Sheena Shah
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I am an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow in the Department of African and Ethiopian Studies at the University of Hamburg (Germany), working on a project entitled “Documentation and analysis of siPhuthi, a Nguni-Sotho hybrid language under threat”. I am also a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (UK), and a Research Fellow at the University of the Free State (South Africa).

I hold a PhD and MSc in Linguistics from Georgetown University (USA) and a MA and BA in Modern and Medieval Languages from the University of Cambridge (UK). After completing my PhD, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for African Language Diversity (CALDi) at the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and a Lecturer in Linguistics and Languages of Asia and Africa at SOAS, University of London (UK).

My main research interests include endangered, minority and heritage languages, language documentation and revitalisation, language maintenance and shift, language policy, and language and education. 
 
I have conducted linguistic fieldwork on a number of African languages, including N/uu​ (South Africa), siPhuthi (Lesotho), !Xun (Namibia), ǂ​Hoan (Botswana) and Ngiemboon (Cameroon). I have also worked on Gujarati in the diaspora (London, Johannesburg, Singapore) and on German in Namibia and South Africa. 

News

20 July 2020
I gave a talk on language revitalisation in Africa at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

​24 June 2020
I gave a testimonial about the life and research of a Humboldtian as part of the virtual opening ceremony of the Annual Meeting of the Humboldt Foundation. Watch the entire opening ceremony here (my contribution begins at 01:11:15).




COVID-19 awareness materials now available in siPhuthi! 

For more details, click here.

#HlaleKhaya - #StayHome

#Hlala_U_Phephiye - #StaySafe



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... AND IN OTHER NEWS: The President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, met with Ouma Geelmeid during the National Heritage Day celebration held in Upington on 24 September 2019. Pictured here is President Cyril Ramaphosa, Ouma Geelmeid and our N/uu reader!

Left: Photo courtesy of the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB). 
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  • Home
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  • News