The African Academy of Languages (ACALAN; french: Académie Africaine des Langues; pt, Academia Africana de Línguas or ) is a

Pan-African Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

organization founded in 2001 by Mali's then-president

Alpha Oumar Konaré Alpha Oumar Konaré (born 2 February 1946) is a Malian politician, who served as President of Mali for two five-year terms from 1992 to 2002 and was Chairperson of the African Union Commission from 2003 to 2008. Scholarly career Alpha Oumar K ...

for the development and promotion of African languages. First established as the Mission for the African Academy of Languages (MACALAN). The first head of ACALAN was Mali's former minister of Basic Education Adama Samassekou. In 2006 saw the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

declare the Year of African Languages along with the official establishment of the African Academy of Languages, June 21 saw the inauguration of the interim Governing Board of ACALAN in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. Since creation the ACALAN has participated in a number of projects across Africa from the development of a linguistic atlas of Africa to the Harmonization and standardization of the writing systems of Vehicular Cross-border Languages such as

Fulfulde Fula ,Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh also known as Fulani or Fulah (, , ; Adlam: , , ), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 30 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that st ...

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

, and Mandenkan. From December 2009 until August 2015, Prof. Sozinho Francisco Matsinhe of

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

led ACALAN. Dr. Lang Fafa Dampha succeeded him on an acting basis and then since January 2019 with full title.

Organization

The ACALAN is divided into five main organs at the multinational level, they are: # The AU Conference of Ministers of Culture - supreme organ # The Governing Board - highest policy organ # The Scientific and Technical Committee - consultative organ # The Assembly of Academicians - advisory organ # The Executive Secretariat - administrative organ. The ACALAN also exists with a nationally based National Language Structures (NLS) in each of the member states along with a Vehicular Cross-border Language Commission for each of its target languages.

References

{{reflist

External links

ACALAN website

African Union Languages of Africa Organizations established in 2001 2001 establishments in Africa