Frontiers of African Diaspora Studies
FADS, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.163-177.
Print ISSN: 3107-1805; Online ISSN: 3107-1813
Journal homepage: https://www.fadsjournal.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64058/FADS.26.01.13biirs
张天任（Zhang Tianren），胡杰辉（Hu Jiehui）
摘要：非洲语言研究在中国长期处于非洲研究与普通语言学的交叉地带。本文在梳理国内相关成果的基础上，将现有研究概括为语言政策与社会语言学、应用语言学、结构语言学与类型学、非洲文学中的语言研究四条路径，指出其总体格局呈现出现实议题较强、本体研究偏弱、内部发展不均的特征。一方面，语言多被作为理解非洲政治和中非交流的工具，尚未获得独立的学术地位；另一方面，在人工智能推进的背景下，研究重心仍未有效转向资源与技术适配的关键环节，此两重失衡，让现有研究难以回应数智时代对非洲语言知识生产的新要求。
关键词：非洲语言；中国非洲研究；语言本体研究；人工智能
作者介绍：张天任，电子科技大学外国语学院博士研究生，《非洲流散研究前沿》编辑。研究方向为非洲流散文学与文学跨学科研究，电子邮箱：tr1239480358@163.com。胡杰辉（通讯作者），电子科技大学外国语学院院长，博士生导师，《非洲流散研究前沿》编委。研究方向为心理语言学、认知神经语言学。电子邮箱：jerrywho@163.com。
Title: Beyond Instrumentalization: Imbalance and Reassessment in Studies of African Languages in China
Abstract: African language studies in China have long occupied an intersection between African studies and general linguistics. Based on a review of relevant domestic scholarship, this article identifies four main research trajectories: language policy and sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, structural linguistics and linguistic typology, and language studies in African literature. It argues that the field as a whole is characterized by a strong focus on practical issues, insufficient attention to language as an object of study in its own right, and uneven internal development. On the one hand, language has often been treated primarily as a tool for understanding African politics and China–Africa exchanges, rather than as an autonomous academic object. On the other hand, against the backdrop of advances in generative artificial intelligence, research priorities have yet to shift effectively toward the key issues of resource development and technological adaptation. These two structural imbalances have made it difficult for existing scholarship to respond to the new demands that the digital-intelligent era places on knowledge production about African languages.
Keywords: African languages; African studies; language studies; artificial intelligence
Authors Biographies: Zhang Tianren, PhD candidate at the School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China; editor for Frontiers of African Diaspora Studies. His research focuses on African diasporic literature and interdisciplinary literary studies. E-mail: tr1239480358@163.com. Hu Jiehui (corresponding author), Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and a PhD supervisor; Editorial Board Member of Frontiers of African Diaspora Studies. His research focuses on psycholinguistics and cognitive neurolinguistics. E-mail: jerrywho@163.com.
