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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:A new perspective on Bantu expansion and classification: linguistic and archaeological evidence fifty years after Doke
Authors:Herbert, R.K.ISNI
Huffman, T.N.ISNI
Year:1993
Periodical:African Studies
Volume:52
Issue:2
Pages:53-76
Language:English
Geographic term:Subsaharan Africa
Subjects:Bantu-speaking peoples
migration
archaeology
language classification
Bantu languages
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/00020189308707778
Abstract:The first comprehensive classification of Bantu languages was that of C.M. Doke (1945). This was followed in 1948 by a full-scale classification by M. Guthrie. This article examines further developments in the field of Bantu language classification. The authors first describe the bases of Doke's and Guthrie's classifications. Then they criticize Guthrie's basic distinction between Eastern and Western Bantu. Taking into account archaeological and methodological considerations, the authors come to the conclusion that there is something seriously wrong with the Eastern-Western division. They compare cultural profiles and grammatical elements of several language groups commonly classed as Eastern and this evidence provides support for a three-way classification of Bantu languages: a North-Western and Congo Zone; a zone consisting of a coordinate pair of language groups: the first element comprising Doke's Central and Western Zones and part of East-Central, the second including the Northern and most of the Eastern Zones; and a zone which is essentially a coastal belt from the north-east through the South-Eastern Zone. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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