CALL FOR SPECIAL ISSUE OF NORDIC JOURNAL OF AFRICAN STUDIES

AUXILIARY VERB CONSTRUCTIONS IN BANTU

(Download the full call here.)

We invite contributions to a special issue of the Nordic Journal of African Studies, dedicated to auxiliary constructions in Bantu languages. Despite their significance in this verb-centered family, auxiliaries have received relatively little in-depth, systematic attention in the general Bantu literature, especially when compared to the complex morphology of the simplex verbal word.

We welcome submissions addressing the plethora of formal and functional aspects of Bantu auxiliaries. Contributions may include but are not limited to the following topics:

• Detailed studies addressing the categorical status of Bantu auxiliary constructions in relation to interconnected notions such as “deficient” or “defective” verbs, “compound constructions” and “aspectual copulas”.
• In-depth analyses of the semantic and structural status, role and development of the lexical element (aka the “complement verb”, “auxiliate” or “second verb”) of the auxiliary construction.
• Reconstruction of auxiliary constructions to any proto-stage and the potential uncovering of cycles of change.

We particularly encourage submissions concerning:

Previously non-described auxiliary verb constructions, in relation to categorical, functional and/or formal issues, or occurring in a previously un(der)described language or variety. 

Auxiliaries and contact – a facet of auxiliation which has remained poorly understood with regard to Bantu languages.

We invite contributions from different theoretical frameworks, using synchronic, diachronic or panchronic approaches, focusing on languages from any part of the Bantu speaking area. Contributions may be comparative or address a specific variety, concentrating on a single auxiliary construction or any functionally or formally defined set of auxiliary verb constructions.

For the full call for papers in long (pdf) form, click here.

Practicalities

Authors interested in contributing should upload an abstract of ~ 300 words through the NJAS submission system (https://www.njas.fi/njas/submission/), including a preliminary title and a synopsis/brief summary of their intended submission. Submit abstracts to the section “Special Issue: Auxiliary Verb Constructions in Bantu”. (Note that you will be asked to check all the submission requirements when submitting your abstract, although the cover page and manuscript will only be submitted after your abstract has been accepted. Simply check them and keep the policies in mind for your full manuscript.) Authors of accepted abstracts will be invited to submit a full-length paper for peer review. Publication in the special issue depends on timely submission of the full-length paper and its acceptance by the special issue editors after peer review and possible revisions.

Tentative Time frame

Abstract submission deadline: 31 March 2025

Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 April 2025

Paper submission deadline: 30 September 2025

Revised paper submission deadline: 30 November 2025

Publication: 1^st quarter of 2026