Pascal Boyeldieu

Pascal Boyeldieu is a senior Africanist linguist and Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), affiliated to the joint research unit UMR 8135 “Language, Languages and Cultures of Africa” (CNRS–INALCO–EPHE). He heads the thematic strand Genesis of Languages and has been conducting extensive fieldwork in Central Africa since 1971.

Educational background:

• 1969 – Licence in German, Paris IV-Sorbonne
• 1970 – Licence in Linguistics, Paris V
• 1971 – Maîtrise in Linguistics, Paris V
• 1978 – Doctorat de 3^e cycle in African Linguistics, Paris III
• 1993 – Doctorat d’État in African Linguistics, Paris III
• 1995 – Qualified for university professorships (section 7)

His research focuses on the linguistic description and historical comparison of Central African languages, especially Yulu, Dadjo, Sinyar, and the Sara-Bongo-Baguirmian (SBB) group. Key topics include tonology, morphosyntax, logophoric pronouns, adjectival qualification, discourse hierarchy and the expression of emotions. He leads the CNRS program Highlighting and Indenting: Morphological Marking of Discursive Hierarchy and co-directs the interdisciplinary project Typology of the Expression of Emotions.

Boyeldieu is also Director of the “Africa and Language” collection at Peeters Publishers (Louvain-Paris) and has served as expert for international projects such as EUROCORES/EuroBABEL (ESF) and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Scientific production spans monographs, edited volumes and numerous peer-reviewed articles, with consistent emphasis on Central African languages, historical linguistics and discourse phenomena.