Journal of African Languages and Linguistics

Instructions for Authors

Submissions to the journal can be in English or French. Contributors whose native language is not English or French should have their manuscripts read by a native speaker before submission. All contributions, as well as books for review, and all correspondence concerning editorial matters are to be sent to Dr. Felix Ameka.

Three copies of each manuscript should be submitted and should be double-spaced throughout (including notes and references) on one side of A4 or letter-size paper, leaving wide margins of at least 3.5 cm on all sides. Abstracts not exceeding 200 words should accompany each article and should be typed double-spaced on a separate sheet. All pages should be numbered serially. The author's name and address should appear on a separate sheet only. Authors are requested to label at the first occurrence and clearly identify any special characters used. Non-integrated loanwords in the language of the article should appear in italics or be underscored if no italic typeface is available. Use only double quotation marks throughout, with the exception of translations, when single quotation marks should be used. Contributors are strongly encouraged to submit the final version on computer disk as well as a hard copy. If possible one of the common word-processors or TEX/LATEX should be used.

Linguistic examples should appear in bold or be underscored if no bold typeface is available. When cited in the text they should be in bold and be followed by the gloss in single quotation marks. When set apart, they should be numbered serially and must have interlinear glosses and an idiomatic translation in single quotation marks.

Figures and maps not submitted as files must be reproducible originals and should be submitted on separate sheets, carefully numbered and labeled. They should be referred to in the text and the approximate position should be indicated.

Notes should be kept to an absolute minimum and be as brief as possible. They may contain no tree diagrams or tables. They should be numbered consecutively and indicated in the text by a raised (superscript) number following any punctuation marks.

Citations in the text should give the name of the author/editor, the year of publication, and, in the case of quotations, the page reference, all in parentheses, for example: (Smart 1974: 22). Use "et al." in the case of more than three authors. Abbreviations such as "ibid." and "loc. cit." etc. should not be used.

The reference section should contain all works cited in the text, and only those, and they must be listed in alphabetical order of author/editor, with the full first name wherever possible, and with complete bibliographical details (including publisher); in cases of multiple authorship the names of all authors must be given.

For the proper formatting of reference entries, authors should refer to the De Gruyter Mouton journal style sheet .

Offprints. Upon publication, authors will receive electronic offprints (in PDF format) of their contribution. Guest editors of special issues will receive complimentary print copies of the issue.