Academic biography
I am a specialist in African Linguistics with over 20 years of fieldwork-based research in language description, language documentation, child language acquisition, multilingualism, and language policy and planning. I am currently a lecturer in Language Science/Linguistics at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, a position I have held since 2021.
I obtained my PhD in field linguistics from the Endangered Languages Academic Programme at SOAS, University of London, in 2008. Prior to my appointment as lecturer at the University of Manchester, I held research and teaching positions at several UK universities: the University of Manchester (2008-2012), the University of Surrey (2012-2015), and the University of York (2017-2021).
Research interests and specialisation
My research interests and specialisations are diverse and multifaceted. Since 2003, I have been conducting research in several areas of language science in the languages of Lower Casamance (Senegal). The areas in which I have conducted research include:
Language description: My PhD research focused on the morphosyntax and semantics of the Eegimaa noun classification system. I have also researched other aspects of the grammatical system of this language, including the noun-verb distinction, complementation, the overt verb classification, and its link to semantic transitivity. See my monograph in the Empirical Approaches to Linguistic Typology series published by De Gruyter Mouton.
Language documentation: I have carried out extensive ethnographic language documentation research on the Eegimaa (Jóola) language, producing an archive of highly endangered linguistic and cultural knowledge, including detailed studies of ethnobiological knowledge, traditional religious rites, and social organisation. See my Eegimaa digital archive at the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) in Berlin.
Child language acquisition: Since 2017, I have been leading, as a co‑investigator and named researcher, a child language acquisition project that investigates how children learn noun class and agreement in a language of the Atlantic family. This language family is underrepresented in both child language acquisition research and linguistic typology.
Multilingualism in Africa: My research takes place in the Lower Casamance, one of the most intensely multilingual areas of Senegal and Africa, where I was born, grew up and learned to speak several languages before returning to conduct research on complex language contact situations. I am particularly interested in migration, the emergence of multilingual repertoires and the intergenerational transmission of endangered languages.
Educational language policy: I am particularly interested in combining the above areas of language science to contribute to a better understanding of the factors that promote or hinder Mother Tongue Education. I investigate and evaluate the design and implementation of Mother Tongue Education programmes in African contexts, especially in complex multilingual environments. See my keynote presentation (in French) for the 60th anniversary of the Centre de Linguistique Appliquée de Dakar at Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, in January 2025 (minutes 00:00:00 -1:45:00).
Contact information: eakkut [at] gmail.com
SERGE SAGNA 