The Language in The Gambia Reading Group is a community of students, scholars and members of the general public interested in finding out more about how languages are used to communicate in The Gambia (e.g. the characteristics of diglossia, translanguaging practices and language contact in the country) and the working of these languages (e.g. their grammatical features, sentence prosody, and orthography development). The Gambia is well known for its linguistic diversity. English, the official language, co-exists with around a dozen other languages. Seven of these are indigenous to, or widely spoken in, The Gambia, and are often called ‘national languages’: Pulaar, Jola, Mandinka, Manjaku, Sarahule, Seerrer and Olof. We meet regularly for an hour to discuss research articles related to these topics.
The Language in the Gambia Forum shines the spotlight on speakers with expertise in using language in The Gambia, e.g. policy makers, educators, translators, members of the general public. Each speaker shares their personal experience of using language in The Gambia. Format of the forum meetings:
- we release a video of the speaker’s talk in advance of the online meeting (if you would like to be added to our mailing list or WhatsApp group to be notified please use the Get in Touch form on the right-hand side of this page.
- we organise an online discussion where the speaker will address questions from the live audience
We are open to discussing articles ready for submission to relevant academic/professional journals. If you would like us to include your article as part of our reading list or would like to present during a Forum meeting please use our Get in Touch form. Please note that if necessary, we can assist you with the recording of your talk and Internet access (in The Gambia) on the day of your live session if you’re presenting for a Forum session.
Reading group or Forum meetings last ONE HOUR. We usually start discussions on WhatsApp to allow people who can’t attend the meetings online to participate.
Who can participate in the Groups and Forum meetings we organise?
In keeping with the ethos of the Multilingual Education in The Gambia HUB, our Language in The Gambia Reading Group and Forum meetings are open to everyone: students, members of the general public, scholars and others interested in finding out more about how languages are used to communicate in The Gambia. In other words, ANYONE with an interest in how language is (or has been) used in The Gambia is welcome to attend and attendance is FREE. The Language in The Gambia Writing Group is aimed at merging scholars/writers.
Organisers
The Language in The Gambia Virtual Reading Group & Forum is an initiative which was originally developed by Dr Clyde Ancarno (King’s College London), Lamin Demba (Lecturer in Literature and English at the University of The Gambia) and Lamin O. Ceesay (former school teacher with a BA in Development Studies from the University of The Gambia).
-
Upcoming meeting
The Language in The Gambia Online Reading Group‘s fifteenth meeting will be on Tuesday 12th of March 12.45-1.45pm (GMT/Gambian/UK time). We will focus on a recently published Master’s degree dissertation by Basidia Drammeh entitled ‘The challenge of translation from English into Mandinka in Gambia: colonial legacies of translation processes and practices‘ (University of Ottawa). The…
Past meetings
-
The Language in The Gambia Online Reading Group‘s fifteenth meeting will be on Tuesday 12th of March 12.45-1.45pm (GMT/Gambian/UK time). We will focus on a recently published Master’s degree dissertation by Basidia Drammeh entitled ‘The challenge of translation from English into Mandinka in Gambia: colonial legacies of translation processes and practices‘ (University of Ottawa). The…
-
The Language in The Gambia Online Reading Group‘s fourteenth meeting will be on Tuesday (as usual) 6 February 2024 1-2pm (GMT/Gambian/UK time) / 10am Salvador de Bahia time. Dr Gabriel Nascimento, Assistant Professor at the Universidade Federal do Sul da Bahia in Brazil, will be our guest facilitator. He has written about linguistic racism (in…
-
The Language in The Gambia Online Reading Group‘s thirteenth meeting will be on Tuesday 21st of November 1-2pm Gambian and UK Time. We will talk about interpreting. We suggest you read the Methodology and Conclusion in the article below which focusses on interpreting during the Truth, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission. Alieu Touray who worked for…
-
Language in The Gambia – VIRTUAL READING GROUP and Forum Full description HERE / Summaries of previous meetings HERE We are launching our Forum ! Language in The Gambia will have its first talk instead of a reading on Tuesday 4th October 5-6.30pm (Gambian time) / 6-7.30pm UK Time. Please watch the pre-recorded talk before…
-
The Language in The Gambia Virtual Reading Group‘s ninth meeting will be on Tuesday 6 September 5.00-6.30pm Gambian Time/6.00-7.30pm UK Time. We will talk about the use of Gambian languages in the context of health. We suggest you read the four excerpts from the following article (they are pasted below). ARTICLE: Kayode, O.S., Ibitoye, B.…
-
The Language in The Gambia Virtual Reading Group‘s eighth meeting will be on Tuesday 5 July 5.00-6.30pm Gambian Time/6.00-7.30pm. We will talk about the Wolof spoken in the north-western border area that separates The Gambia from Senegal, often referred to as part of the Saloum. Mitsch, J. 2016. Bordering on National Language Varieties: Political and…
-
The Language in The Gambia Virtual Reading Group is back and will have its seventh meeting Tuesday 7 June 5.00-6.30pm Gambian Time/6.00-7.30pm. We will resume our lively discussions with excerpts from a PhD concerning Gambian English: Marong, M., Gambian English: syntactic features of a West African variety of the English language/vorgelegt von Melissa Marong (Doctoral…
-
The Language in The Gambia Virtual Reading Group will have its sixth and final meeting for this calendar year on Tuesday 16 November @ 6pm Gambian and UK time. We will discuss: Andrason, A., 2014. A contribution to the Mandinka dialectology–Basse Mandinka versus Standard Gambian Mandinka. Asian and African Studies, 23(1), pp.110-139. [download]. This article will give…
-
The Language in The Gambia Virtual Reading Group will have its fifth meeting on Tuesday 19 October @ 5.30pm Gambian time (6.30pm UK time). We will discuss Section 7.2 (p. 143-154) of the following PhD thesis: McGlynn, C., 2013. Language in Education Policy and Practice in Post-Colonial Africa: An ethnographic case-study of The Gambia (Doctoral dissertation, University…
-
The Language in The Gambia Virtual Reading Group will have its fourth meeting on Tuesday 21 September at 5.30pm Gambian time / 6.30 UK time. We will discuss: Peter, L., Wolf, H.G. and Bobda, A.S., 2003. An account of distinctive phonetic and lexical features of Gambian English. English world-wide, 24(1), pp.43-61. [download]. “The article discusses the specific features…