Afrikaans Grammar Workshop 5

The fifth installment of the biannual Afrikaans Grammar Workshop (AGW) will be hosted this year by the University of Michigan, USA. This follows on from the highly successful workshops previously held in South Africa (2016, 2023), Belgium (2018) and the Netherlands (2021). Like several of the previous workshops, AGW5 will be a hybrid event, with participation available both online, and in person at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. 

The workshop aims to bring together researchers from different theoretical and methodological perspectives who study Afrikaans linguistics. We welcome contributions on any aspect of Afrikaans linguistics, including lexicography, orthography, phonology, phonetics, morphology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Papers that compare Afrikaans grammar with other West Germanic or unrelated languages’ grammar are also welcomed, as are papers on the diachronic development of Afrikaans grammar, the role of language contact on the grammar, and current grammatical variation.

We are honoured to also announce our two keynote speakers:

• Paul Roberge (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA)
• Adri Breed (North-West University, South Africa)

Language of presentation: As at previous workshops, the language of presentation at AGW5 will be English. 

Length of presentations: All presentations will be 20 minutes long, with an additional 10 minutes for Q&A. 

Peer-reviewed conference proceedings: Participants will have the choice to either only present a paper at the workshop, or to also develop their presentation into a short paper for publication in the conference proceedings. Each paper submitted for publication will be reviewed by two anonymous peer reviewers, and will also receive an ISBN-number. Proceedings will be published in electronic format on the AGW website.

Student and early-career researchers: In particular, we invite students and early-career researchers to submit abstracts, including abstracts based on work-in-progress or on a research proposal. AGW provides an ideal venue for students and early-career researchers to receive feedback on their research plans. 

Logistics: More information about housing and travel will be made available over the next few months on the AGW website: https://viva-afrikaans.org/portale/inligtingsportaal-reg/afrikaansewerkswinkel

Submission Guidelines

• The text of the abstract should  fit on a single page (either A4 or letter size). A second page can be used for examples, figures, and references.
• Use 12 point font size and single spacing. 
• Please submit your abstract in Microsoft Word (or some other compatible format), using minimal formatting (i.e., avoid using your own style).
• All abstracts must be submitted online via EasyChair before 23:59 (SAST) on March 31, 2025.
• Authors who submit more than one abstract should complete a separate online submission for each abstract.
• All abstracts will be peer reviewed, and the final decision will be made by the organizing committee. Since peer review will be done anonymously, please avoid all references to your own name or other personal information.

Important dates

All deadlines below use South African Standard Time (SAST). Submissions must be received by 23:59 SAST on the deadline dates.

Committees

Program Committee

• Gerhard van Huyssteen (North-West University, South Africa)
• Marc van Oostendorp (Meertens Institute, Netherlands)
• Frans Hinskens (Meertens Institute, Netherlands)
• Timothy Colleman (Ghent University, Belgium)
• Andries Coetzee (University of Michigan, USA)

Organizing committee (from the University of Michigan)

• Andries Coetzee (coetzee@umich.edu)
• Martin Mössmer (moessmer@umich.edu)
• Bradley Mackay (bmackay@umich.edu)

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to Andries Coetzee (coetzee@umich.edu)