Image Image Image WEB RESOURCES FOR AFRICAN LANGUAGES PAGE UPDATED 2006-09-05 Spacer Image Spacer Image MAIN PAGE African languages Afroasiatic - Berber - Chadic - Cushitic - Omotic - Semitic Khoesan Niger-Congo - Adamawa - Atlantic - Benue-Congo · Bantoid · Bantu - Gur - Ijoid - Kordofanian - Kru - Kwa - Mande - Ubangi - Dogon/Mpre/Pre Nilosaharan Remnant "New" Country-specifics Institutes Web communities Journals Conferences Latest adds SITE EDITOR Jouni F. Maho Södra Anneberg 12 SE-43337 Partille Sweden EMAIL maho@brevet.nu Bantu languages Map showing the distribution of Bantu language groups click for full size image There are anywhere between 400 and 500 known Bantu languages. Over time, several subclassifications have been presented, none of which has proven to be very stable. Thus the Bantu languages are here grouped according to a referential classification originally devised by Malcolm Guthrie in the 1940s (cfr Guthrie 1971, Maho 2003, 2006), in which the Bantu languages are grouped into 15 geographical zones labelled with letters from the Latin alphabet. To these 15 zones, I have added a 16th, i.e. Tervuren's J Zone, comprising languages re-grouped from zones D and E. * Zone A -- some 50-70 languages, incl. Fang, Ewondo, Duala * Zone B -- up to 50 languages, incl. Teke, Nzebi * Zone C -- some 70-80 languages, incl. Teteta, Lingala, Mongo-Nkundo * Zone D -- some 30-40 languages, incl. Lega, Bembe * Zone E -- less than 20 languages, incl. Kikuyu, Kamba * Zone F -- some 10 languages, incl. Sukuma, Nyamwezi * Zone G -- some 20-30 languages, incl. Swahili, Gogo, Comorian * Zone H -- some 10 languages, incl. Kikongo * Zone J -- some 60 languages, incl. Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Luhiya, Nkore-Kiga * Zone K -- less than 30 languages, incl. Ciokwe, Lozi * Zone L -- some 20 languages, incl. Luba * Zone M -- some 30 languages, incl. Bemba, Tonga * Zone N -- some 10-20 languages, incl. Nyanja/Chewa * Zone P -- some 10-20 languages, incl. Makhuwa (Makua) * Zone R -- less than 10 languages, incl. Umbundu, Wambo, Herero * Zone S -- some 20-30 languages, incl. Zulu, Xhosa, Shona, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho A SELECTION OF PRINTED LITERATURE Bastin, Yvonne; Coupez, Andre; Mann, Michael. 1999. Continuity and divergence in the Bantu languages: perspectives from a lexicostatistic study. Annalen van het Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, menselijke wetenschappen, n 162. Tervuren. Ehret, Christopher. 2001. Bantu expansions: re-envisioning a central problem of early African history. International journal of African historical studies, v 34, p 1-41 (plus comments-cum-reply on p 43-87). Guthrie, Malcolm. 1967/71. Comparative Bantu, 4 vols. Gregg International. Hinnebusch, Thomas J. 1989. Bantu. In: The Niger-Congo languages (ed. by John Theodor Bendor-Samuel), p 450-473. University Press of America and Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). Maho, Jouni Filip. 2003. A classification of the Bantu languages: an update of Guthrie's referential system. In: The Bantu languages (ed. by Derek Nurse & Gerard Philippson), p 639-651. Routledge. Meeussen, Achille Emille. 1967. Bantu grammatical reconstructions. In: Africana linguistica 3 (= Annalen van het Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, menselijke wetenschappen, n 61), p 79-121. Tervuren. Nurse, Derek. 1994/95. "Historical" classifications of the Bantu languages. Azania, 29/30, p 65-81. Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gerard. (Eds.) 2003. The Bantu languages. Routledge language family series, v 4. Routledge. Language surveys, classifications, general resources back to top » Jouni Filip Maho A referential classification of the Bantu languages: keeping Malcolm Guthrie's system updated (PDF). goto.glocalnet.net/maho/downloads/NUGL2.pdf Jouni Filip Maho, 2001 The Bantu area: (towards clearing up) a mess (PDF). Africa & Asia: Göteborg working papers on Asian and African languages and literatures, v 1, p 40-49. www.african.gu.se/aa/downloads/aa01040.pdf Jouni Filip Maho, 2002 Bantu line-up: comparative overview of three Bantu classifications (PDF). Dept of Oriental and African Languages, Göteborg University. Pp 59. www.african.gu.se/maho/downloads/bantulineup.pdf Jacky Maniacky Bantu languages / Les langues bantu. www.bantu-languages.com Lutz Marten Bantu classification, Bantu trees, and phylogenetic methods (PDF). From: Phylogenetic methods and the prehistory of languages. Edited by Peter Forster and Colin Renfrew. MacDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/lm5/Bantu_Trees.pdf Salikoko S. Mufwene Contact languages in the Bantu area. Dept of Linguistics, University of Chicago. humanities.uchicago.edu/faculty/mufwene/mufw_bantucon.html Derek Nurse, 2001 A survey report for the Bantu languages. SIL Electronic Survey Reports SILESR 2002-016. www.sil.org/silesr/2002/016/SILESR2002-016.htm Proto-Bantu, historical linguistics back to top » Comparative Bantu On-Line Dictionary (CBOLD). www.cbold.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr Yvonne Bastin, André Coupez, Evariste Mumba, Thilo C. Schadeberg Bantu lexical reconstructions 3 (BLR3). Tervuren & Leiden. linguistics.africamuseum.be/BLR3.html Roger M. Blench, 1989 New developments in the classification of Bantu languages and their historical implications (PDF). From: Datation et chronologie dans le bassin du lac Tchad. Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d'Outre-Mer (ORSTOM). www.bondy.ird.fr/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_6/colloques2/38088.pdf Koen Bostoen, 2004 Linguistics for the use of African history and the comparative study of Bantu pottery vocabulary (PDF). Antwerp papers in linguistics, v 106, p 131-154. webhost.ua.ac.be/apil/apil106/index.htm Annelies Bulkens, 1997 Some nominal stems for "canoe" in Bantu languages (PDF). eric.ed.gov (ERIC# ED416681) Malcolm Guthrie, 1967 Guthrie's Proto-Bantu recontructions (2,200 items). Hosted at the CBOLD site. www.cbold.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr Malcolm Guthrie, 1967 Guthrie's Common Bantu roots (5,500 items). Hosted at the CBOLD site. www.cbold.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr Jean-Marie Hombert, François Nsuka-Nkutsi, Gilbert Puech, 1987 Quelques perspectives pour la linguistique historique bantu (PDF). Pholia, v 2, p 99-102. www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/divers/Download/Pholia/Pholia_N-2.pdf (whole issue) Larry M. Hyman, 2000 Proto-Grassfields-Bantu recontructions (450 items). Hosted at the CBOLD site. www.cbold.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr Larry M. Hyman, 2003 Sound change, misanalysis, and analogy in the Bantu causative (PDF). Journal of African languages and linguistics, v 24, p 55-90. linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/Causative_Analogy_Paper_rev.pdf Larry M. Hyman, Gérard Philippson, Lolke van der Veen, Jacky Maniacky, Jeffrey Good Bantu Retention and Innovation Questionnaire (BRIQ). www.bantu-languages.com/questionnaires/briq/index.html André Jacquot, 1991 Le nom de la houe dans les langues bantoues du nord-ouest: implications historiques (PDF). Cahiers des sciences humaines, v 27, p 561-576. www.bondy.ird.fr/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_4/sci_hum/35828.pdf Jouni Filip Maho, 2005 Draft bibliography for comparative Bantu studies (PDF). goto.glocalnet.net/maho/downloads/bantubiblio.pdf Achille E. Meeussen, 1967 Meeussen's Proto-Bantu reconstructions (1,950 items). Hosted at the CBOLD site. www.cbold.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr Gérard Philippson, 1991 Tons et accent dans les langues bantu d'Afrique orientale (PDF). Thèse d'état. Université René Descartes (Paris 5). www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/PDF/philippson/these.pdf Gérard Philippson, 1998 Evolution des systèmes prosodiques dans les langues bantu: de la typologie à la diachronie (PDF). From: Les langues d'Afrique subsaharienne. Edited by Susanne Platiel and Raphael Kaboré. Editions Ophrys. www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/PDF/Philippson/Philippson_1998b.pdf Gérard Philippson, 1998 Tone reduction vs metrical attraction in the evolution of Eastern Bantu tone systems (PDF). From: Theoretical aspects of Bantu tone. Edited by Larry M. Hyman and Charles W. Kisseberth. CSLI Stanford University. www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/PDF/Philippson/Philippson_1998a.pdf CORR Gisèle Teil-Dautrey, 2004 Lexiques proto-bantous: étude des cooccurences segmentales et supra-segmentales. (Also PDF.) Thèse de doctorat. Université Lumière (Lyon 2). demeter.univ-lyon2.fr:8080/sdx/theses/lyon2/2004/teil-dautrey_g www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/PDF/Teil-Dautrey/Teil-Dautrey_2004_thËse.pdf Lolke J. van der Veen, 2001 Contribution à l'étude des langues bantoues et des peuples bantouophones: approche linguistique, approche génétique (PDF). Revue gabonaise des sciences du langage, v 2, p 79-94. www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/PDF/Van%20Der%20Veen/Van%20der%20Veen_2001.pdf Structural linguistics, descriptive linguistics, comparative studies back to top » Serge Bahuchet, Gérard Philippson, 1998 Les plantes d'origine américaine en Afrique bantoue: une approche linguistique (PDF). From: Plantes et paysages d'Afrique. Edited by G. Chastanet. Editions Karthala. www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/Annuaires/PDF/Philippson/Bahuchet_1998.pdf Lee S. Bickmore Bantu tone spreading and displacement as alignment and minimal misalignement (PDF). Rutgers Optimal Archive 161-1196. roa.rutgers.edu/index.php3?id=173 Katherine Demuth, 2000 Bantu noun class systems: loan word and acquisition evidence of semantic productivity (PDF). From: Classification systems. Edited by Günter Senft. Cambridge University Press. www.cog.brown.edu/People/demuth/articles/2000%20Demuth.pdf Katherine Demuth, 2003 The acquisition of Bantu languages (PDF). From: The Bantu languages. Edited by Derek Nurse & Gérard Philippson. Routledge. www.cog.brown.edu/People/demuth/articles/2003%20Demuth.pdf Katherine Demuth, Carolyn Harford, 1999 Verb raising and subject inversion in comparative Bantu (PDF). Journal of African languages and linguistics, v 20, p 41-61. www.cog.brown.edu/People/demuth/articles/1999%20Demuth&Harford.pdf Mark Dingemanse, 2006 The semantics of Bantu noun classification: a review and comparison of three approaches (PDF). University of Leiden. markdingemanse.nl/linguistics Laura J. Downing, 2001 Tone (non-)transfer in Bantu verbal reduplication (PDF). Paper presented at TAPS (Typology of African Prosodic Systems), University of Bielefeld, May 2001. www.spectrum.uni-bielefeld.de/TAPS/Downing.pdf Laura J. Downing, 2005 On the ambiguous segmental status of nasals in homroganic NC sequences (PDF). From: The internal organization of phonological segments. Edited by M. van Oostendorp and J. M. van de Weijer. Mouton de Gruyter. www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/home/downing/preNC2.pdf Carolyn Harford, Katherine Demuth, 1999 Prosody outranks syntax: an Optimality approach to subject inversion in Bantu relatices (PDF). Linguistic analysis, v 29. www.cog.brown.edu/People/demuth/articles/1999%20Harford&Demuth.pdf Brent Henderson, 2004 Evidence for Rizzi's left periphery: Bantu relative clauses (PDF). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/bhendrsn/Left%20Periphery%20Bantu.pdf Brent Henderson, 2004 Head movement in syntax and at PF (PDF). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/bhendrsn/Henderson-Head%20movement.pdf Brent Henderson, 2005 Multiple agreement, concord, and case checking in Bantu: a reply to Carstens (PDF). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/bhendrsn/a%20reply%20to%20carstensII.pdf Brent Henderson, 2005 Agreement and inversion in Bantu relatives: typology and syntax (PDF). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. www.linguistics.uiuc.edu/bhendrsn/Bantu%20that-rels.pdf Larry M. Hyman Suffix ordering in Bantu: a morphocentric approach (PDF). Rutgers Optimal Archive 437-0601. roa.rutgers.edu/index.php3?id=633 Larry M. Hyman, 2001 Privative tone in Bantu (PDF). From: Cross-linguistic studies of tonal phenomena. Edited by Shigeki Kaji. ILCAA Tokyo. linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/Privative_Tone_Tokyo_A4.pdf Larry M. Hyman, 2001 Cyclicity and base non-identity (PDF). From: Sounds and systems. Edited by David Restle & Dietmar Zaefferer. Mouton de Gruyter. linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/Cyclic_Non-Identity,_novenn.pdf Larry M. Hyman, 2003 Segmental phonology (PDF). From: The Bantu languages. Edited by Derek Nurse & Gérard Philippson. Routledge. linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/Bantu_segmental.pdf Larry M. Hyman, Sharon Inkelas, Galen Sibanda, 1998 Morphosyntactic correspondence in Bantu reduplication (PDF). Publ. 2003 in: The nature of the word. Edited by K. Hanson & S. Inkelas. MIT Press. linguistics.berkeley.edu/~hyman/Ndebele_Redup_final_rev.pdf Michael Key Headed spans and Bantu tonology (PDF). Rutgers Optimal Archives ROA-809-0306. roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?id=1114 John G. Kiango, 2005 Problems of citation form in dictionaries of Bantu languages (PDF). Nordic journal of African studies, v 14 (3), p 255-273. www.njas.helsinki.fi Nancy Chongo Kula, 2004 On word-order restrictions in Bantu relative clauses (PDF). Paper presented at the 4th Bantu Grammar Meeting, Leiden. mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/lm5/BantuProjectPapers/KulaRelativesExtendedHO-Nov04.PDF Nancy Chongo Kula, 2004 Licensing saturation and co-occurence restrictions in structure: on Meinhof's Law in Bantu (PDF). From: Linguistics analysis, v 32. www.nancykula.net/Kula%20-LA-2004.pdf Jouni Filip Maho, 2003 Remarks on a few "polyplural" classes in Bantu (PDF). Africa & Asia: Göteborg working papers on Asian and African languages and literatures, v 3, p 161-184. www.african.gu.se/aa/downloads/aa03161.pdf Lutz Marten, 2004 Focus positions in Bantu (PDF). Paper presented at the 4th Bantu Grammar Meeting, Leiden. mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/lm5/BantuProjectPapers/MartenBantuFocusOct2004.pdf Lutz Marten Focus strategies and the incremental development of semantic representations: evidence from Bantu (PDF). From: Focus strategies. Edited by Enoch Aboh, Katharina Hartmann and Malte Zimmermann. Mouton de Gruyter. mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/lm5/LutzFocusStrategies8Apr2006.pdf Lutz Marten, Ruth Kempson Pronouns, agreement, and the dynamic construction of verb phrase interpretation: a Dynamic Syntax approach to Bantu clause structure (PDF). Linguistic analysis, v 32, p 471-504. mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/lm5/LAMartenKempson8Apr2006.pdf Lutz Marten, Nancy Kula, Nhlanhla Thwala, 2005 Parameters of morphosyntactic variation in Bantu (PDF). Paper presented at the 5th Bantu Grammar Meeting, London. mercury.soas.ac.uk/users/lm5/BantuProjectPapers/Marten_Kula_Thwala_Bantu_London_Meeting.pdf Francis Matambirofa, 2000 Some aspects of the arhcitecture of the possessive noun phrase in Bantu (PDF). Zambezia, v 27.1, p 93-102. digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/africanjournals/index.cfm Yukiko Morimoto, 2002 Prominence mismatches and differential object marking in Bantu (PDF). Proceedings of the LFG02 conference. CSLI Publications Online. csli-publications.stanford.edu/LFG/7/lfg02morimoto.pdf Derek Nurse, 2006 Focus in Bantu: verbal morphology and function (PDF). ZAS papers in linguistics, n 43, p 189-208. www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/index.html?publications_zaspil Daniël J. Prinsloo, Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, 2001 Taking dictionaries for Bantu languages into the new millennium, with special reference to Kiswahili, Sepedi and isiZulu (PDF). From: Makala ya kongamano la kimataifa Kiswahili 2000 (Proceedings). Edited by J. S. Mdee & H. J. M. Mwansoko. Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI), Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam. tshwanedje.com/publications/kiswahili2000bantu.pdf Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, 2003 Online dictionaries on the Internet: an overview for the African languages (PDF). Lexikos, v 13, p 1-20. tshwanedje.com/publications/OBDs.pdf Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, Daniël J. Prinsloo, 2001 Towards a sound lemmatisation strategy for the Bantu verb through the use of frequency-based tail slots, with special reference to Cilubà, Sepedi and Kiswahili (PDF). From: Makala ya kongamano la kimataifa Kiswahili 2000 (Proceedings). Edited by J. S. Mdee & H. J. M. Mwansoko. Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI), Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam. tshwanedje.com/publications/kiswahili2000fbts.pdf Nhlanhla Thwala, 2006 Parameters of variation and complement licensing in Bantu (PDF). ZAS papers in linguistics, n 43, p 209-232. www.zas.gwz-berlin.de/index.html?publications_zaspil Ellen Woolford, 1994 Why passive can block object marking (PDF). eric.ed.gov (ERIC# ED373563) Miscellaneous, unsorted back to top » Malin Petzell, 2003 Swedish contributions to African linguistics, with a focus on Bantu languages (PDF). Africa & Asia: Göteborg working papers on Asian and African languages and literatures, v 3, p 41-52. www.african.gu.se/aa/downloads/aa03041.pdf Hans-Ingo Weier Bantu studies, personal homepage. www.bantuistik.de (frames: click on Bantu) Alice Werner, 1933 Myths and legends of the Bantu. Originally published by Harrap in London. Webbaccess by the Internet Sacred Text Archive. www.sacred-texts.com/afr/mlb/index.htm Web sources for individual languages back to top » See: Zone A Zone B Zone C Zone D Zone E Zone F Zone G Zone H Zone J Zone K Zone L Zone M Zone N Zone P Zone R Zone S Map showing the distribution of Bantu language groups click for full size image ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MAIN PAGE African languages | Afroasiatic | Khoesan | Niger-Congo | Nilosaharan | Remnant | "New" Country-specifics | Institutes | Web communities | Journals | Conferences Jouni Filip Maho © 2003-2006