Language Matters

Aims & Scope

The purpose of Language Matters is to provide a journal of international standing with a unique African flavour focusing on multilingualism in Africa.

Although the journal contributes to the language debate on all African languages, sub-Saharan Africa and issues related to multilingualism in the southern African context are the journal’s specific domains.

The journal seeks to promote the dissemination of ideas, points of view, teaching strategies and research on different aspects of African languages, providing a forum for discussion on the whole spectrum of language usage and debate in Africa.

The journal endorses a multidisciplinary approach to the study of language and welcomes contributions not only from sociolinguists, psycholinguists and the like, but also from educationalists, language practitioners, computer analysts, engineers or scholars with a genuine interest in and contribution to the study of language.

All contributions are critically reviewed by at least two referees.

Although the general focus remains on multilingualism and related issues, one of the three issues of Language Matters published each year is a special thematic edition on Language Politics in Africa.

These special issues embrace a wide spectrum of language matters of current relevance in Southern Africa.

View Aims & Scope

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Metrics & Ranking

Journal Rank

Year	Value
2024	16803

Journal Citation Indicator

Year	Value
2024	52

SJR (SCImago Journal Rank)

Year	Value
2024	0.295

Quartile

Year	Value
2024	Q2

h-index

Year	Value
2024	19

Impact Factor

Year	Value
2024	0.50

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Abstracting & Indexing

Journal is indexed in leading academic databases, ensuring global visibility and accessibility of our peer-reviewed research.

• Scopus
• Google Scholar
• Web of Science

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Subjects & Keywords

Journal’s research areas, covering key disciplines and specialized sub-topics in Social Sciences, designed to support cutting-edge academic discovery.

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Most Cited Articles

The Most Cited Articles section features the journal's most impactful research, based on citation counts. These articles have been referenced frequently by other researchers, indicating their significant contribution to their respective fields.

• Reading ability and academic performance in South Africa: Are we fiddling while Rome is burning?

  Citation: 68

  Authors: E. J.

• Language policy incongruity and African languages in postapartheid South Africa

  Citation: 45

  Authors: Anne-Marie

• Translanguaging as a vehicle for L2 acquisition and L1 development: students’ perceptions

  Citation: 39

  Authors: Adelia

• Into the cauldron: An interplay of indigenous and globalised knowledge with strong and weak notions of literacy and language education in Ethiopia and South Africa

  Citation: 35

  Authors: Kathleen

• ‘When you hang out with the guys they keep you in style’: The case for considering style in descriptions of South African tsotsitaals

  Citation: 32

  Authors: Ellen, Rajend

• Corpus-based translation studies: Where does it come from? Where is it going?

  Citation: 26

  Authors: Sara

• Divided loyalties: Zulu vis-à-vis English at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

  Citation: 25

  Authors: Stephanie, Andrea

• F. Scott Fitzgerald's<i>Die Schönen und Verdammten</i>: A corpus-based study of loan words and code switches as features of translators' style

  Citation: 23

  Authors: Marion

• The politics of the English language in Zimbabwe

  Citation: 23

  Authors: Maxwell, Dion

• Dominant Language Constellations in Multilingual Repertoires: Implications for Language-in-Education Policy and Practices in South Africa

  Citation: 21

  Authors: Susan

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