Mena Lafkioui

Mena Lafkioui is a Full Professor (Directeur d'études) in Berber linguistics at the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris, holding a concurrent position as Research Director at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). She has been affiliated with these institutions since 2018 and 2014 respectively, following previous academic positions at Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Università della Calabria, and Ghent University.

Her educational background includes a Habilitation in 'Sciences du langage' from EHESS (2010), a Ph.D. in Linguistics from INALCO, Paris (1999), a Postgraduate degree in Linguistics from INALCO (1995), and a Master's in Oriental Languages and Cultures from Ghent University (1994).

Lafkioui's research spans Berber linguistics, geolinguistics, sociolinguistics, Afroasiatic linguistics, Arabic dialectology, and negation typology. Her work integrates structural linguistic analysis with sociocultural contexts, particularly focusing on the Rif Berber language continuum, language contact phenomena, and the impact of digital communication on Amazigh identity construction.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on Berber language structures, particularly examining negation patterns, topicalization mechanisms, geolinguistic variation, and the impact of language contact with Arabic. Her methodological approaches blend traditional linguistic analysis with computational and algorithmic perspectives, reflecting an innovative approach to language documentation and analysis.

• Elected as Academician, Accademia Ambrosiana, Milan (2014)
• Elected as founding member of the 'Classe Africa' of the Accademia Ambrosiana, Milan (2014)
• Elected as founding member of the 'Section Berbero' of the Accademia Ambrosiana, Milan (2014)

Lafkioui has supervised 10 PhD students and 55 Master's dissertations while securing competitive research grants across Europe. She serves on multiple editorial boards including the International Journal Dialectologia et Geolinguistica and Afrika Focus. Her institutional roles include membership on the Scientific Council of the Laboratoire d'excellence Empirical Foundations of Linguistics in Paris and participation in numerous academic committees overseeing PhD programs in African languages and cultures.

She has organized 17 international scientific meetings and is an active member of 10 scientific societies, including the Société de Linguistique de Paris, demonstrating her significant contribution to the academic community in linguistics and African studies.