# Sixth Workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Language

The RAIL 2025 was held on November 10, 2025 in Pretoria.

**Type**: Conference
**Status**: Expired
**Verified On**: 7th July, 2026

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## ⏱ Critical Deadline
> *No submission deadline specified*

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## 📍 Event Information
- **Mode**: In Person
- **Location**: South Africa
- **Field**: Interdisciplinary
- **Date**: November 10, 2025
- **Official Website**: [https://sadilar.org/rail-2025/](https://sadilar.org/rail-2025/?utm_source=callforpaper.org)

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## 📝 Call for Papers Description



<br>
<br><a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/conomie" title="Browse  call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more  call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors"></a>First call for papers Sixth <a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/workshop-1" title="Browse Workshop call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more Workshop call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">Workshop</a> on Resources for African
<br>Indigenous Language (RAIL)
<br>Co-located with DHASA 2025
<br>
<br>
<br>RAIL Workshop date: 10 November 2025
<br>DHASA Conference dates: 10-14 November 2025
<br>Venue: CSIR International Convention Centre.
<br>
<br>The sixth Resources for African Indigenous Languages (RAIL) workshop
<br>will be co-located with the Digital <a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/humanities-1" title="Browse Humanities call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more Humanities call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">Humanities</a> Association of Southern
<br>Africa (DHASA) 2025 conference at the CSIR International Convention
<br>Centre in Pretoria, South Africa, on 10 November 2025. The RAIL
<br>workshop is an <a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/interdisciplinary-1" title="Browse interdisciplinary call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more interdisciplinary call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">interdisciplinary</a> platform for researchers working on
<br>African indigenous languages resources such as natural languages
<br>processing (<a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/nlp" title="Browse NLP call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more NLP call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">NLP</a>) tools, Human Language Technologies (HLT), data
<br>collections, and annotations. This workshop aims to  foster a
<br>scientific community of practice that focuses on computational
<br>linguistic tools and data that are designed for or applied to the
<br>indigenous languages of Africa.
<br>
<br>Many African languages are under-resourced while only a few are
<br>considered to be somewhat better resourced. These languages often share
<br>interesting properties such as writing <a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/systems" title="Browse systems call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more systems call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">systems</a>, making them different
<br>from most high-resourced languages. From a computational perspective,
<br>these languages lack enough corpora to undertake high level development
<br>of NLP and HLT tools, which in turn impedes the development of African
<br>languages in these areas. During previous workshops, it was noted that
<br>the problems and solutions presented were not only applicable to
<br>African languages but were also relevant to many other low-resource
<br>languages across the world. Because these languages share similar
<br>challenges, this workshop provides researchers with opportunities to
<br>work collaboratively on issues of language resource development and
<br>learn from each other.
<br>
<br>The RAIL workshop has several aims. First, the workshop brings together
<br>researchers who work on African indigenous languages, forming a
<br>community of practice for people working on indigenous languages.
<br>Second, the workshop aims to reveal currently unknown or unpublished
<br>existing resources (corpora, NLP tools, and applications), resulting in
<br>a better overview of the current state-of-the-<a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/art-1" title="Browse art call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more art call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">art</a>, and also allows for
<br>discussions on novel, desired resources for future research in this
<br>area. Third, it enhances sharing of knowledge on the development of
<br>low-resource languages. Finally, it enables discussions on how to
<br>improve the <a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/quality-1" title="Browse quality call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more quality call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">quality</a> as well as availability of the resources.
<br>
<br>The workshop has “Language resources in the age of large language
<br>models” as its theme, but submissions on any topic related to
<br>properties of African indigenous languages (including related non-
<br>African languages) may be accepted. Suggested topics include (but are
<br>not limited to) the following:
<br>* Digital representations of linguistic structures
<br>* Descriptions of corpora or other data sets of African indigenous
<br>languages
<br>* Building resources for (under-resourced) African indigenous languages
<br>* Developing and using African indigenous languages in the digital age
<br>* Effectiveness of digital technologies for the development of African
<br>indigenous languages
<br>* Revealing unknown or unpublished existing resources for African
<br>indigenous languages
<br>* Developing desired resources for African indigenous languages
<br>* Improving quality, availability and <a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/accessibility" title="Browse accessibility call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more accessibility call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">accessibility</a> of African
<br>indigenous language resources
<br>
<br>
<br>Submission <a href="https://callforpaper.org/categories/requirements-1" title="Browse requirements call for papers" rel="follow" aria-label="View more requirements call for papers" class="!text-inherit !font-normal !underline decoration-dotted decoration-slate-400/60 underline-offset-4 cursor-pointer hover:decoration-slate-900 dark:hover:decoration-slate-100 transition-colors">requirements</a>:
<br>
<br>We invite papers on original, unpublished work related to the topics of
<br>the workshop. Submissions, presenting completed work, may consist of up
<br>to eight (8) pages of content plus additional pages of references. The
<br>final camera-ready version of accepted long papers are allowed one
<br>additional page of content (up to 9 pages) so that reviewers’ feedback
<br>can be incorporated. Papers should be formatted according to the DHASA
<br>style sheet which is provided on the Journal of the Digital Humanities
<br>Association of Southern Africa website double-blind, so make sure to anonymise your submission (e.g., do not
<br>provide author names, affiliations, project names, etc.) Limit the
<br>amount of self citations (anonymised citations should not be used). The
<br>RAIL workshop follows the DHASA submission requirements.
<br>
<br>Please submit papers in PDF format (the submission link will be
<br>available soon). Accepted papers will be published in proceedings
<br>linked to the DHASA conference.
<br>
<br>
<br>Important dates:
<br>
<br>Submission deadline: 14 July 2025
<br>Date of notification: 16 September 2025
<br>Camera ready copy deadline: 24 October 2025
<br>Workshop: 10 November 2025
<br>DHASA conference: 10 November 2025-14 November 2025
<br>
<br>
<br>Organising Committee
<br>
<br>Rooweither Mabuya, South African Centre for Digital Language Resources
<br>(SADiLaR), South Africa
<br>Muzi Matfunjwa, South African Centre for Digital Language Resources
<br>(SADiLaR), South Africa
<br>Mmasibidi Setaka, South African Centre for Digital Language Resources
<br>(SADiLaR), South Africa
<br>Menno van Zaanen, South African Centre for Digital Language Resources
<br>(SADiLaR), South Africa
<br>
<br>
	

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## 🏷 Taxonomy &amp; Topics
- **Primary Category**: N/A
- **Research Fields**: 

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## 🧭 Agent Instructions
- **Standard Link**: `https://callforpaper.org/cfp/call-for-papers-rail-2025`
- **Markdown Link**: `https://callforpaper.org/cfp/call-for-papers-rail-2025.md`
- **PDF Version**: `https://callforpaper.org/cfp/call-for-papers-rail-2025.pdf`



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## 🎓 Academic Citations &amp; Bibliographic Records

Use these pre-formatted snippets to cite this Call for Papers in publications or reference managers:

### Plain Text
```text
RAIL 2025 : Sixth Workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Language. Pretoria, South Africa, November 10, 2025. Available at: https://callforpaper.org/cfp/call-for-papers-rail-2025. Accessed: August 12, 2026.
```

### APA Style 7th edition
```text
RAIL 2025 : Sixth Workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Language. (2025, November 10). Pretoria, South Africa. https://callforpaper.org/cfp/call-for-papers-rail-2025
```

### IEEE
```text
&quot;RAIL 2025 : Sixth Workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Language,&quot; Pretoria, South Africa, Nov. 10, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://callforpaper.org/cfp/call-for-papers-rail-2025. [Accessed: August 12, 2026].
```

### BibTeX
```bibtex
@misc{rail20252025cfp,
  title     = {RAIL 2025 : Sixth Workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Language},
  year      = {2025},
  month     = nov,
  address   = {Pretoria, South Africa},
  url       = {https://callforpaper.org/cfp/call-for-papers-rail-2025},
  note      = {Call for Papers. Accessed: 2026-08-12}
}
```

### RIS (Reference Manager, EndNote)
```ris
TY  - CONF
TI  - RAIL 2025 : Sixth Workshop on Resources for African Indigenous Language
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/10
CY  - Pretoria, South Africa
UR  - https://callforpaper.org/cfp/call-for-papers-rail-2025
N1  - Call for Papers. Accessed: 2026-08-12
ER  -
```