Leoni E. Bouwer
Degrees
- DLitt et Phil, University of South Africa, 2003
- MA, Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit, 1991
- BA, Honnours, University of South Africa, 1985
Current positions
- Survey specialist (Madagascar) (1996 –)
- Intl Consultant (Sociolinguistics) (2004 – 2007)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow (UNISA) (2004 –)
- Project Leader Luke Partnership in Madagascar (2005 –)
Other experience
- Doctoral research (1997 – 2002)
- Secondary and Tertiary teaching and training (1989 – 1996)
- Cross-cultural living and working (1986 –)
- Survey Courses taught: 1999 UK (TA), 2002 Oregon (lead), 2004, 2005 and 2006 UK (lead)
- Mentoring (fellow-missionaries, fellow researchers, national co-workers in Madagascar), particularly since 1999
- Public Relations, Events Management, Communication – Dept of Cultural Affairs (1984 – 1987) and Kindernothilfe (1990 – 1992).
Memberships
- Linguistic Society of Southern Africa (LSSA)
- Linguistic Society of America (LSA)
- Australian Linguistic Society (ALS)
- International Linguistic Association (ILA)
Language proficiency
- Afrikaans
- English
- French
- Dutch
- German
- Malagasy
Research interests
- The Ecology of Language
- Sociolinguistics
- Historical Linguistics
- Endangered Languages
- Language Planning
- Language and Missiology
- Language Research
- Documentation of Languages
- Austronesian Linguistics
- Indigenous knowledge
- Linguistic rights
- Communication and the non-hearing
- Literacy vs Oralcy
Selected publications
1998. “A Sociolinguistic Expedition into Madagascar.” Language Matters vol. 29, 256-285.
2003. “The viability of Official Malagasy in the Language Ecology of Southern Madagascar with particular reference to the Bara Speech Community. ” (PhD Dissertation) 409 pp. Pretoria: University of South Africa.
2005. “Towards a sociolinguistic profile of Madagascar: issues of diversity. ” Language Matters Vol. 36 (1) (Special issue: African languages in the 21st Century):98- 116
2007. “Intercomprehension and mutual intelligibility among southern Malagasy languages. ” Vol. 38 (2): 79-98
2008. (to appear) Chapter in book on the indigenous revival movement of Madagascar, edited by Dr Cynthia Holder Rich; entitled, “Language and Revival ” ” – on language domains in a high context society.
2008. (to appear) Bara-French Dictionary – editing of post-mortem manuscript by Luigi Elli. 1000 p.
Selected papers presented
2007. Malagasy language and languages, paper presented at the Académie Malagasy, 6 July 2007, in Antananarivo.
2006. LSSA conference, July 2006 in Durban South Africa: Diversity in Madagascar: opportunity or threat?
2005. ILAC Conference, 7-14 Sept 2005 in Chiang Mai, Thailand: Language ecologies in Madagascar: An ongoing study
2005. ILAC Conference, 7-14 Sept 2005 in Chiang Mai, Thailand Ecology of Language and Language Assessment – A Case study
Selected online publications
- An Annotated Bibliography is undergoing a final edit (A to O is complete so far) to be published electronically by SIL as an Electronic Working Paper: A bibliographic journey through Madagascar. Publication envisaged for 2008.