The total number of Bantu languages is estimated at between 440 and 680 distinct languages, depending on the definition of"language" versus "dialect".[3] Many Bantu languages borrow words from each other, and some aremutually intelligible.[4] Some of the languages are spoken by a very small number of people, for example theKabwa language was estimated in 2007 to be spoken by only 8500 people but was assessed to be a distinct language.[5]
The most widely spoken Bantu language by number of speakers isSwahili, with 16 millionnative speakers and 80 millionL2 speakers (2015).[7] Most native speakers of Swahili live inTanzania, where it is a national language, while as a second language, it is taught as a mandatory subject in many schools in East Africa, and is alingua franca of theEast African Community.
The similarity among dispersed Bantu languages had been observed as early as the 17th century.[11] The termBantu as a name for the group was not coined but "noticed" or "identified" (asBâ-ntu) byWilhelm Bleek as the first European in 1857 or 1858, and popularized in hisComparative Grammar of 1862.[12] He noticed the term to represent the word for "people" in loosely reconstructedProto-Bantu, from the pluralnoun class prefix*ba- categorizing "people", and theroot*ntʊ̀- "some (entity), any" (e.g. Xhosaumntu "person",abantu "people"; Zuluumuntu "person",abantu "people").
There is no native term for the people who speak Bantu languages because they are not anethnic group. People speaking Bantu languages refer to their languages by ethnicendonyms, which did not have an indigenous concept prior to European contact for the larger ethnolinguistic phylum named by 19th-century European linguists. Bleek's identification was inspired by the anthropological observation of groups frequently self-identifying as "people" or "the true people" (as is the case, for example, with the termKhoikhoi, but this is akare "praise address" and not an ethnic name).[13]
The termnarrow Bantu, excluding those languages classified asBantoid byMalcolm Guthrie (1948), was introduced in the 1960s.[14]
The prefixba- specifically refers to people. Endonymically, the term for cultural objects, including language, is formed with theki- noun class (Nguniísi-), as in KiSwahili (Swahili language and culture), IsiZulu (Zulu language and culture) and KiGanda (Ganda religion and culture).
In the 1980s, South African linguists suggested referring to these languages asKiNtu. The wordkintu exists in some places, but it means "thing", with no relation to the concept of "language".[15] In addition, delegates at the African Languages Association of Southern Africa conference in 1984 reported that, in some places, the termKintu has a derogatory significance.[16] This is becausekintu refers to "things" and is used as a dehumanizing term for people who have lost their dignity.[17]
In addition,Kintu is a figure in some mythologies.[18]
In the 1990s, the termKintu was still occasionally used by South African linguists.[19] But in contemporary decolonial South African linguistics, the termNtu languages is used.[19]
Within the fierce debate among linguists about the word "Bantu", Seidensticker (2024) indicates that there has been a "profound conceptual trend in which a "purely technical [term] without any non-linguistic connotations was transformed into a designation referring indiscriminately to language, culture, society, and race"."[20]
The Bantu languages descend from a commonProto-Bantu language, which is believed to have been spoken in what is nowCameroon inCentral Africa.[21] An estimated 2,500–3,000 years ago (1000 BC to 500 BC), speakers of the Proto-Bantu language began a series of migrations eastward and southward, carrying agriculture with them. ThisBantu expansion came to dominate Sub-Saharan Africa east of Cameroon, an area whereBantu peoples now constitute nearly the entire population.[21][22] Some other sources estimate the Bantu Expansion started closer to 3000 BC.[23]
The technical term Bantu, meaning "human beings" or simply "people", was first used byWilhelm Bleek (1827–1875), as the concept is reflected in many of the languages of this group. A common characteristic of Bantu languages is that they use words such asmuntu ormutu for "human being" or in simplistic terms "person", and the plural prefix for human nouns starting withmu- (class 1) in most languages isba- (class 2), thus givingbantu for "people". Bleek, and laterCarl Meinhof, pursued extensive studies comparing the grammatical structures of Bantu languages.
The most widely used classification is an alphanumeric coding system developed byMalcolm Guthrie in his 1948 classification of the Bantu languages. It is mainly geographic. The term "narrow Bantu" was coined by theBenue–Congo Working Group to distinguish Bantu as recognized by Guthrie, from theBantoid languages not recognized as Bantu by Guthrie.[24]
In recent times,[when?] the distinctiveness of Narrow Bantu as opposed to the otherSouthern Bantoid languages has been called into doubt,[25] but the term is still widely used.
There is no true genealogical classification of the (Narrow) Bantu languages. Until recently[when?] most attempted classifications only considered languages that happen to fall within traditional Narrow Bantu, but there seems to be a continuum with the related languages of South Bantoid.[26]
At a broader level, the family is commonly split in two depending on the reflexes of proto-Bantu tone patterns: many Bantuists group together parts of zones A through D (the extent depending on the author) asNorthwest Bantu orForest Bantu, and the remainder asCentral Bantu orSavanna Bantu. The two groups have been described as having mirror-image tone systems: where Northwest Bantu has a high tone in a cognate, Central Bantu languages generally have a low tone, and vice versa.
Northwest Bantu is more divergent internally than Central Bantu, and perhaps lessconservative due to contact with non-Bantu Niger–Congo languages; Central Bantu is likely the innovative linecladistically. Northwest Bantu is not a coherent family, but even for Central Bantu the evidence is lexical, with little evidence that it is a historically valid group.
Another attempt at a detailed genetic classification to replace the Guthrie system is the 1999 "Tervuren" proposal of Bastin, Coupez, and Mann.[27] However, it relies onlexicostatistics, which, because of its reliance on overall similarity rather thanshared innovations, may predict spurious groups ofconservative languages that are not closely related. Meanwhile,Ethnologue has added languages to the Guthrie classification which Guthrie overlooked, while removing theMbam languages (much of zone A), and shifting some languages between groups (much of zones D and E to a new zone J, for example, and part of zone L to K, and part of M to F) in an apparent effort at a semi-genetic, or at least semi-areal, classification. This has been criticized for sowing confusion in one of the few unambiguous ways to distinguish Bantu languages. Nurse & Philippson (2006) evaluate many proposals for low-level groups of Bantu languages, but the result is not a complete portrayal of the family.[24][12]Glottolog has incorporated many of these into their classification.[28]
The languages that shareDahl's law may also form a valid group,Northeast Bantu. The infobox at right lists these together with various low-level groups that are fairly uncontroversial, though they continue to be revised. The development of a rigorous genealogical classification of many branches of Niger–Congo, not just Bantu, is hampered by insufficient data.[29][14]
Othercomputational phylogenetic analyses of Bantu include Currie et al. (2013),[31] Grollemund et al. (2015),[32] Rexova et al. 2006,[33] Holden et al., 2016,[34] and Whiteley et al. 2018.[35]
Guthrie reconstructed both the phonemic inventory and the vocabulary of Proto-Bantu.[3]
The most prominentgrammatical characteristic of Bantu languages is the extensive use ofaffixes (seeSotho grammar andGanda noun classes for detailed discussions of these affixes). Each noun belongs to aclass, and each language may have several numbered classes, somewhat likegrammatical gender in European languages. The class is indicated by a prefix that is part of the noun, as well as agreement markers on verb and qualificative roots connected with the noun. Plurality is indicated by a change of class, with a resulting change of prefix.[19][14] All Bantu languages areagglutinative.
The verb has a number of prefixes, though in the western languages these are often treated as independent words.[37] InSwahili, for example,Kitoto kidogo kimekisoma (for comparison,Kamwana kadoko karikuverenga inShona language) means 'The small child has read it [a book]'.kitoto 'child' governs the adjective prefixki- (representing the diminutive form of the word) and the verb subject prefixa-. Then comes perfect tense-me- and an object marker-ki- agreeing with implicitkitabu 'book' (from Arabickitab). Pluralizing to 'children' givesVitoto vidogo vimekisoma (Vana vadoko varikuverenga in Shona), andpluralizing to 'books' (vitabu) givesvitoto vidogo vimevisoma.[23]
Bantu words are typically made up ofopen syllables of the type CV (consonant-vowel) with most languages having syllables exclusively of this type. TheBushong language recorded byVansina, however, has final consonants,[38] while slurring of the final syllable (though written) is reported as common among theTonga of Malawi.[39] The morphological shape of Bantu words is typically CV, VCV, CVCV, VCVCV, etc.; that is, any combination of CV (with possibly a V- syllable at the start). In other words, a strong claim for this language family is that almost all words end in a vowel, precisely because closed syllables (CVC) are not permissible in most of the documented languages, as far as is understood.[40][26]
This tendency to avoidconsonant clusters in some positions is important when words are imported fromEnglish or other non-Bantu languages. An example fromChewa: the word "school", borrowed from English, and then transformed to fit the sound patterns of this language, issukulu. That is,sk- has been broken up by inserting anepenthetic-u-;-u has also been added at the end of the word. Another example isbuledi for "bread". Similar effects are seen inloanwords for other non-African CV languages likeJapanese. However, a clustering of sounds at the beginning of a syllable can be readily observed in such languages as Shona,[41] and theMakua languages.[42]
With few exceptions, such asKiswahili andRutooro, Bantu languages aretonal and have two to four register tones.
Reduplication is a common morphological phenomenon in Bantu languages and is usually used to indicate frequency or intensity of the action signalled by the (unreduplicated) verb stem.[40]
Example: in Swahili,piga means "strike",pigapiga means "strike repeatedly".
Well-known words and names that have reduplication include:
Repetition emphasizes the repeated word in the context that it is used. For instance, "Mwenda pole hajikwai," means "He who goes slowly doesn't trip," while, "Pole pole ndio mwendo," means "A slow but steady pace wins the race." The latter repeats "pole" to emphasize the consistency of slowness of the pace.
As another example, "Haraka haraka" would mean "hurrying just for the sake of hurrying" (reckless hurry), as in "Njoo! Haraka haraka" [come here! Hurry, hurry].
In contrast, there are some words in some of the languages in which reduplication has the opposite meaning. It usually denotes short durations, or lower intensity of the action, and also means a few repetitions or a little bit more.
Example 1: In Xitsonga and(Chi)Shona,famba means "walk" whilefamba-famba means "walk around".
Example 2: inisiZulu and SiSwatihamba means "go",hambahamba means "go a little bit, but not much".
Example 3: in both of the above languagesshaya means "strike",shayashaya means "strike a few more times lightly, but not heavy strikes and not too many times".
Example 4: InShonakwenya means "scratch",Kwenyakwenya means "scratch excessively or a lot".
Example 5: InLuhyacheenda means "walk", cheendacheenda means "take a walk but not far off", as in buying time before something is ready or a situation or time is right.
Following is an incomplete list of the principal Bantu languages of each country.[45] Included are those languages that constitute at least 1% of the population and have at least 10% the number of speakers of the largest Bantu language in the country.
Most languages are referred to in English without the class prefix (Swahili,Tswana,Ndebele), but are sometimes seen with the (language-specific) prefix (Kiswahili,Setswana,Sindebele). In a few cases prefixes are used to distinguish languages with the same root in their name, such asTshiluba andKiluba (bothLuba),Umbundu andKimbundu (bothMbundu). The prefixless form typically does not occur in the language itself, but is the basis for other words based on the ethnicity. So, in the country ofBotswana the people are theBatswana, one person is aMotswana, and the language isSetswana; and inUganda, centred on the kingdom ofBuganda, the dominant ethnicity are theBaganda (singularMuganda), whose language isLuganda.
^ab"Guthrie (1967–71) names some 440 Bantu 'varieties', Grimes (2000) has 501 (minus a few 'extinct' or 'almost extinct'), Bastinet al. (1999) have 542, Maho (this volume) has some 660, and Mannet al. (1987) havec. 680." Derek Nurse, 2006, "Bantu Languages", in theEncyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, p. 2.:Ethnologue report for Southern Bantoid"Archived 2012-10-16 at theWayback Machine lists a total of 535 languages. The count includes 13Mbam languages, which are not always included under "Narrow Bantu".
^McWhorter, J. 2001.The Power of Babel (pp. 81–82). New York: Freeman-Times-Henry Holt.
^"Swahili"Archived 2018-08-08 at theWayback Machine,Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015): "47,000,000 in Tanzania, all users. L1 users: 15,000,000 (2012), increasing. L2 users: 32,000,000 (2015 D. Nurse). Total users in all countries: 98,310,110 (as L1: 16,010,110; as L2: 82,300,000)."
^Zimbabwe, AmaXhosa (2021)."AmaXhosa".Archived from the original on 2023-07-20. Retrieved2023-07-20.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal= (help)
^abSilverstein, Raymond O. (January 1968). "A note on the term 'Bantu' as first used by W. H. I. Bleek".African Studies.27 (4):211–212.doi:10.1080/00020186808707298.
^R. K. Herbert and R. Bailey in Rajend Mesthrie (ed.),Language in South Africa (2002),p. 50.Archived 2018-06-27 at theWayback Machine.
^abcStudies in African Linguistics: Supplement, Issues 3–4, Department of Linguistics and the African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles (1969), p. 7.
^Joshua Wantate Sempebwa,The Ontological and Normative Structure in the Social Reality of a Bantu Society: A Systematic Study of Ganda Ontology and Ethics, 1978, p. 71.
^David William Cohen,The Historical Tradition of Busoga, Mukama and Kintu (1972). Joseph B. R. Gaie, Sana Mmolai,The Concept of Botho and HIV/AIDS in Botswana (2007),p. 2.Archived 2018-06-27 at theWayback Machine.
^abcas in Noverino N. Canonici,A Manual of Comparative Kintu Studies, Zulu Language and Literature, University of Natal (1994).
^abDalby, David (January 1976). "The Prehistorical Implications of Guthrie's Comparative Bantu. Part II: Interpretation of Cultural Vocabulary".The Journal of African History.17 (1):1–27.doi:10.1017/s0021853700014742.ISSN0021-8537.S2CID163068049.
^The Guthrie, Tervuren, and SIL lists are compared side by side inMaho 2002.
^Hammarström, Harald; Forke, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2020)."Narrow Bantu".Glottolog 4.3.Archived from the original on 2020-11-04. Retrieved2020-12-02.
^Bryan, M.A.(compiled by),The Bantu Languages of Africa. Published for the International African Institute, Oxford University Press, 1959.
^Rexová, K., Bastin, Y., Frynta, D. 2006. "Cladistic analysis of Bantu languages: a new tree based on combined lexical and grammatical data".Naturwissenschaften 93, 189–194.
^Holden, C., Meade, A., Pagel, M. 2016. "Comparison of MP and Bayesian Bantu Trees" (Chp. 4). In:The Evolution of Cultural Diversity: a Phylogenetic Approach, Ruth Mace, Clare Holden, Stephen Shennan (eds.)(Amazon Look Inside)(in Britain 1st published by UCL Press, 2005).
^Whiteley, P.M., Ming Xue, Wheeler, W.C. 2018. Revising the Bantu tree. Cladistics, 1–20 (amnh.org).
^Vass, Winifred Kellersberger (1979).The Bantu Speaking Heritage of the United States. Center for Afro-American Studies, University of California. p. 73.ISBN9780934934015.Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved7 September 2014."Here we go looby-loo; here we go looby-la (or looby-light) / Here we go looby-loo; all on a Saturday night!" Both of these Luba words,lubilu (quickly, in a hurry), andlubila (a shout) are words still in common usage in the Republic of Zaïre.
Biddulph, Joseph (2001).Bantu Byways: Some Explorations among the Languages of Central and Southern Africa. Pontypridd.ISBN978-1-897999-30-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
