Bantoidis a major branch of theBenue–Congo language family.It consists of theNorthern Bantoid languagesand theSouthern Bantoid languages,a division which also includes theBantu languagesthat constitute the overwhelming majority and after which Bantoid is named.
| Bantoid | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Sub-Saharan Africa,but not farther west thanNigeria |
| Linguistic classification | Niger–Congo? |
| Proto-language | Proto-Bantoid[1][2] |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | bant1294 |
 The Bantoid languages shown within the Niger–Congo language family. Non-Bantoid languages are greyscale. | |
History
editThe term "Bantoid" was first used by Krause in 1895 for languages that showed resemblances in vocabulary to Bantu.Joseph Greenberg,in his 1963The Languages of Africa,defined Bantoid as the group to which Bantu belongs together with its closest relatives; this is the sense in which the term is still used today.
However, according toRoger Blench,the Bantoid languages probably do not actually form a coherent group.[3]
Internal classification
editA proposal that divided Bantoid intoNorth BantoidandSouth Bantoidwas introduced by Williamson.[4][5]In this proposal, the Mambiloid andDakoid languages(and laterTikar) are grouped together as North Bantoid, while everything else Bantoid is subsumed under South Bantoid;Ethnologueuses this classification.
The phylogenetic unity of the North Bantoid group is sometimes thought to be questionable, and theDakoid languagesare often now placed outside Bantoid.[citation needed]But the work did establish Southern Bantoid as a valid genetic unit. Southern Bantoid includes the well known and numerousBantu languages.[6]
References
edit- ^Watters, John R. (2018).East Benue-Congo: Nouns, pronouns, and verbs.Language Science Press.ISBN9783961101009.
- ^Asher, R. E.; Moseley, Christopher (19 April 2018).Atlas of the World's Languages.Routledge.ISBN9781317851097.
- ^Roger Blench."Niger-Congo: an alternative view"(PDF).Rogerblench.info. pp. 2, 4.Retrieved2013-10-16.
- ^Williamson, Kay (1989) 'Niger–Congo Overview'. In:The Niger–Congo languages,ed. by John Bendor-Samuel, 3–45. University Press of America.
- ^Blench, Roger [1987] 'A new classification of Bantoid languages.' Unpublished paper presented at 17th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics, Leiden.
- ^Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger–Congo', in Heine, Bernd and Nurse, Derek (eds)African Languages – An Introduction.Cambridge: Cambridge University press, pp. 11–42.