African Language Studies at MSU
The Center, through the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, offers instruction in 30 African languages and taught the 13 languages asterisked below in the 2001-2004 years.
Regular classroom instruction is offered by faculty for Arabic, Hausa, and Swahili.
27 languages are offered in the learner-oriented, on-demand, and faculty-supervised program for the graduate student and research scholars, ensuring the availability of languages needed for all major regions of Africa. From the many African students in the MSU community, native speakers are recruited for training to serve as tutors in the program supervised weekly by a faculty linguist.
Classroom work is supplemented by an advanced language laboratory, as well as by computer-assisted instruction in some languages.
The languages currently available for study at MSU are as follows:
- Acholi
- Akan
- Amharic
- Arabic, Modern Standard
- Arabic, Sudanese
- Bambara
- Bemba
- Chewa
- Fula/Fulfulde/Pulaar
- Hausa
- Igbo
- Kikuyu
- Kinyarwanda
- Kpelle
- Lingala
- Luganda
- Malagasy
- Mandingo/Bamana
- Mende
- Nyanja
- Oromo, West Central
- Sesotho, Southern (Sotho)
- Shona
- Somali
- Swahili
- Temne
- Tigrinya
- Twi
- West African Krio
- Wolof
- Xhosa
- Yoruba
- Zulu
(Bold denotes languages offered in a class mode. All others are on a tutorial basis.)
Summer Intensive Language Study
In addition to the Title VI FLAS fellowships available for language studies at MSU during academic year fall and spring semesters, the Center also provides Title VI-funded fellowships for summer intensive language study programs: (a) the MSU-sponsored Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI) offering a variety of African languages each summer; and (b) intensive language institutes in Africa (only with special permission), usually in Swahili, Hausa, and Zulu.
For details on academic year fellowships and applications, see http://africa.msu.edu/FLAS/. For summer intensive language fellowships, see http://africa.msu.edu/SCALI/fellowship.php. For special questions, write Dr. Yacob Fisseha, Assistant Director, African Studies Center, fisseha@msu.edu or phone (517) 353-1700.
African Language Materials
As a National Resource Center in African language and area studies, the Center and its faculty for African linguistics have developed:
- a number of language texts, grammars, and dictionaries through its publications program;
- A Resource Handbook for African Languages (by Professor David J. Dwyer)
- the Webbook of the African Languages (http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/hiermenu.html)
- The e-LCTL Project for priorities in teaching less commonly taught languages in the U.S.http://elctl.msu.edu
- Instructional Guide for African Languages in Small Classes (via CLEAR) http:clear.msu.edu/teaching/tutorial/index.html
- occasional conferences, seminars, and institutes on African languages for linguists and instructors.
Further details about African language study at MSU can be obtained from:
Professor Ibro Chekaraou, Coordinator of the African Language Program
Michigan State University, A-610 Wells Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824
E-mail: ichek@msu.edu
Telephone: (517) 353-0746
