Dr Alexander Cobbinah
Alex graduated from the University of Cologne in 2008 with a Magister in Linguistics, African Studies and Sociology, and came to SOAS in the same year to start a PhD about noun classes and verbal nouns in Baïnounk Gubëeher, doing field research in the village of Djibonker in Casamance.
During this time he was also part of Friederike Lüpke’s DoBeS project “Pots, plants and people” an interdisciplinary approach combining ethnobotany, linguistics and archaeology in Casamance with a focus on two of the major Baïnounk languages. From the first field trip on he has been very interested in the areal aspects of the languages spoken in that part of Casamance, therefore the language skills and familiarity with the language communities he acquired during the PhD were an excellent basis for further research on the social and multilingual patterns leading to language change in that particular area.
As a postdoctoral researcher on the Crossroads team he currently investigates noun class phenomena and information structure in Gubëeher from an areal perspective and is looking at questions of identity and language maintenance in a complex multilingual environment.
Alex’ postdoc contract has expired in December 2016, so the SOAS email has already been discontinued but you can reach him under a.cobbinah@gmail.com.
Publications and talks Alexander Cobbinah
Crossroads 