Yale University is set to sponsor two upcoming meetings of the African Linguistics School (ALS) devoted to collaborative training and research on generative linguistics in Africa. The first of these Yale-sponsored meetings will take place in the Republic of Benin in July 2021.
The President of the University, Peter Salovey, said this while in Lagos during his one week visit to meet with the university’s partners, friends, and colleagues to further deliberate on collaborations that will deliver on the promise of the Yale Africa Initiative-an ongoing effort by Yale to prioritize and expand partnerships on the continent.
Speaking at the press briefing, Salovey explained that the co-sponsorship allows Yale to contribute to the study and preservation of African languages and fosters a deeper understanding of the shared features of human language.
“Language is a central aspect of human life and plays a unique role in sharing knowledge, ideas, beliefs, and hopes and in building relationships. As African nations expand their global roles, Yale is committed to advancing the study of African languages, to integrating such study into contemporary scholarship, and to expanding the community of African scholars in this area of inquiry. Yale’s support of teaching and research efforts like those achieved by the African Linguistics School will be central in achieving these goals,” he stated.
According to Professor Dayal, one of the key people who initiated Yale’s collaboration with ALS believes that the generative linguistics approach has great intrinsic value in the development of linguistic theory as it gives room to study the principles that underlie all natural languages and reflect the capacity for communication that uniquely identifies the human species.
President Salovey affirmed that African institutions and Yale will open up roads of revelation that could be transformative for many individuals around the globe.
Photo courtesy of Google
Article by Jedidah Mwangi
Comment