Advancing the scholarship of pragmatics across Africa — connecting researchers, fostering collaboration, and building a vibrant community of language scholars on the continent and in the diaspora.
We promote rigorous academic inquiry into pragmatics, discourse analysis, and language use in African contexts — supporting members in publishing, collaborating, and presenting their work.
View Publications →APrA organises annual and biennial conferences hosted across African universities, bringing together scholars from the continent and around the world.
Upcoming Events →Our growing membership spans universities across Africa, Europe, North America, and beyond — a community united by a shared commitment to pragmatics in African contexts.
Member Directory →Through mentoring programmes, training workshops, and the IPrA Distance Mentoring partnership, APrA invests in the next generation of African pragmatics scholars.
Join Today →The African Pragmatics Association (APrA) was formally established in February 2020 at its inaugural conference held at the University of Ghana, Legon. The association emerged from a growing recognition among African linguistics scholars that pragmatics — the study of language in context — required a dedicated continental body to represent, coordinate, and advance research in African languages and varieties of English.
APrA fills a critical gap: while pragmatics has a rich global tradition, research on African communicative practices, African varieties of English, and indigenous African language pragmatics had lacked a unified institutional home. The association provides that home.
To become the foremost continental body for pragmatics scholarship in Africa — connecting researchers, promoting publication, and shaping the agenda for language studies on the continent.
To advance the scholarship of pragmatics in Africa by fostering research collaboration, organising conferences and training, supporting publication, building a vibrant member community, and engaging with global pragmatics organisations such as the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA).
APrA members benefit from a formal partnership with the International Pragmatics Association, including access to the IPrA Distance Mentoring Programme and joint training workshops for African scholars.
The Executive Committee leads the association's activities, organises conferences, manages membership, and represents APrA in international forums.
The APrA member directory is being compiled. Check back soon, or join the association to be listed.
Published by De Gruyter (Berlin/Boston), this landmark volume co-edited by APrA members documents the pragmatic features of English as used across the African continent. ISBN: 978-3-11-156775-4.
Professor Akinola Stephen Odebunmi of the University of Ibadan was elected President of the African Pragmatics Association.
APrA partnered with the International Pragmatics Association to deliver an online training course for African scholars.
African Pragmatics Association
c/o Department of English
University of Ibadan
Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
For membership applications and renewals, use the Join Us page or contact the secretariat.
Join APrA →Joining the African Pragmatics Association connects you with a continent-wide community of language scholars, gives you access to our conferences and publications, and supports the growth of pragmatics scholarship across Africa.
Registered postgraduate students
Annual · Faculty & researchers
Annual · Outside Nigeria
Annual · Universities/Departments
Enter your admin password to manage the site.
Edit all text on the Home page. Save when done.
Edit all text on the About page.
Manage the Leadership page.
Add and delete events. Sorted automatically: Upcoming vs Past.
Upload Excel (.xlsx) or CSV. Required columns: Name, Institution, Country, Position, ResearchAreas.
Click to upload Excel (.xlsx) or CSV
Name · Institution · Country · Position · ResearchAreasAdd news items to the Publications & News page. New items appear at the top.
Edit all text on the Join Us / Membership page — intro, tier names, prices, and form heading.
Edit Contact page text and configure the Formspree email endpoint so form submissions reach your inbox.
1. Go to formspree.io → sign up free → create a new form.
2. Copy the form ID (e.g. xpzvwkrd) from your dashboard.
3. Paste it below. Both the membership form and the contact form will email you automatically.
Submissions are also always saved locally in the Submissions tab.
All membership form submissions are saved here automatically. Download as Excel for your records. Email notifications require Formspree (set up in the Contact tab).
Adjust font sizes across the site. Changes apply instantly — no save needed. Refresh the page to see them on the live site after saving.
Live Preview
1. Click ⚙ in the footer → log in → edit any tab → Save.
2. Changes apply instantly on this device (stored in browser).
3. To publish: Namecheap cPanel → File Manager → public_html → upload as index.html.
4. Member submissions: always saved locally here + emailed via Formspree if configured.