, Non-profit corporations, Organizations established in 1965, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for West African Linguistic Society outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study West African Linguistic Society in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what West African Linguistic Society means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain West African Linguistic Society out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is West African Linguistic Society in simple terms?

Why does West African Linguistic Society matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study West African Linguistic Society?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on West African Linguistic Society.