scholarly journals Ancient West-Coastal Bantu Banana Vocabulary: Testing Linguistic Method for Reconstructing Musa History in Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-325
Author(s):  
Sifra Van Acker ◽  
Sara Pacchiarotti ◽  
Edmond De Langhe ◽  
Koen Bostoen
Keyword(s):  
Historical Linguistic ◽  
Atlantic Coast ◽  
Early History ◽  
Subsistence Economy ◽  
Asian Origin ◽  
Musa Sp ◽  
Linguistic Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lexical Data ◽  
Staple Crop

Lexical data has been key in attempts to reconstruct the early history of the banana (Musa sp.) in Africa. Previous language-based approaches to the introduction and dispersal of this staple crop of Asian origin have suffered from the absence of well-established genealogical classifications and inadequate historical-linguistic analysis. We therefore focus in this article on West-Coastal Bantu (WCB), one specific branch within the Bantu family whose genealogy and diachronic phonology are well established. We reconstruct three distinct banana terms to Proto-West-Coastal Bantu (PWCB), i.e. *dɪ̀‑ŋkòndò/*mà‑ŋkòndò ‘plantain’, *dɪ̀‑ŋkò/*mà‑ŋkò ‘plantain’ and *kɪ̀‑túká/*bì‑túká ‘bunch of bananas’. From this new historical-linguistic evidence we infer that AAB Plantains, one of Africa’s two major cultivar subgroups, already played a key role in the subsistence economy of the first Bantu speakers who assumedly migrated south of the rainforest around 2500 years ago. We furthermore analyze four innovations that emerged after WCB started to spread from its interior homeland in the Kasai-Kamtsha region of Congo-Kinshasa towards the Atlantic coast, i.e. dɪ̀‑kòndè ‘plantain’, kɪ̀‑tébè ‘starchy banana’, banga ‘False Horn plantain’, and dɪ̀‑tòtò ‘sweet banana’. Finally, we assess the historical implications of these lexical retentions and innovations both within and beyond WCB and sketch some perspectives for future lexicon-based banana research.

The Origin, Formation and Early History of the Chikunda of South Central Africa

1972 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Isaacman
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Historical Linguistic ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Military History ◽  
Early History ◽  
South Central ◽  
History Of

Although historians have examined the process of pre-colonial political integration, little attention has been paid to the complementary patterns of ethnic and cultural assimilation. The Chikunda, who were initially slaves on the Zambezi prazos, provide an excellent example of this phenomenon. Over the course of several generations, captives from more than twenty ethnic groups submerged their historical, linguistic, and cultural differences to develop a new set of institutions and a common identity. The decline of the prazo system during the first half of the nineteenth century generated large scale migrations of Chikunda outside of the lower Zambezi valley. They settled in Zumbo, the Luangwa valley and scattered regions of Malawi where they played an important role in the nineteenth-century political and military history of south central Africa.

Some early history of replica techniques for electron microscopy

1992 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 1076-1077
Author(s):  
Robert M. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Thin Film ◽  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Optical Microscope ◽  
Early History ◽  
Bulk Materials ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Reflected Light ◽  
History Of ◽  
Electron Microscopes

By 1940, a half dozen or so commercial or home-built transmission electron microscopes were in use for studies of the ultrastructure of matter. These operated at 30-60 kV and most pioneering microscopists were preoccupied with their search for electron transparent substrates to support dispersions of particulates or bacteria for TEM examination and did not contemplate studies of bulk materials. Metallurgist H. Mahl and other physical scientists, accustomed to examining etched, deformed or machined specimens by reflected light in the optical microscope, were also highly motivated to capitalize on the superior resolution of the electron microscope. Mahl originated several methods of preparing thin oxide or lacquer impressions of surfaces that were transparent in his 50 kV TEM. The utility of replication was recognized immediately and many variations on the theme, including two-step negative-positive replicas, soon appeared. Intense development of replica techniques slowed after 1955 but important advances still occur. The availability of 100 kV instruments, advent of thin film methods for metals and ceramics and microtoming of thin sections for biological specimens largely eliminated any need to resort to replicas.

The early history of tuberous sclerosis

1979 ◽  
Vol 115 (11) ◽  
pp. 1317-1319 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. E. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Tuberous Sclerosis ◽  
Early History ◽  
History Of

New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Henry ◽  
David Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Early History ◽  
History Of

The Film World’s Cooperative Store: Institutions and Films of the 1930s and 1940s

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Claire Thomson
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Meat Products ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Early History ◽  
World War ◽  
International Context ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

This chapter traces the early history of state-sponsored informational filmmaking in Denmark, emphasising its organisation as a ‘cooperative’ of organisations and government agencies. After an account of the establishment and early development of the agency Dansk Kulturfilm in the 1930s, the chapter considers two of its earliest productions, both process films documenting the manufacture of bricks and meat products. The broader context of documentary in Denmark is fleshed out with an account of the production and reception of Poul Henningsen’s seminal film Danmark (1935), and the international context is accounted for with an overview of the development of state-supported filmmaking in the UK, Italy and Germany. Developments in the funding and output of Dansk Kulturfilm up to World War II are outlined, followed by an account of the impact of the German Occupation of Denmark on domestic informational film. The establishment of the Danish Government Film Committee or Ministeriernes Filmudvalg kick-started aprofessionalisation of state-sponsored filmmaking, and two wartime public information films are briefly analysed as examples of its early output. The chapter concludes with an account of the relations between the Danish Resistance and an emerging generation of documentarists.

Tansley's Psychoanalytic Network: An episode out of the Early History of Psychoanalysis in England

2000 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Cameron ◽  
John Forrester
Keyword(s):  
Discussion Group ◽  
Early History ◽  
History Of Psychoanalysis ◽  
Training Requirements ◽  
Life Paths ◽  
History Of ◽  
Unpublished Manuscripts

The paper traces the psychoanalytic networks of the English botanist, A.G. Tansley, a patient of Freud's (1922-1924), whose detour from ecology to psychoanalysis staked out a path which became emblematic for his generation. Tansley acted as the hinge between two networks of men dedicated to the study of psychoanalysis: a Cambridge psychoanalytic discussion group consisting of Tansley, John Rickman, Lionel Penrose, Frank Ramsey, Harold Jeffreys and James Strachey; and a network of field scientists which included Harry Godwin, E. Pickworth Farrow and C.C. Fagg. Drawing on unpublished letters written by Freud and on unpublished manuscripts, the authors detail the varied life paths of these psychoanalytic allies, focusing primarily on the 1920s when psychoanalysis in England was open to committed scientific enthusiasts, before the development of training requirements narrowed down what counted as a psychoanalytic community.

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