Sociolinguistics Symposium 26 (SS26)

The Sociolinguistics Symposium is one of the leading international conferences in the field of Sociolinguistics. It brings together researchers and leading scholars from around the world who engage critically with the social aspects of language.

While its origin is in Europe in the United Kingdom, the biennial Sociolinguistics Symposium has since grown into a major international event, attracting between 600 and 1200 delegates. Since its inception in 1976 it has been hosted mainly in Europe but more recently in other parts of the world. It has never been held in Africa although there is increasing participation and uniquely African voices from delegates of the Symposium especially on issues of multilingualism, linguistic justice, equity and complexities of language in the contexts of dominant and dominated languages.

The 2026 Sociolinguistics Symposium will be hosted by the University of Fort Hare in its East London campus, Eastern Cape in South Africa. It is the first time this prestigious conference would be held on the African soil. The University of Fort Hare is an historically significant institution, renowned for shaping African intellectual and political leadership since 1916. During the days of colonialism and apartheid, this institution served as a beacon of hope and enlightenment for African youth. It produced graduates from South Africa and as far north as Kenya and Uganda, instilling in them a sense of equality with the best in the world.  Many went on to prominent careers in fields as diverse as politics, medicine, literature, and art. Some politically active alumni like Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki, Robert Sobukwe and Chris Hani in South Africa, Robert Mugabe and Herbert Chitepo in Zimbabwe, and Elius Mathu and Charles Njonjo in Kenya, immensely contributed to the liberation and development of their countries.

Significantly, in 2024 the 25^th Sociolinguistics Symposium (SS25) was hosted by Curtin University in Perth, Australia. Delegates presented papers that espoused the theme of the conference; “Ordinariness + Innovation”. It was the first time the Sociolinguistics Symposium was held in Australia. At the University of Fort Hare, delegates will engage in the interpolation of ideas under the theme; Sociolinguistic consonance and dissonance in the pluriversal world. This will offer an unprecedented opportunity to centre African scholarship, linguistics realities and intellectual contributions within global sociolinguistics discourse.

SS26 is proudly hosted by the Departments of Languages and Communication in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities.