Dr. Gabriel Simungala

Picture of Dr. Gabriel Simungala
Dr. Gabriel Simungala
Lecturer
Researcher
Arts, Languages and Literary Studies
Email
gabriel.simungala@unza.ac.zm
Research Profiles
Orcid

Bio

Dr. Gabriel Simungala is a Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Zambia and an Associate of the Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS). He holds a PhD in Linguistics from the University of the Western Cape and an MA in Linguistic Science from the University of Zambia. Dr. Simungala’s research critically examines the intersections of language, mobility, identity, power, and memory, with particular interests in linguistic landscapes, multilingualism, translanguaging, code-switching, globalisation, material culture, Bantu linguistics, and the semiotics of public memory in postcolonial African contexts. Drawing on multimodal, ethnographic, and social-semiotic approaches, his work explores how language and other semiotic resources are inscribed, contested, and reimagined in African public spaces, particularly in relation to coloniality, heritage, historical memory, and social transformation. His work contributes to sociolinguistic theory while offering critical insights into language and meaning-making in multilingual African societies.

  1. Simungala, G., & Banda, F. (2025). Names of public memory spaces as sites of coloniality, cultural erasure, and downscaling in linguistic landscapes of Northern Zambia. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–14. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2025.2460686
  2. Simungala, G., & Banda, F. (2026). Monuments in linguistic landscapes and the semiotics of public memory in northern Zambia. International Journal of Multilingualism. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2026.2613227
  3. Simungala, G. (2025). Linguistic landscapes and dominant language constellations: The multilingual behaviour of minoritised migrant populations in Lusaka, Zambia. Language Matters. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2025.2460031
  4. Simungala, G., Jimaima, H., & Nkhata, L. (2024). Social media discourses as multimodal assemblages. Journal of Multicultural Discourses. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2025.2511745
  5. Simungala, G., & Jimaima, H. (2021). Multilingual realities of language contact at the University of Zambia. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 56(7), 1644–1657. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021909620980038
  6. Simungala, G., Ndalama, D., & Jimaima, H. (2022). Communicative practices from the margins: The multilingual and multicultural repertoires on university spaces. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 57(4), 712–724. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219096211035416
  7. Simungala, G., Jimaima, H., & Chikuta, P. (2022). Indigenous languages in an online space: Translanguaging for visibilisation of multilingualism and multisemiotic modes. Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Southern Africa, 53(2), 85–109. https://doi.org/10.1080/10228195.2022.2089720
  8. Simungala, G., & Jimaima, H. (2023). Legitimization and recontextualization of languages: The imbalance of powers in a multilingual landscape. Linguistic Landscape, 9(1), 36–58. https://doi.org/10.1075/ll.21045.sim
  9. Simungala, G., & Banda, F. (2024). The social semiotics of Mambwe clan names and praises. African Identities, 1–16. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2024.2415594
  10. Jimaima, H., & Simungala, G. (2025). Translanguaging spaces as marketing strategies in the linguistic landscapes of Zambia. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2024.2383895
  11. Simungala, G., Jimaima, H., & Namatama, B. K. (2022). Translanguaged discourses of Bemba and English: The mobility and mixing of languages in a multilingual space. Language in Africa, 3(3), 67–86. https://doi.org/10.37892/2686-8946-2022-3-3-67-86
  12. Simungala, G. N. (2020). The linguistic landscape of the University of Zambia: A social semiotic perspective [Unpublished master's thesis]. University of Zambia.
  13. Simungala, G., & Jimaima, H. (2021). Sociocultural narratives and the anthropomorphic power of agency in a semiotic landscape. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 39(2), 195–209. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2021.1934050
  14. Simungala, G., & Jimaima, H. (2021). Towards an appreciation of individual positionality and the global-local interface: Facebook actorhood in Zambia. Journal of Multicultural Discourses, 16(3), 227–244. https://doi.org/10.1080/17447143.2021.1932921
  15. Simungala, G., & Ndalama-Mtawali, D. (2024). Campus repertoires: Interrogating semiotic assemblages, economy, and creativity. Semiotica. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2020-0066
  16. Jimaima, H., Matukuto, S., & Simungala, G. (2023). The names of the supreme being in Bemba: Some critical morphological insights. South African Journal of African Languages, 43(3), 306–312. https://doi.org/10.1080/02572117.2023.2294648
  17. Simungala, G., Jimaima, H., & Mwansa, T. (2023). Resemiotisation and intertextuality in musical discourses: The sociocultural narratives of 'Dununa Reverse', a Zambian political party campaign song. ZANGO: Zambian Journal of Contemporary Issues. https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/ZJOCI/article/view/1045
  18. Mwansa, T., Jimaima, H., & Simungala, G. (2023). Reflecting and modulating traditional masculinity ideological standpoints: A stylistic analysis of Abel Chungu's song 'Mwamuna Samalila'. ZANGO: Zambian Journal of Contemporary Issues. https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/ZJOCI/article/view/1035
  19. Jimaima, H., Simungala, G., & Mwansa, T. (2023). Material narration of nostalgia and modality in the lyrics of Saga's Kumunzi Kubotu. ZANGO: Zambian Journal of Contemporary Issues. https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/ZJOCI/article/view/1041
  20. Tembo, P., Simungala, G., & Jimaima, H. (2022). The resemiotisation and intertextuality of multimodal discourses in linguistic landscape of public service vehicles in Lusaka, Zambia. Journal of Law and Social Sciences. https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/JLSS/article/view/1313
  21. Nkhata, L., Simungala, G., & Hambaba, J. (2022). Social media as an online linguistic landscape: An appraisal of lexical creativity during a global pandemic. Journal of Law and Social Sciences. https://journals.unza.zm/index.php/JLSS/article/view/1584

Book Chapters

  1. Simungala, G., & Mukonde-Mulenga, E. (2025). Rejecting narratives of marginalisation and endangerment: The future of Zambian indigenous languages in the era of supposed English domination. In C. Sabao & E. Mavengano (Eds.), African Englishes: Contemporary trends and sociolinguistic shifts (Chap. 4). Routledge. (This is the same chapter as the "books.google.com" entry in the original export — the two were duplicate index records for one work.)
  2. Banda, F., & Simungala, G. (2023). Multilingualism and linguistic landscapes. In C. McKinney, P. Makoe, & V. Zavala (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of multilingualism (2nd ed., pp. 428–442). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003214908-33
  3. Simungala, G. (2024). Critical insights into language policy and planning in Zambia. In The Palgrave handbook of language policies in Africa (pp. 675–697). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57308-8_31
  4. Simungala, G., Chipindi, F., & Mupeta, S. (2024). Interrogating decolonization of education in Zambia: Chronicles of voices from the higher education landscape. In A. E. Lopez & H. Singh (Eds.), Decolonizing educational knowledge (pp. 185–200). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55688-3_11
  5. Jimaima, H., & Simungala, G. (2024). Translanguaging as a means to optimising multilingual education: A Zambian perspective. In W. Kondowe, C. Kamanga, & B. Madula (Eds.), Multilingualism in Southern Africa: Issues and perspectives (Chap. 3). Routledge.
  6. Simungala, G. (2024). Multilingualism on Facebook: Globalising the "local" languages of Malawi and Zambia. In W. Kondowe, C. Kamanga, & B. Madula (Eds.), Multilingualism in Southern Africa: Issues and perspectives. Routledge. (Chapter number/page range not independently confirmed — flagging for verification.)
  7. Simungala, G., & Kapau, H. (2025). Sign language and the law in Zambia: Promoting equal access to justice for a linguistic and cultural minority. In W. Kondowe, P. Svongoro, et al. (Eds.), Discrimination and access to justice in Africa (Chap. 9). Routledge.
  8. Jimaima, H., & Simungala, G. (2019). Semiotic creativity and innovation: Offshoots of social media addiction. In Y. Ndasauka & G. M. Kayange (Eds.), Addiction in South and East Africa: Interdisciplinary approaches (pp. 143–156). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13593-5_9
  9. Jimaima, H., Banda, F., Mambwe, K., & Simungala, G. (2019). Interrogating terminological aggregation and inconsistencies in Zambia's language-in-education policy. In F. Banda (Ed.), Theoretical and applied aspects of African languages and culture: Festschrift in honour of Professor Mildred Nkolola-Wakumelo (pp. 243–264). Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, University of the Western Cape.

Research Interests

The intersections of language, mobility, identity, power, and memory, with particular interests in linguistic landscapes, multilingualism, translanguaging, code-switching, globalisation, material culture, Bantu linguistics, and the semiotics of public memory in postcolonial African contexts.

Grants

Projects and Grants