Umlaut in the Bantu B80 Languages of the Kwilu (<scp>DRC</scp>)

Bostoen, Koen; Muluwa, Joseph Koni

doi:10.1111/1467-968x.12033

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…For instance, in Ngwi B861, Proto-Bantu (pb) *ʊ in V2 caused the assimilation of a front V1 to the feature [+back], e.g., *piǵʊ̀ 'kidney' > e-pɤʁ, *tiǵʊé 'orphan' > e-tsɤʁ; see (2). These umlaut phenomena are extremely common in other Lower Kasai languages displaying fvl, such as Yans B85, Ding B86, Mpur B85e, Nsong B85d, Mbuun B87, Mpiin B863 and Ngong B864 (see Bostoen and Koni Muluwa, 2014, for a detailed account). In Ngwi, pb*i in V2 caused umlaut involving diphthongization in V1 position (see Koni Muluwa and Bostoen 2012 for diphthongization in other Lower Kasai languages).…”

Section: Defining Features Of Fvl In the Lower Kasai Regionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

Pacchiarotti

Bostoen

2021

J. Lang. Contact

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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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Section: Defining Features Of Fvl In the Lower Kasai Regionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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

Pacchiarotti

Bostoen

2021

J. Lang. Contact

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“…As for the alternation in final vowel observed between the two Ntandu terms, this seems to be a variation that is recurrent across West-Coastal Bantu. However, the umlaut of the initial vowel observed in several languages of the Yanzi and Nzebi-Mbete-Teke subgroups calls for the reconstruction of an initial low vowel *a and a final front vowel *ɪ, as this is a regular sound shift among these languages (Bostoen & Koni Muluwa 2014). The final vowel a is mainly observed within the Kikongo Language Cluster and is probably a later innovation.…”

Section: Wild Plant Vocabulary In Proto-west-coastal Bantumentioning

confidence: 97%

Were the first Bantu speakers south of the rainforest farmers?

Bostoen¹,

Muluwa²

2017

Language Dispersal Beyond Farming

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Popular belief has it that the Bantu Expansion was a farming/language dispersal. However, there is neither conclusive archaeological nor linguistic evidence to substantiate this hypothesis, especially not for the initial spread in West-Central Africa. In this chapter we consider lexical reconstructions for both domesticated and wild plants in Proto-West-Coastal Bantu associated with the first Bantu speech communities south of the rainforest about 2500 years ago. The possibility to reconstruct terms for five different crops, i.e. pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), okra (Hibiscus/Abelmoschus esculentus), cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) and plantain (Musa spp.), indicates that by that time Bantu speakers did know how to cultivate plants. At the same time, they still strongly depended on the plant resources that could be collected in their natural environment, as is evidenced by a preliminary assessment of reconstructible names for wild plants. Agriculture in Central Africa was indeed "a slow revolution", as the late Jan Vansina once proposed, and certainly not the principal motor behind the early Bantu Expansion.

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“…Another common sound shift affecting the first root vowel in B85-87 languages is umlaut (cf. Bostoen & Koni Muluwa 2014). Unlike diphthongization, umlaut is triggered by a specific conditioning environment, namely the presence of a front vowel in the following syllable.…”

Section: Noun Stemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Acker

Pacchiarotti²,

Langhe³

et al. 2021

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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.

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Umlaut in the Bantu B80 Languages of the Kwilu (DRC)

Cited by 10 publications

References 15 publications

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

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

Were the first Bantu speakers south of the rainforest farmers?

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

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