Second ELAP PhD graduate - Dr Serge Sagna

Serge Sagna took his PhD oral examination in early March, and the examiners judged that his dissertation on "Formal and semantic properties of the Gújjolaay Eegimaa (aka Banjal) nominal classification system" fulfilled all the necessary criteria for award of the degree (subject to minor amendments).

Serge is the second ELAP PhD to complete his studies (after Henrik Bergqvist), and the first in the programme to do research on his own language, which is endangered. Gújjolaay Eegimaa is an Atlantic (Niger-Congo) language spoken by an estimated 7,000-10,000 people in the Basse-Casamance area of southern Senegal, and has an elaborate array of fifteen different categories of nominal classification (the so-called "noun class system"). Serge analyzed the formal and semantic characteristics of the system - the fine-grained description of the class-by-class semantics is most impressive - and the examiners concluded that "the thesis is an extremely valuable contribution to the study of Joola and Atlantic languages...its value goes beyond African linguistics in that it offers a well-argued and detailed study of the thorny issue of the semantic aspects of nominal classification." Serge has now taken up an ELDP-funded post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Manchester to continue his documentation of Gújjolaay Eegimaa.

Congratulations Serge!