Journal: Sociolinguistics
Issue: Special Issue: Languages of Africa in the Sociolinguistic Aspect
Call Deadline: 12-Jan-2026

We invite you to take part in a special issue of the journal "Sociolinguistics" No. 3 (27), 2026. The theme of the issue: "Languages of Africa in the sociolinguistic aspect".

Editors:
- Nadezhda Makeeva, PhD in Linguistics, Senior Researcher, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
- Stanislav Beletsky, PhD in Linguistics, Research Fellow, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

The African continent is a zone of high linguistic diversity, it is home to a third of the world's languages: about two thousand idioms belonging to more than 30 language families are spoken in Africa. From the point of view of the ecology of language, the sociolinguistic situation in African countries varies from relatively simple monolingualism (Somalia – Somali, Egypt – Arabic, Lesotho – Sesotho, etc.) to linguo-cultural (super)diversity (Nigeria – 520 languages, Kenya – 61 languages, Mali – 63 languages), which is largely explained by the artificiality of the borders inherited by the countries from the colonial past. Being united into a single communicative environment by state borders, autochthonous languages enter into complex relationships both with each other and with imported languages, including the languages of former metropolises. The objectives of this special issue include both a comprehensive and component-by-component analysis of the communicative environments of African countries and regions in synchrony and diachrony, as well as modeling the paths of their linguistic development.

Papers focusing on the following and related themes are accepted for publication:
- language situation in African countries in diachronic and synchronic aspects;
- vertical and horizontal language contacts in African countries (scenarios, effects, patterns);
- effects of multilingualism in language and society;
- language policy and practice for the preservation/maintenance of linguistic diversity in Africa;
- sociolinguistic typology of communicative environments of African countries;
- African studies and new methods of sociolinguistic research.

Not only linguists, but also specialists from related fields of science are invited to participate in the discussion: sociologists, psychologists, historians, cultural scientists, etc.
Applications and manuscripts formatted according to the journal rules (see https://sociolinguistics.ru/index.php/sociolinguistics/send-sheets) are accepted until January 12, 2026 via e-mail: [email protected].
The article may not exceed 40,000 characters including blank spaces, in Russian or English. Illustrations in JPG format may be attached to the texts. The use of other authors’ materials must be agreed upon with the authors and copyright holders.
For more detailed information on the rules of publication and formatting of articles visit our website https://sociolinguistics.ru/index.php/sociolinguistics/index. For any questions regarding publication in No. 3 (27) please contact us by e-mail [email protected].
If we receive a large number of applications in No. 3 (27), the editorial board may consider other options for publishing peer-reviewed manuscripts.

Linguistic Field(s): Sociolinguistics

Language Family(ies): Afroasiatic
Khoisan
Niger-Congo
Nilo-Saharan