Proto-Bantu is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Bantu languages , a subgroup of the Southern Bantoid languages . It is thought to have originally been spoken in West/Central Africa in the area of what is now Cameroon . About 6,000 years ago, it split off from Proto-Southern Bantoid when the Bantu expansion began to the south and east. Two theories have been put forward about the way the languages expanded: one is that the Bantu-speaking people moved first to the Congo region and then a branch split off and moved to East Africa; the other (more likely) is that the two groups split from the beginning, one moving to the Congo region, and the other to East Africa.
64-475: The Bantu expansion was a major series of migrations of the original Proto-Bantu -speaking group , which spread from an original nucleus around West - Central Africa . In the process, the Proto-Bantu-speaking settlers displaced, eliminated or absorbed pre-existing hunter-gatherer and pastoralist groups that they encountered. There is linguistic evidence for this expansion – a great many of
128-489: A huge group of languages spread throughout Western, Central and Southern Africa. The Benue–Congo branch includes the Bantu languages, which are found throughout Central, Southern, and Eastern Africa. A characteristic feature of most Atlantic–Congo languages, including almost all the Bantu languages except Swahili, Sotho-Tswana and Nguni languages, is their use of tone. They generally lack case inflection , but grammatical gender
192-413: A low or a high tone. A high tone is conventionally indicated with an acute accent (´), and a low tone is either indicated with a grave accent (`) or not marked at all. Proto-Bantu, like its descendants, had an elaborate system of noun classes . Noun stems were prefixed with a noun prefix to specify their meaning. Other words that related or referred to that noun, such as adjectives and verbs, also received
256-561: A major new population center near the Great Lakes of East Africa, where a rich environment supported a dense population. The Urewe culture dominated the Great Lakes region between 650BC and 550BC. It was one of Africa's oldest iron-smelting centres. By the first century BC, Bantu speaking communities in the great lakes region developed iron forging techniques that enabled them to produce carbon steel . Movements by small groups to
320-474: A more complex intermixing could have taken place. Further east, Bantu-speaking communities had reached the great Central African rainforest, and by 500 BC, pioneering groups had emerged into the savannas to the south, in what are now the Democratic Republic of Congo , Angola , and Zambia . Another stream of migration, having moved east by 3,000 years ago (1000 BC), was creating
384-403: A noun prefix to specify their meaning. Other words that related or referred to that noun, such as adjectives and verbs, also received a prefix that matched the class of the noun (" agreement " or "concord"). Maho offers a broad characterization of five types of Bantu concordial systems. Languages descended from Proto-Bantu can be classified into each of the five types. The following table gives
448-429: A prefix that matched the class of the noun (" agreement " or "concord"). Maho offers a broad characterization of five types of Bantu concordial systems. Languages descended from Proto-Bantu can be classified into each of the five types. The following table gives a reconstruction of the system of nominal classes. Spellings have been normalised to use the ɪ and ʊ notations. Guthrie's original work uses y to describe
512-419: A reconstruction of nominal classes. This arrangement permits the classification of noun classes via nonlinguistic factors like perception and cognition. Hendrikse and Poulos have grouped singular and plural classes (such as classes 1 and 2) together, and created "hybrid positions" between the varying categories (such as the placement of class 14). Classes 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 13 are generally accepted as being
576-526: A reconstruction of the system of nominal classes. Spellings have been normalised to use the ɪ and ʊ notations. Guthrie's original work uses y to describe the palatal semi-vowel, which has been normalised to use the j notation. An alternative list of Proto-Bantu noun classes from Vossen & Dimmendaal (2020:151) is as follows: Wilhelm Bleek 's reconstruction consisted of sixteen noun prefixes. Carl Meinhof adapted Bleek's prefixes, changing some phonological features and adding more prefixes, bringing
640-535: A sequence but did not form diphthongs ; two adjacent vowels were separate syllables. If two of the same vowel occurred together, that created a long vowel, but that was rare. Proto-Bantu distinguished two tones , low and high. Each syllable had either a low or a high tone. A high tone is conventionally indicated with an acute accent (´), and a low tone is either indicated with a grave accent (`) or not marked at all. Proto-Bantu, like its descendants, had an elaborate system of noun classes . Noun stems were prefixed with
704-406: A unified language, actually existed in the time before the Bantu expansion, or whether Proto-Bantu was not a single language but a group of related dialects. One scholar, Roger Blench , writes: "The argument from comparative linguistics which links the highly diverse languages of zone A to a genuine reconstruction is non-existent. Most claimed Proto-Bantu is either confined to particular subgroups, or
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#1732764703605768-508: Is believed to have taken place in at least two waves, between about 4,000 and 2,000 years ago (approximately 2,000 BC to AD 1). Linguistic analysis suggests that the expansion proceeded in two directions: the first went across or along the Northern border of the Congo forest region (towards East Africa), and the second – and possibly others – went south along Africa's Atlantic coast into what
832-546: Is characteristic, with some languages having two dozen genders ( noun classes ). The root of the verb tends to remain unchanged, with either particles or auxiliary verbs expressing tenses and moods. For example, in a number of languages the infinitival is the auxiliary designating the future. Before the expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers, Central, Southern, and Southeast Africa were likely populated by Pygmy foragers, Khoisan -speaking hunter-gatherers , Nilo-Saharan -speaking herders, and Cushitic -speaking pastoralists . It
896-484: Is clear that there were human populations in the region at the time of the expansion, and pygmies are their closest living relatives. However, mtDNA genetic research from Cabinda suggests that only haplogroups that originated in West Africa are found there today, and the distinctive L 0 of the pre-Bantu population is missing, suggesting that there was a complete population replacement. In South Africa, however,
960-423: Is generally reconstructed to have a relatively small inventory of 11 consonants and 7 vowels. The above phonemes exhibited considerable allophony , and the exact realisation of many of them is unclear. Consonants could not occur at the end of a syllable, only at its beginning. Thus, the syllable structure was generally V or CV, and there were only open syllables . Consonant clusters did not occur except for
1024-528: Is now the Republic of the Congo , Gabon , Cameroon , Democratic Republic of the Congo , and Angola , or inland along the many south-to-north flowing rivers of the Congo River system. The expansion reached South Africa, probably as early as AD 300. Bantuists believe that the Bantu expansion most probably began on the highlands between Cameroon and Nigeria . The 60,000-km Mambilla region straddling
1088-633: Is the remnant of an independent western Batwa ( Mbenga or "Baaka") language. Before the Bantu expansion, Khoisan -speaking peoples inhabited Southern Africa. Their descendants have largely mixed with other peoples and adopted other languages. A few still live by foraging, often supplemented by working for neighbouring farmers in the arid regions around the Kalahari desert, while a larger number of Nama continue their traditional subsistence by raising livestock in Namibia and adjacent South Africa. Prior to
1152-425: Is thought that Central African Pygmies and Bantus branched out from a common ancestral population c. 70,000 years ago. Many Batwa groups speak Bantu languages; however, a considerable portion of their vocabulary is not Bantu in origin. Much of this vocabulary is botanical, deals with honey collecting, or is otherwise specialised for the forest and is shared between western Batwa groups. It has been proposed that this
1216-613: Is thought to have originally been spoken in West/Central Africa in the area of what is now Cameroon . About 6,000 years ago, it split off from Proto-Southern Bantoid when the Bantu expansion began to the south and east. Two theories have been put forward about the way the languages expanded: one is that the Bantu-speaking people moved first to the Congo region and then a branch split off and moved to East Africa;
1280-400: Is unclear. Consonants could not occur at the end of a syllable, only at its beginning. Thus, the syllable structure was generally V or CV, and there were only open syllables . Consonant clusters did not occur except for the "pre-nasalised" consonants. The so-called "pre-nasalised" consonants were sequences of a nasal and a following obstruent. They could occur anywhere a single consonant
1344-502: Is widely attested outside Bantu proper." According to this hypothesis, Bantu is actually a polyphyletic group that combines a number of smaller language families which ultimately belong to the (much larger) Southern Bantoid language family . The homeland of Proto-Bantu was most likely in the upland forest fringes around the Sanaga and Nyong rivers of Southern Cameroon. It was formerly thought that proto-Bantu originated somewhere in
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#17327647036051408-404: The Bantu languages are treated as synonymous with the geographic location of ceramic remnants; the popular approach of attempting to correlate linguistic reconstructions with archaeological data has resulted in propagation of the faulty presumption and circular reasoning that the earliest ceramic manufacturing in a given area is evidence for the earliest presence of Bantu-speakers . Within
1472-794: The Monomatapa kings built the Great Zimbabwe complex. The Swahili city-states were also established early in this period. These include sultanates based at Lamu , Mombasa , Kilwa , Pate and Malindi . The Swahili traded with the inland kingdoms, including Great Zimbabwe. Such processes of state-formation occurred with increasing frequency from the 16th century onward. They likely resulted from denser population, which led to more specialised divisions of labour, including military power, while making outmigration more effortful. Other factors promoting state-formation were increased trade among African communities and with European and Arab traders on
1536-499: The "pre-nasalised" consonants. The so-called "pre-nasalised" consonants were sequences of a nasal and a following obstruent. They could occur anywhere a single consonant was permitted, including word-initially. Pre-nasalised voiceless consonants were rare, as most were voiced. The nasal's articulation adapted to the articulation of the following consonant so the nasal can be considered a single unspecified nasal phoneme (indicated as *N ) which had four possible allophones. Conventionally,
1600-646: The 11th and 16th centuries, powerful Bantu-speaking states on a scale larger than local chiefdoms began to emerge. Notable early kingdoms include the Kingdom of the Kongo in present-day Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom in the Great Lakes region, the Kingdom of Mapungubwe (c.1075–c.1220) in present-day South Africa , and the Zambezi River, where
1664-429: The Bantu expansion. Nilo-Saharan -speaking herder populations comprised a third group of the area's pre-Bantu expansion inhabitants. Linguistic, archeological and genetic evidence indicates that during the course of the Bantu expansion, "independent waves of migration of western African and East African Bantu-speakers into southern Africa occurred." In some places, genetic evidence suggests that Bantu language expansion
1728-501: The Central African rainforest is extremely spotty and consequently far from convincing so as to be taken as a reflection of a steady influx of Bantu speakers into the forest, let alone movement on a larger scale." Seidensticker (2024) indicates that the prevalent paradigm for the Bantu expansion has a forced connection between Central African ceramics and Central African languages , where the geographic location of speakers of
1792-499: The Guthrie zones, others are found in every zone. These include for example * mbʊ́à 'dog', * -lia 'eat', * ma-béele 'breasts', * i-kúpa 'bone', * i-jína 'name', * -genda 'walk', * mʊ-kíla 'tail', * njɪla 'path', and so on. (The asterisks show that these are reconstructed forms, indicating how the words are presumed to have been pronounced before the Bantu expansion began.) Other vocabulary items tend to be found in either one or
1856-444: The Guthrie zones, others are found in every zone. These include for example * mbʊ́à 'dog', * -lia 'eat', * ma-béele 'breasts', * i-kúpa 'bone', * i-jína 'name', * -genda 'walk', * mʊ-kíla 'tail', * njɪla 'path', and so on. (The asterisks show that these are reconstructed forms, indicating how the words are presumed to have been pronounced before the Bantu expansion began.) Other vocabulary items tend to be found in either one or
1920-570: The Mambilla region, have an ancient history of descent from the north in the direction of the Mambilla region. Initially, archaeologists believed that they could find archaeological similarities in the region's ancient cultures that the Bantu-speakers were held to have traversed. Linguists, classifying the languages and creating a genealogical table of relationships, believed they could reconstruct material culture elements. They believed that
1984-640: The arrival of Bantus in Southeast Africa, Cushitic -speaking peoples had migrated into the region from the Ethiopian Highlands and other more northerly areas. The first waves consisted of Southern Cushitic speakers, who settled around Lake Turkana and parts of Tanzania beginning around 5,000 years ago. Many centuries later, around AD 1000, some Eastern Cushitic speakers also settled in northern and coastal Kenya . Khoisan -speaking hunter-gatherers also inhabited Southeast Africa before
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2048-433: The border region between Nigeria and Cameroon. However, new research revealed that was more likely the original area of Proto-Southern Bantoid, before it spread southwards into Cameroon long before Proto-Bantu emerged. Proto-Bantu is generally reconstructed to have a relatively small inventory of 11 consonants and 7 vowels. The above phonemes exhibited considerable allophony , and the exact realisation of many of them
2112-517: The borderlands here has been identified as containing remnants of "the Bantu who stayed home" as the bulk of Bantu-speakers moved away from the region. Archaeological evidence from the separate works of Jean Hurault (1979, 1986 and 1988) and Rigobert Tueché (2000) in the region indicates cultural continuity from 3000 BC until today. The majority of the groups of the Bamenda highlands (occupied for 2000 years until today), somewhat south and contiguous with
2176-576: The case in the Bantu language-speaking Lemba of Southern Africa . Where Bantu was adopted via language shift of existing populations, prior African languages were spoken, probably from African language families that are now lost, except as substrate influences of local Bantu languages (such as click sounds in local Bantu languages). It seems likely that the expansion of the Bantu-speaking people from their core region in West Africa began around 4000–3500 BC. Although early models posited that
2240-644: The coasts, technological innovations in economic activity, and new techniques in the political-spiritual ritualisation of royalty as the source of national strength and health. Other inland centres established during this phase of expansion include Bigo bya Mugenyi in Uganda , Thimlich Ohinga in Kenya and the Kweneng' Ruins in South Africa . Manfred K. H. Eggert stated that "the current archaeological record in
2304-979: The common ancestors of West African and Proto-Bantu peoples may have originated in the western region of the Sahara , amid the Kiffian period at Gobero , and may have migrated southward, from the Sahara into various parts of West Africa (e.g., Benin , Cameroon , Ghana , Nigeria , Togo ), as a result of desertification of the Green Sahara in 7000 BC. From Nigeria and Cameroon, agricultural Proto-Bantu peoples began to migrate , and amid migration, diverged into East Bantu peoples (e.g., Democratic Republic of Congo ) and West Bantu peoples (e.g., Congo, Gabon ) between 2500 BC and 1200 BC. He suggests that Igbo people and Yoruba people may have admixture from back-migrated Bantu peoples. The Atlantic-Congo family comprises
2368-406: The common vocabulary which has been reconstructed on the basis of present-day Bantu languages, it appears that agriculture, fishing, and the use of boats were already known to the Bantu people before their expansion began, but iron-working was still unknown. This places the date of the start of the expansion somewhere between 3000 BC and 800 BC. A minority view casts doubt on whether Proto-Bantu, as
2432-564: The communities already present at the coast. Between 300 AD-1000 AD, through participation in the long-existing Indian Ocean trade route , these communities established links with Arabian and Indian traders, leading to the development of the Swahili culture . Other pioneering groups had reached modern KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa by AD 300 along the coast, and the modern Limpopo Province (formerly Northern Transvaal ) by AD 500. Between
2496-498: The continent and led to extensive admixture between migrants and local populations. A 2023 genetic study of 1,487 Bantu speakers sampled from 143 populations across 14 African countries revealed that the expansion occurred ~4,000 years ago in Western Africa. The results showed that Bantu speakers received significant gene-flow from local groups in regions they expanded into. Based on dental evidence, Irish (2016) concluded that
2560-412: The early speakers were both iron-using and agricultural, definitive archaeological evidence that they used iron does not appear until as late as 400 BC, though they were agricultural. The western branch, not necessarily linguistically distinct, according to Christopher Ehret , followed the coast and the major rivers of the Congo system southward, reaching central Angola by around 500 BC. It
2624-598: The expansion was caused by the development of agriculture, the making of ceramics, and the use of iron, which permitted new ecological zones to be exploited. In 1966, Roland Oliver published an article presenting these correlations as a reasonable hypothesis. The hypothesized Bantu expansion pushed out or assimilated the hunter-forager proto- Khoisan , who had formerly inhabited Southern Africa. In Eastern and Southern Africa , Bantu speakers may have adopted livestock husbandry from other unrelated Cushitic -and Nilotic -speaking peoples they encountered. Herding practices reached
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2688-475: The far south several centuries before Bantu-speaking migrants did. Archaeological , linguistic , genetic , and environmental evidence all support the conclusion that the Bantu expansion was a significant human migration. Generally, the movements of Bantu language-speaking peoples from the Cameroon/Nigeria border region throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa radically reshaped the genetic structure of
2752-489: 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"." Proto-Bantu language Like other proto-languages , there is no record of Proto-Bantu. Its words and pronunciation have been reconstructed by linguists. From
2816-432: The highly diverse languages of zone A to a genuine reconstruction is non-existent. Most claimed Proto-Bantu is either confined to particular subgroups, or is widely attested outside Bantu proper." According to this hypothesis, Bantu is actually a polyphyletic group that combines a number of smaller language families which ultimately belong to the (much larger) Southern Bantoid language family . The homeland of Proto-Bantu
2880-517: The labial pre-nasal is written *m while the others are written *n. The earlier velar nasal phoneme /ŋ/ , which was present in the Bantoid languages , had been lost in Proto-Bantu. It still occurred phonetically in pre-nasalised consonants but not as a phoneme. The representation of the vowels may differ in particular with respect to the two "middle" levels of closedness. Some prefer to denote
2944-552: The languages which are spoken across sub-Equatorial Africa are remarkably similar to each other, suggesting the common cultural origin of their original speakers. The linguistic core of the Bantu languages, which comprise a branch of the Atlantic-Congo language family , was located in the southern regions of Cameroon . Genetic evidence also indicates that there was a large human migration from central Africa, with varying levels of admixture with local population. The expansion
3008-487: The last hundred years, beginning with Carl Meinhof and his students, great efforts have been made to examine the vocabulary of the approximately 550 present day Bantu languages and to try to reconstruct the proto-forms from which they presumably came. Among other recent works is that by Bastin, Coupez, and Mann, which assembled comparative examples of 92 different words from all the 16 language zones established by Guthrie . Although some words are found only in certain of
3072-487: The last hundred years, beginning with Carl Meinhof and his students, great efforts have been made to examine the vocabulary of the approximately 550 present day Bantu languages and to try to reconstruct the proto-forms from which they presumably came. Among other recent works is that by Bastin, Coupez, and Mann, which assembled comparative examples of 92 different words from all the 16 language zones established by Guthrie . Although some words are found only in certain of
3136-446: The near-close set as *e and *o, with the more open set represented as *ɛ and *ɔ. Syllables always ended in a vowel but could also begin with one. Vowels could also occasionally appear in a sequence but did not form diphthongs ; two adjacent vowels were separate syllables. If two of the same vowel occurred together, that created a long vowel, but that was rare. Proto-Bantu distinguished two tones , low and high. Each syllable had either
3200-413: The other (more likely) is that the two groups split from the beginning, one moving to the Congo region, and the other to East Africa. Like other proto-languages , there is no record of Proto-Bantu. Its words and pronunciation have been reconstructed by linguists. From the common vocabulary which has been reconstructed on the basis of present-day Bantu languages, it appears that agriculture, fishing, and
3264-525: The other of the two main Bantu dialect groups, the Western group (mainly covering Guthrie zones A, B, C, H, K, L, R) or the Eastern group (covering zones D, E, F, G, M, N, P, and S). Words reconstructed for these two groups are known as "Proto-Bantu A" ("PB-A") and "Proto-Bantu B" ("PB-B") respectively, whereas those which extend over the whole Bantu area are known as "Proto-Bantu X" (or "PB-X"). Building on
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#17327647036053328-415: The other of the two main Bantu dialect groups, the Western group (mainly covering Guthrie zones A, B, C, H, K, L, R) or the Eastern group (covering zones D, E, F, G, M, N, P, and S). Words reconstructed for these two groups are known as "Proto-Bantu A" ("PB-A") and "Proto-Bantu B" ("PB-B") respectively, whereas those which extend over the whole Bantu area are known as "Proto-Bantu X" (or "PB-X"). Building on
3392-545: The palatal semi-vowel, which has been normalised to use the j notation. An alternative list of Proto-Bantu noun classes from Vossen & Dimmendaal (2020:151) is as follows: Wilhelm Bleek 's reconstruction consisted of sixteen noun prefixes. Carl Meinhof adapted Bleek's prefixes, changing some phonological features and adding more prefixes, bringing the total number to 21. A. E. Meeussen reduced Meinhof's reconstructed prefixes to 19, but added an additional locative prefix numbered 23. Malcolm Guthrie later reconstructed
3456-515: The plural forms of noun classes in Proto-Bantu. Classes 14 onward do not have a plural form defined as concretely as classes 1–13 do. Meeussen proposed pairings of 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/10, 12/13, 14/6, 15/6, and "probably" 19/13. Guthrie proposed pairings of 1/2, 1a/2, 3/4, 3, 5/6, 5, 6, 7/8, 9/10, 9, 11/10, 12/13, 14, 14/6. Maho combines pairings by De Wolf, Meeussen, and Guthrie, offering alternative pairings such as 3/10, 3/13, 9/4, 11/4, 12/4, 14/4, 14/10, 15/4, 19/4, and 19/10. During
3520-534: The same 19 classes as Meeussen, but removed locative prefix numbered 23. Hendrikse and Poulos proposed a semantic continuum for Bantu noun classes. Numbers identifying noun classes in the table are referenced from the above table giving a reconstruction of nominal classes. This arrangement permits the classification of noun classes via nonlinguistic factors like perception and cognition. Hendrikse and Poulos have grouped singular and plural classes (such as classes 1 and 2) together, and created "hybrid positions" between
3584-543: The southeast from the Great Lakes region were more rapid, with initial settlements widely dispersed near the coast and near rivers, due to comparatively difficult farming conditions in areas farther from water. Archaeological findings have shown that by 100 BC to 300 AD, Bantu speaking communities were present at the coastal areas of Misasa in Tanzania and Kwale in Kenya. These communities also integrated and intermarried with
3648-420: The total number to 21. A. E. Meeussen reduced Meinhof's reconstructed prefixes to 19, but added an additional locative prefix numbered 23. Malcolm Guthrie later reconstructed the same 19 classes as Meeussen, but removed locative prefix numbered 23. Hendrikse and Poulos proposed a semantic continuum for Bantu noun classes. Numbers identifying noun classes in the table are referenced from the above table giving
3712-519: The use of boats were already known to the Bantu people before their expansion began, but iron-working was still unknown. This places the date of the start of the expansion somewhere between 3000 BC and 800 BC. A minority view casts doubt on whether Proto-Bantu, as a unified language, actually existed in the time before the Bantu expansion, or whether Proto-Bantu was not a single language but a group of related dialects. One scholar, Roger Blench , writes: "The argument from comparative linguistics which links
3776-641: The varying categories (such as the placement of class 14). Classes 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 13 are generally accepted as being the plural forms of noun classes in Proto-Bantu. Classes 14 onward do not have a plural form defined as concretely as classes 1–13 do. Meeussen proposed pairings of 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/10, 12/13, 14/6, 15/6, and "probably" 19/13. Guthrie proposed pairings of 1/2, 1a/2, 3/4, 3, 5/6, 5, 6, 7/8, 9/10, 9, 11/10, 12/13, 14, 14/6. Maho combines pairings by De Wolf, Meeussen, and Guthrie, offering alternative pairings such as 3/10, 3/13, 9/4, 11/4, 12/4, 14/4, 14/10, 15/4, 19/4, and 19/10. During
3840-594: The work done by A. E. Meeussen in the 1960s, a publicly searchable database of all the Bantu vocabulary items which have been established or proposed so far is maintained by the Royal Museum for Central Africa at Tervuren in Belgium (see External links). Proto-Bantu Proto-Bantu is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Bantu languages , a subgroup of the Southern Bantoid languages . It
3904-584: Was largely a result of substantial population replacement. In other places, Bantu language expansion, like many other languages, has been documented with population genetic evidence to have occurred by means other than complete or predominant population replacement (e.g. via language shift and admixture of incoming and existing populations). For example, one study found this to be the case in Bantu language speakers who are African Pygmies or are in Mozambique , while another population genetic study found this to be
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#17327647036053968-411: Was most likely in the upland forest fringes around the Sanaga and Nyong rivers of Southern Cameroon. It was formerly thought that proto-Bantu originated somewhere in the border region between Nigeria and Cameroon. However, new research revealed that was more likely the original area of Proto-Southern Bantoid, before it spread southwards into Cameroon long before Proto-Bantu emerged. Proto-Bantu
4032-440: Was permitted, including word-initially. Pre-nasalised voiceless consonants were rare, as most were voiced. The nasal's articulation adapted to the articulation of the following consonant so the nasal can be considered a single unspecified nasal phoneme (indicated as *N ) which had four possible allophones. Conventionally, the labial pre-nasal is written *m while the others are written *n. The earlier velar nasal phoneme /ŋ/ , which
4096-478: Was present in the Bantoid languages , had been lost in Proto-Bantu. It still occurred phonetically in pre-nasalised consonants but not as a phoneme. The representation of the vowels may differ in particular with respect to the two "middle" levels of closedness. Some prefer to denote the near-close set as *e and *o, with the more open set represented as *ɛ and *ɔ. Syllables always ended in a vowel but could also begin with one. Vowels could also occasionally appear in
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