In essence our purpose is to provide a journal of international standing with a unique African flavour which focuses on multilingualism in Africa. Although our general focus remains on multilingualism and related issues, we plan to focus on a different special theme annually. These themes may embrace a wide spectrum of language matters of current relevance in Southern Africa.

We also endorse a multidisciplinary approach to the study of language and welcome contributions not only from sociolinguists, psycholinguists and the like, but also from educationalists, language practitioners, computer analysts and engineers anyone who has a genuine interest in and contribution to the study of language.

We hope to contribute to the language debate on all African languages and regard sub-Saharan Africa as our specific domain.

Editorial Policy:

Language Matters seeks to promote the dissemination of ideas, points of view, teaching strategies and research on different aspects of all the languages of southern Africa. Our primary focus is on issues related to multilingualism in the southern African context. We aim to provide a forum for discussion on the whole spectrum of language usage and debate in Africa.

Two issues of Language Matters are published per year, one of which is a special thematic edition under a guest editor who is an expert in the particular field and the other is of a more general nature.