Introducing a state-of-the-art phylogenetic classification of the Kikongo Language Cluster

Abstract

It is shown how past lexicostatistic efforts eventually led to lexically-driven phylogenetic classifications of the Bantu languages. As a new case study, 95 North-West and West Bantu language varieties are sampled across geographical space, with a focus on the wider Lower Congo region. This leads to the discovery of a discrete clade within West-Coastal Bantu, which we term the Kikongo Language Cluster (KLC), a disparate continuum of closely related Bantu languages. Both a branching tree and a continuum model are called in to 'define' the true nature of the KLC, and pre-historical implications are drawn from this.

El español afroperuano en los tiempos de la etnización: de la descripción de sus rasgos estructurales a su localización en el dominio variacional hispánico y en el “debate criollo”

“…Si pensamos ahora en los datos presentados en este trabajo, el rasgo divergente que cuenta con más posibilidades de ser resultado 9 El ejemplo portugués está tomado de un pasaje en que se imita el habla portuguesa de un hablante no nativo a formar parte de una descripción etnográfica de la región angolana de Cabinda realizada por un portugués, Mattos e Silva, durante la etapa colonial. El sustrato lingüístico de Cabinda es el kikongo (sobre todo, sus dialectos civili, iwoyo y kiyombe), que es también el sustrato más importante -o único-(Schwegler 2016a) del criollo palenquero (Bostoen 2012;Schryver et al 2015 para una puesta al día de la clasificación filogenética del kikongo).…”

Progressive vowel height harmony in Proto-Kikongo and Proto-Bantu

“…We do so by relying on comparative evidence from one specific Bantu subgroup, namely the Kikongo Language Cluster (KLC), a disparate continuum of 40-50 closely related Bantu language varieties spoken in the wider Lower Congo region from southern Gabon throughout the southern part of the Republic of the Congo (or Congo-Brazzaville), the western part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC or Congo-Kinshasa) and the northern provinces of Angola (Cabinda, Zaire and Uíge) (cf. Bostoen and de Schryver 2015;De Kind et al 2015;de Schryver et al 2015;Dom and Bostoen 2015). Languages from the KLC actually play a crucial role in Hyman's historical linguistic interpretation of pVHH.…”

“…What is more, thanks to a better understanding of the phylogenetic structure of the KLC (de Schryver et al 2015), we can also better assess now the historical significance of pVHH variation within the KLC. The KLC has been shown to constitute a discrete subclade within the West-Coastal or West-Western branch of the Bantu language family (Guthrie 1962;de Schryver et al 2015;Grollemund et al 2015). It includes all of Guthrie's H16 Kikongo language varieties, all other members of his 'H10 group', his 'B40 Shira-Punu' and 'H30 Yaka' groups, as well as Hungan (H42) from his 'H40 Mbala-Hungana' group, and Samba (L12a) from his 'L10 Pende' group (Guthrie 1971;Maho 2009).…”

Micro‐Raman spectroscopy and complementary techniques (hXRF, VP‐SEM‐EDS, μ‐FTIR and Py‐GC/MS) applied to the study of beads from the Kongo Kingdom (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

“…This work focuses on the analysis of beads excavated from sites associated to the Kongo Kingdom. The KongoKing Project (http://www.kongoking.org/) is devoted to the study of the origins and history of the Kongo Kingdom, using an inter‐disciplinary approach that includes archaeology and archaeometrical research, as well as historical linguistics …”

“…The KongoKing Project (http:// www.kongoking.org/) is devoted to the study of the origins and history of the Kongo Kingdom, using an inter-disciplinary approach that includes archaeology and archaeometrical research, as well as historical linguistics. [1][2][3][4][5][6] The Kongo Kingdom is thought to have been founded in the late 13th-early 14th centuries. However, as no written accounts exist prior to the arrival of the Portuguese in 1483, this date has been estimated on the basis of the king's genealogy records, which can be found in written accounts from the 16th and 17th centuries.…”