Language in East Africa (WiSe 2023/24)

In this reading course, we examine languages and the societies that use them in central East Africa and adjacent regions. The region includes but is not limited to Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. The course covers language families (Bantu, Nilotic, Cushitic), contact varieties (creoles and pidgins), structures of languages – both well-known ones and less well known ones (English, Swahili, Arabic, Hadza, Sandawe, Kuliak) –, urban languages (Sheng), language endangerment, and language policy.