PROCEEDINGS OF THE 4TH SYMPOSIUM  ON WEST AFRICAN LANGUAGES. (NAPLES, 21-23 SEPTEMBER 2022)

Gian Claudio Batic; Valentina Schiattarella

doi:10.6093/978-88-6719-381-3

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 4TH SYMPOSIUM ON WEST AFRICAN LANGUAGES. (NAPLES, 21-23 SEPTEMBER 2022)

Authors

Gian Claudio Batic (ed)

University of Naples L'Orientale

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5040-7891

Valentina Schiattarella (ed)

University of Naples, L’Orientale

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0500-7231

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6719-381-3

Keywords:

West African languages, Descriptive and typological linguistics, Morphosyntax, Grammatical gender and nominal classification, Oral literature

Synopsis

Publisher: UniorPress

Series: Collana di African Studies – Chado-Sudanic Series

ISSN: 1828-5910

Pages: 242

Language: English

Abstract: This volume brings together thirteen papers presented at the 4th Symposium on West African Languages, held in Naples on 21-23 September 2022. Spanning phonology, morphosyntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and oral literature, the contributions offer descriptive and typological perspectives on the linguistic diversity of West Africa. Several chapters examine grammatical gender, nominal classification, and reference, while others address vowel systems, verbal aspect, serial verb constructions, focus marking, and polar questions. The collection also explores lexical borrowing from Nupe and Yoruba into Hausa, the adaptation of Hausa proverbs in social media, and female musical performance within the Hausa gurmi tradition. Drawing on languages belonging to the Afroasiatic and Niger-Congo families, the studies combine empirical analysis with discussion of broader theoretical questions concerning linguistic categories, grammatical relations, and communicative functions. Together, they illustrate the contribution of West African language research to linguistic theory and to the understanding of verbal expression as a social and cultural practice.

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Author Biographies

Gian Claudio Batic, University of Naples L'Orientale

Gian Claudio Batic teaches Hausa language and literature and linguistic research methodologies at the University of Naples L'Orientale. His research focuses on the documentation, description and analysis of Western Chadic languages. He has conducted field research in northern and north-eastern Nigeria, publishing linguistic and ethnolinguistic studies on the Hausa, Bole, Bure and Kushi languages. He is Editor-in-Chief of JALaLit – Journal of African Languages and Literatures. His interests include linguistic documentation and description, semantic and phonological complexity, African kinship terminology, reference systems, and the sociolinguistics of minority languages.

Valentina Schiattarella, University of Naples, L’Orientale

Valentina Schiattarella is a scholar specializing in Berber/Amazigh linguistics, with a particular focus on the languages spoken in northeastern Africa (Tunisia, Libya and Egypt). She earned her PhD in Linguistics at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris). Currently, she is an EUME fellow (2026-2027) at the Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin. Her most recent appointments include a fellowship at the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb in Tunis (2025-2026), a postdoctoral position at the University of Naples, L’Orientale (2024-2025) and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship at the University of Hamburg (2021-2023). Her second book, A Grammar of Siwi. A Berber (Amazigh) language in Egypt, is forthcoming with Brill.

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Published

October 12, 2026

Series

UniorPress - African Studies – Chado-Sudanic Series

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Details about this monograph

ISBN-13 (15)

978-88-6719-381-3

Data del CIP (Cataloguing in publication) (35)

2026-10-12

How to Cite

Batic, Gian Claudio, and Valentina Schiattarella, eds. 2026. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 4TH SYMPOSIUM ON WEST AFRICAN LANGUAGES. (NAPLES, 21-23 SEPTEMBER 2022) . Vol. 9. UniorPress - African Studies – Chado-Sudanic Series. SHARE Books. https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6719-381-3.