Final Vowel Loss in Lower Kasai Bantu (drc) as a Contact-Induced Change

Abstract In this article, we present a qualitative and quantitative comparative account of Final Vowel Loss (fvl) in the Bantu languages of the Lower Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We argue that this diachronic sound shift rose relatively late in Bantu language history as a contact-induced change and affected adjacent West-Coastal and Central-Western Bantu languages belonging to different phylogenetic clusters. We account for its emergence and spread by resorting to two successive processes of language contact: (1) substrate influence from extinct hunter-gatherer languages in the center of innovation consisting of Bantu B80 languages, and (2) dialectal diffusion towards certain peripheral Bantu B70, C80, H40 and L10 languages.

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Antipassive/associative polysemy in Cilubà (Bantu, L31a)

Studies in Language ◽

10.1075/sl.39.2.03dom ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 354-385 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Sebastian Dom ◽

Guillaume Segerer ◽

Koen Bostoen

Keyword(s):

Noun Phrase ◽

Democratic Republic ◽

Bantu Language ◽

Republic Of The Congo

Antipassive constructions are commonly associated with languages with a predominantly ergative alignment. In this article, we show that antipassive constructions can also occur in predominantly accusative languages such as Cilubà, a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is expressed by the verbal suffix -angan-, deriving an intransitive clause from a transitive one by omitting the object noun phrase. This suffix functions canonically as a reciprocal marker and is also used to express sociativity/reciprocity and iterativity. An analysis of the suffix’ polysemy is provided on three levels: We argue that (i) plurality of relations is the underlying concept that semantically accounts for its different meanings, (ii) that its use in an antipassive clause is syntactically derived from its use as a canonical reciprocal marker by the demotion and omission of the second participant, and (iii) that the suffix is diachronically bimorphemic and originally consisted of two suffixes that still exist in Cilubà today, with the sum of its individual meanings not straightforwardly reflecting the synchronic polysemy of -angan-.

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Prehistoric language contact in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier area: Khoisan influence on southwestern Bantu languages

Journal of African Languages and Linguistics ◽

10.1515/jall-2015-0009 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 36 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hilde Gunnink ◽

Bonny Sands ◽

Brigitte Pakendorf ◽

Koen Bostoen

Keyword(s):

Language Contact ◽

Language Shift ◽

Sound Symbolism ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Bantu Language ◽

Nominal Compounds ◽

Internal Change ◽

Separate Identity ◽

Induced Changes ◽

Structural Influence

AbstractIn this article, we show that the influence of Khoisan languages on five southwestern Bantu click languages spoken in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier area is diverse and complex. These Bantu languages acquired clicks through contact with both Khwe and Ju languages. However, they did not simply copy these Khoisan clicks words. They adapted them phonologically, resulting in a reduction of the click inventory and also integrated them into Bantu morphosyntax through the unusual process of paralexification. What is more, clicks do not only occur in words of Khoisan origin, but also spread to native vocabulary as a language-internal change, among other things through sound symbolism. Finally, calques and head-final nominal compounds in a number of these Bantu languages point to structural influence, most likely from Khwe. We argue that the contact-induced changes observed in the southwestern Bantu languages can be partly accounted for by the language shift of native Khoisan speakers who imposed certain features from their native language on the Bantu language they acquired. In addition, Bantu speakers may have used clicks and other Khoisan-derived elements as an emblem for marking a separate identity, as they were not only maintained, but extended to native structures as well.

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immediate before the verb focus position in Nsong (Bantu B85d, DR Congo)

ZAS Papers in Linguistics ◽

10.21248/zaspil.57.2014.422 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 57 ◽

pp. 123-135

Author(s):

Joseph Koni Muluwa ◽

Koen Bostoen

Keyword(s):

Folk Music ◽

Democratic Republic ◽

Biological Knowledge ◽

Language Documentation ◽

Text Corpus ◽

Endangered Language ◽

Bantu Language ◽

Republic Of The Congo ◽

Political Speeches ◽

Speech Events

Nsong is a western Bantu language spoken in the neighbourhood of Kikwit (5°2'28"S 18°48'58"E, Kwilu District, Bandundu Province, DRC) and encoded as B85d in the New Updated Guthrie List (Maho 2009). To this B80 or Tiene-Yanzi group also belongs Mbuun, encoded as B87 by Guthrie (1971: 39) and spoken in the wider vicinity of Idiofa (4°57'35"S 19°35'40", Kwilu District, Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo). Both languages are closely related. They share a high percentage of fundamental and other vocabulary as well as several rather atypical phonological innovations (Bostoen & Koni Muluwa 2014; Koni Muluwa 2014; Koni Muluwa & Bostoen 2012). Preliminary elicitation-based research on Mbuun has pointed out that the pre-verbal domain plays a crucial role in the marking of argument focus in Mbuun (Bostoen & Mundeke 2011, 2012). In this paper, we assess whether this is also the case in Nsong on the basis of a text corpus which the first author has been collecting, transcribing and annotating in 2013 and 2014 as part of an endangered language documentation project funded by the DoBeS program of the Volkswagen Foundation through a 3-year grant (2012-2015). More information on the project can be found on http://www.kwilubantu.ugent.be/. This Nsong text corpus exclusively consists of oral discourse and currently counts 48.022 tokens and 11.973 types. The team’s 2013 fieldwork aimed at documenting Nsong speech events in as many different cultural settings as possible. As a result, the corpus comprises different text genres, such as political speeches, historical traditions, folk music, tales, proverbs, hunting language, ceremonial language used during circumcision and twin rites, and popular biological knowledge. In line with previous research on Mbuun, we concentrate here on mono-clausal argument focus constructions, even if preliminary research has pointed out that bi-clausal focus structures are more common in the Nsong corpus.

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The evolution of the noun class system of Ngwi (West-Coastal Bantu, B861, DRC)

Language in Africa ◽

10.37892/2686-8946-2021-2-3-11-67 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. 11-67

Author(s):

Sara Pacchiarotti ◽

Koen Bostoen

Keyword(s):

Recent Common Ancestor ◽

Verb Second ◽

Systematic Account ◽

Bantu Languages ◽

Class System ◽

Most Recent Common Ancestor ◽

Bantu Language ◽

Republic Of The Congo ◽

Noun Class ◽

Diachronic Analysis

In this paper we offer a first systematic account of the noun class system of Ngwi, a West-Coastal Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. First, we describe the synchronic system of noun class prefixes and the agreement patterns they trigger on constituents of the noun phrase and the verb. Second, we provide a diachronic analysis of the innovations the synchronic Ngwi noun class system underwent with respect to the noun class system reconstructed for the most recent common ancestor of all Narrow Bantu languages. Finally, we compare the morphological innovations found in the Ngwi noun class system with those identified in the noun class systems of other West-Coastal Bantu varieties and assess whether some of these could be diagnostic for internal classification within this western Bantu branch.

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African elements in Saramaccan Maroon plant names in Suriname

Botany ◽

10.1139/cjb-2021-0066 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Charlotte I.E.A. Van't Klooster ◽

Vinije Haabo ◽

Margot C. van den Berg ◽

Piet Stoffelen ◽

Tinde Van Andel

Keyword(s):

Democratic Republic ◽

West African ◽

African Origin ◽

African Region ◽

Native Languages ◽

African Languages ◽

Bantu Language ◽

Plant Names ◽

Republic Of The Congo ◽

Scientific Attention

The ancestors of the Saramaccan Maroons, who were brought as enslaved Africans to Suriname, used their ethnobotanical knowledge and native languages to name the flora in their new environment. Little is known about the influence of African languages on Saramaccan plant naming. We hypothesized that Saramaccan plant names were more influenced by Central African languages than found so far based on ethnobotanical research, because data of the Central African region was scarce. We compiled a new database on Saramaccan plant names and compared these names with an unpublished plant name database from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the earlier published NATRAPLAND database on Afro-Surinamese plant names to find comparable plant names for botanically related species in Africa. We further analyzed form, meaning, function, and categories of Saramaccan plant name components by means of dictionaries and grammars. In total, 39% of the Saramaccan plant names had an African origin, of which 44% were African retentions, 54% were innovations and 2% were misidentifications with botanical links to Africa via other plant species. Most retentions were of Central African origin (62%). The Bantu language that contributed most to Saramaccan plant names was Kikongo, followed by West African Kwa languages. Plant names reveal important information on the African origin of the Saramaccans, and deserve more scientific attention.

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Bunia Swahili and Emblematic Language Use

Journal of Language Contact ◽

10.1163/19552629-01203008 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 823-855

Author(s):

Nico Nassenstein ◽

Gerrit J. Dimmendaal

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Identity ◽

Language Use ◽

East Coast ◽

Democratic Republic ◽

Social Identities ◽

Historical Background ◽

Bantu Language ◽

Language Variety ◽

Republic Of The Congo ◽

The City

The present paper provides first insights into emblematic language use in Bunia Swahili, a variety of the Bantu language Swahili as spoken in and around the city of Bunia inIturi Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Structural variability in Bunia Swahili shows that this language variety consists of basilectal, mesolectal and acrolectal registers, which are used by speakers to express different social identities. Whereas the basilectal variety shows structural similarities with Central Sudanic languages, the mesolectal and acrolectal registers are closer to East Coast Swahili. We argue that these lectal forms are to be understood as fluid repertoires which are used by speakers as a form of adaption to different conversational settings and as indexical representations of their (ethnic) identity. We go on to describe the historical background to these diverging ways of speaking Bunia Swahili, which are due mainly to the long-lasting conflict between different groups in the area.

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