<-- Back to research projects African Linguistics at Berkeley Supported in part by the Center for African Studies, the Department of Linguistics regularly offers first and second year classes in the Swahili language taught by Sam Mchombo and assistants. In addition, subject to funding, courses and tutorials on other African languages are set up especially for graduate students from throughout the University to acquire the necessary language proficiency to conduct research in Africa. In the past, languages that have been taught in this way include Amharic, Chichewa, Hausa, Igbo, Malagasy, Mandinka, Tigrinya, Wolof, Serer, Yoruba, and Zulu. Graduate students may apply for Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships to study an African language, when appropriate. Since 1988, the department has had two faculty members (Larry M. Hyman, and Sam Mchombo) with a third (Ian Maddieson) joining us in 2001, who direct projects dealing with aspects of the phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics of African languages. <-- Back to Research Projects