Bantu languages#Origin

{{further|Bantu peoples#Etymology}}

The similarity among dispersed Bantu languages had been observed as early as the 17th century.R. Blench, Archaeology, Language, and the African Past (2006), [https://books.google.com/books?id=esFy3Po57A8C&pg=PA119 p. 119]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627091227/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=esFy3Po57A8C&lpg=PP1&hl=de&pg=PA119 |date=2018-06-27 }}. The term Bantu as a name for the group was not coined but "noticed" or "identified" (as Bâ-ntu) by Wilhelm Bleek as the first European in 1857 or 1858, and popularized in his Comparative Grammar of 1862.{{cite journal |last1=Silverstein |first1=Raymond O. |title=A note on the term 'Bantu' as first used by W. H. I. Bleek |journal=African Studies |date=January 1968 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=211–212 |doi=10.1080/00020186808707298}} He noticed the term to represent the word for "people" in loosely reconstructed Proto-Bantu, from the plural noun class prefix *ba- categorizing "people", and the root *ntʊ̀- "some (entity), any" (e.g. Xhosa umntu "person", abantu "people"; Zulu umuntu "person", abantu "people").

There is no native term for the people who speak Bantu languages because they are not an ethnic group. People speaking Bantu languages refer to their languages by ethnic endonyms, which did not have an indigenous concept prior to European contact for the larger ethnolinguistic phylum named by 19th-century European linguists. Bleek's identification was inspired by the anthropological observation of groups frequently self-identifying as "people" or "the true people" (as is the case, for example, with the term Khoikhoi, but this is a kare "praise address" and not an ethnic name).R. K. Herbert and R. Bailey in Rajend Mesthrie (ed.), Language in South Africa (2002), [https://books.google.com/books?id=cqaGb_SEQHUC&pg=PA50 p. 50]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627091217/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cqaGb_SEQHUC&pg=PA50 |date=2018-06-27 }}.

The term narrow Bantu, excluding those languages classified as Bantoid by Malcolm Guthrie (1948), was introduced in the 1960s.Studies in African Linguistics: Supplement, Issues 3–4, Department of Linguistics and the African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles (1969), p. 7.

The prefix ba- specifically refers to people. Endonymically, the term for cultural objects, including language, is formed with the ki- noun class (Nguni ísi-), as in KiSwahili (Swahili language and culture), IsiZulu (Zulu language and culture) and KiGanda (Ganda religion and culture).

In the 1980s, South African linguists suggested referring to these languages as KiNtu. The word kintu exists in some places, but it means "thing", with no relation to the concept of "language".Joshua Wantate Sempebwa, The Ontological and Normative Structure in the Social Reality of a Bantu Society: A Systematic Study of Ganda Ontology and Ethics, 1978, p. 71. In addition, delegates at the African Languages Association of Southern Africa conference in 1984 reported that, in some places, the term Kintu has a derogatory significance.{{cite journal |title=Addendum |journal=South African Journal of African Languages |date=1 January 1984 |volume=4 |issue=Suppl 1 |page=120 |doi=10.1080/02572117.1984.10587452}} This is because kintu refers to "things" and is used as a dehumanizing term for people who have lost their dignity.Molefi Kete Asante, Ama Mazama, Encyclopedia of African Religion (2009), [https://books.google.com/books?id=B667ATiedQkC&pg=PT173 p. 173]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627091157/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B667ATiedQkC&pg=PT173 |date= 2018-06-27 }}.

In addition, Kintu is a figure in some mythologies.David William Cohen, The Historical Tradition of Busoga, Mukama and Kintu (1972). Joseph B. R. Gaie, Sana Mmolai, The Concept of Botho and HIV/AIDS in Botswana (2007), [https://books.google.com/books?id=ieiT9tZMqBgC&pg=PA2 p. 2]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627091129/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ieiT9tZMqBgC&pg=PA2 |date=2018-06-27 }}.

In the 1990s, the term Kintu was still occasionally used by South African linguists.as in Noverino N. Canonici, A Manual of Comparative Kintu Studies, Zulu Language and Literature, University of Natal (1994). But in contemporary decolonial South African linguistics, the term Ntu languages is used.

Within 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"."{{cite journal |last1=Seidensticker |first1=Dirk |title=Pikunda-Munda and Batalimo-Maluba Archaeological Investigations of the Iron Age Settlement History of the Western and Northern Congo Basin |journal=African Archaeological Review |date=28 March 2024 |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=5–6 |doi=10.1007/s10437-024-09576-7 |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10437-024-09576-7 |issn=0263-0338 |oclc=10194943180 |s2cid=268802330}}

The Bantu languages descend from a common Proto-Bantu language, which is believed to have been spoken in what is now Cameroon in Central Africa.Philip J. Adler, Randall L. Pouwels, World Civilizations: To 1700 Volume 1 of World Civilizations, (Cengage Learning: 2007), p.169. An estimated 2,500–3,000 years ago (1000 BC to 500 BC), speakers of the Proto-Bantu language began a series of migrations eastward and southward, carrying agriculture with them. This Bantu expansion came to dominate Sub-Saharan Africa east of Cameroon, an area where Bantu peoples now constitute nearly the entire population.Toyin Falola, Aribidesi Adisa Usman, Movements, borders, and identities in Africa, (University Rochester Press: 2009), p.4. Some other sources estimate the Bantu Expansion started closer to 3000 BC.Gemma Berniell-Lee et al, [http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/7/1581.abstract "Genetic and Demographic Implications of the Bantu Expansion: Insights from Human Paternal Lineages"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110416143255/http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/7/1581.abstract |date=2011-04-16 }}, Oxford Journals

The technical term Bantu, meaning "human beings" or simply "people", was first used by Wilhelm Bleek (1827–1875), as the concept is reflected in many of the languages of this group. A common characteristic of Bantu languages is that they use words such as muntu or mutu for "human being" or in simplistic terms "person", and the plural prefix for human nouns starting with mu- (class 1) in most languages is ba- (class 2), thus giving bantu for "people". Bleek, and later Carl Meinhof, pursued extensive studies comparing the grammatical structures of Bantu languages.

{{main|Guthrie classification of Bantu languages}}

{{see also|List of Bantu languages}}

File:Bantu zones.png, including the addition of a zone J around the Great Lakes. The Jarawan languages are spoken in Nigeria.]]

The most widely used classification is an alphanumeric coding system developed by Malcolm Guthrie in his 1948 classification of the Bantu languages. It is mainly geographic. The term "narrow Bantu" was coined by the Benue–Congo Working Group to distinguish Bantu as recognized by Guthrie, from the Bantoid languages not recognized as Bantu by Guthrie.{{Cite book|last=Bostoen, Koen|title=Linguistics for the use of African history and the comparative study of Bantu pottery vocabulary|date=2004|oclc=803473571}}

In recent times,{{when|date=July 2017}} the distinctiveness of Narrow Bantu as opposed to the other Southern Bantoid languages has been called into doubt,(cf. Piron 1995, Williamson & Blench 2000, Blench 2011) but the term is still widely used.

There is no true genealogical classification of the (Narrow) Bantu languages. Until recently{{when|date=July 2017}} most attempted classifications only considered languages that happen to fall within traditional Narrow Bantu, but there seems to be a continuum with the related languages of South Bantoid.{{Cite journal|last=Dalby|first=David|date=January 1976|title=The Prehistorical Implications of Guthrie's Comparative Bantu. Part II: Interpretation of Cultural Vocabulary|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=17|issue=1|pages=1–27|doi=10.1017/s0021853700014742|s2cid=163068049|issn=0021-8537}}

At a broader level, the family is commonly split in two depending on the reflexes of proto-Bantu tone patterns: many Bantuists group together parts of zones A through D (the extent depending on the author) as Northwest Bantu or Forest Bantu, and the remainder as Central Bantu or Savanna Bantu. The two groups have been described as having mirror-image tone systems: where Northwest Bantu has a high tone in a cognate, Central Bantu languages generally have a low tone, and vice versa.

Northwest Bantu is more divergent internally than Central Bantu, and perhaps less conservative due to contact with non-Bantu Niger–Congo languages; Central Bantu is likely the innovative line cladistically. Northwest Bantu is not a coherent family, but even for Central Bantu the evidence is lexical, with little evidence that it is a historically valid group.

Another attempt at a detailed genetic classification to replace the Guthrie system is the 1999 "Tervuren" proposal of Bastin, Coupez, and Mann.The Guthrie, Tervuren, and SIL lists are compared side by side in [https://web.archive.org/web/20090325021837/http://www.african.gu.se/maho/downloads/bantulineup.pdf Maho 2002]. However, it relies on lexicostatistics, which, because of its reliance on overall similarity rather than shared innovations, may predict spurious groups of conservative languages that are not closely related. Meanwhile, Ethnologue has added languages to the Guthrie classification which Guthrie overlooked, while removing the Mbam languages (much of zone A), and shifting some languages between groups (much of zones D and E to a new zone J, for example, and part of zone L to K, and part of M to F) in an apparent effort at a semi-genetic, or at least semi-areal, classification. This has been criticized for sowing confusion in one of the few unambiguous ways to distinguish Bantu languages. Nurse & Philippson (2006) evaluate many proposals for low-level groups of Bantu languages, but the result is not a complete portrayal of the family. Glottolog has incorporated many of these into their classification.{{cite web| editor-last1 = Hammarström| editor-first1 = Harald| editor-last2 = Forke| editor-first2 = Robert| editor-last3 = Haspelmath| editor-first3 = Martin| editor-last4 = Bank| editor-first4 = Sebastian| year = 2020| title = Narrow Bantu| work = Glottolog 4.3| url = https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/narr1281| access-date = 2020-12-02| archive-date = 2020-11-04| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201104105022/https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/narr1281| url-status = live}}

The languages that share Dahl's law may also form a valid group, Northeast Bantu. The infobox at right lists these together with various low-level groups that are fairly uncontroversial, though they continue to be revised. The development of a rigorous genealogical classification of many branches of Niger–Congo, not just Bantu, is hampered by insufficient data.Bryan, M.A.(compiled by), The Bantu Languages of Africa. Published for the International African Institute, Oxford University Press, 1959.

Simplified phylogeny of northwestern branches of Bantu by Grollemund (2012):Grollemund, Rebecca. 2012. [http://www.evolution.reading.ac.uk/~vy904310/pdf/Grollemund_2012_classification%20bantu%20NO.pdf Nouvelles approches en classification : Application aux langues bantu du Nord-Ouest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200618162850/http://www.evolution.reading.ac.uk/~vy904310/pdf/Grollemund_2012_classification%20bantu%20NO.pdf |date=2020-06-18 }}. Ph.D Dissertation, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, 550 pp.

{{clade |style=font-size:90%; line-height:90%;

|label1=Bantu

|1={{clade

|label1=Northwest

|label2=Central

|1={{clade

|label1=Northwest 1

|label2=Northwest 2

|1={{clade

|label1=Northwest 1a

|label2=Northwest 1b

|1={{clade

|1=A40-50-60-70: Basaa languages, Bafia languages, Mbam languages, Beti language

|2=A10-20-30: Sawabantu languages, Manenguba languages}}

|2={{clade

|1=A80-90: Makaa–Njem languages

|2=B20: Kele languages}} }}

|2={{clade

|1=B10: Myene language

|2=B30: Tsogo languages}} }}

|2={{clade

|label1=Central 1

|label2=Central 2

|1={{clade

|label1=Central 1a

|label2=Central 1b

|1={{clade

|1=C10-20-30: Ngondi–Ngiri languages, Mboshi languages, Bangi–Ntomba languages

|2=C40-D20-D32: Bati–Angba languages, Lega–Binja languages, Bira language}}

|2={{clade

|1=B80-C60-70-80: Boma–Dzing languages, Soko languages, Tetela languages, Bushoong languages

|2=B40-H10-30-B50-60-70: Sira languages, Kongo languages, Yaka languages, Nzebi languages, Mbete languages, Teke languages

|3=L10-H40: Pende languages, Hungana language}} }}

|2={{clade

|1=C50-D10: Soko languages, Lengola language

|2=D10-20-30-40-JD50: Mbole–Enya languages, Komo–Bira languages, Shi–Havu languages}} }} }} }}

Other computational phylogenetic analyses of Bantu include Currie et al. (2013),Currie, Thomas E., Andrew Meade, Myrtille Guillon, Ruth Mace (2013). [http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1762/20130695 "Cultural phylogeography of the Bantu Languages of sub-Saharan Africa"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718205704/http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/280/1762/20130695 |date=2018-07-18 }}. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2013, Volume 280, issue 1762 {{doi|10.1098/rspb.2013.0695}} Grollemund et al. (2015),Grollemund, Rebecca Simon Branford, Koen Bostoen, Andrew Meade, Chris Venditti, and Mark Pagel (2015). [http://www.pnas.org/content/112/43/13296 "Bantu expansion shows that habitat alters the route and pace of human dispersals"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718213510/http://www.pnas.org/content/112/43/13296 |date=2018-07-18 }}. PNAS October 27, 2015. 112 (43), 13296–13301. {{doi|10.1073/pnas.1503793112}} Rexova et al. 2006,Rexová, K., Bastin, Y., Frynta, D. 2006. "Cladistic analysis of Bantu languages: a new tree based on combined lexical and grammatical data". Naturwissenschaften 93, 189–194. Holden et al., 2016,Holden, C., Meade, A., Pagel, M. 2016. "Comparison of MP and Bayesian Bantu Trees" (Chp. 4). In: The Evolution of Cultural Diversity: a Phylogenetic Approach, Ruth Mace, Clare Holden, Stephen Shennan (eds.)(Amazon Look Inside)(in Britain 1st published by UCL Press, 2005). and Whiteley et al. 2018.Whiteley, P.M., Ming Xue, Wheeler, W.C. 2018. Revising the Bantu tree. Cladistics, 1–20 (amnh.org).

Glottolog (2021) does not consider the older geographic classification by Guthrie relevant for its ongoing classification based on more recent linguistic studies, and divides Bantu into four main branches: Bantu A-B10-B20-B30, Central-Western Bantu, East Bantu and Mbam-Bube-Jarawan.{{Cite web|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/narr1281|title=Glottolog 4.5 – Narrow Bantu|access-date=2020-12-02|archive-date=2020-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104105022/https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/narr1281|url-status=live}}

Guthrie reconstructed both the phonemic inventory and the vocabulary of Proto-Bantu.

The most prominent grammatical characteristic of Bantu languages is the extensive use of affixes (see Sotho grammar and Ganda noun classes for detailed discussions of these affixes). Each noun belongs to a class, and each language may have several numbered classes, somewhat like grammatical gender in European languages. The class is indicated by a prefix that is part of the noun, as well as agreement markers on verb and qualificative roots connected with the noun. Plurality is indicated by a change of class, with a resulting change of prefix. All Bantu languages are agglutinative.

The verb has a number of prefixes, though in the western languages these are often treated as independent words.Derek Nurse, 2008. Tense and aspect in Bantu, p 70 (fn). In many of the Zone A, including Mbam, the verbs are clearly analytic. In Swahili, for example, Kitoto kidogo kimekisoma (for comparison, Kamwana kadoko karikuverenga in Shona language) means 'The small child has read it [a book]'. kitoto 'child' governs the adjective prefix ki- (representing the diminutive form of the word) and the verb subject prefix a-. Then comes perfect tense -me- and an object marker -ki- agreeing with implicit kitabu 'book' (from Arabic kitab). Pluralizing to 'children' gives Vitoto vidogo vimekisoma (Vana vadoko varikuverenga in Shona), and pluralizing to 'books' (vitabu) gives vitoto vidogo vimevisoma.

Bantu words are typically made up of open syllables of the type CV (consonant-vowel) with most languages having syllables exclusively of this type. The Bushong language recorded by Vansina, however, has final consonants,Vansina, J. Esquisse de Grammaire Bushong. Commission de Linguistique Africaine, Tervuren, Belgique, 1959. while slurring of the final syllable (though written) is reported as common among the Tonga of Malawi.Turner, Rev. Wm. Y., Tumbuka–Tonga$1–$2 $3ictionEnglish Dictionary Hetherwick Press, Blantyre, Malawi 1952. pages i–ii. The morphological shape of Bantu words is typically CV, VCV, CVCV, VCVCV, etc.; that is, any combination of CV (with possibly a V- syllable at the start). In other words, a strong claim for this language family is that almost all words end in a vowel, precisely because closed syllables (CVC) are not permissible in most of the documented languages, as far as is understood.

This tendency to avoid consonant clusters in some positions is important when words are imported from English or other non-Bantu languages. An example from Chewa: the word "school", borrowed from English, and then transformed to fit the sound patterns of this language, is sukulu. That is, sk- has been broken up by inserting an epenthetic -u-; -u has also been added at the end of the word. Another example is buledi for "bread". Similar effects are seen in loanwords for other non-African CV languages like Japanese. However, a clustering of sounds at the beginning of a syllable can be readily observed in such languages as Shona,Doke, Clement M., A Comparative Study in Shona Phonetics University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1931. and the Makua languages.Relatório do I Seminário sobre a Padronização da Ortografia de Línguas Moçambicanas NELIMO, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. 1989.

With few exceptions, such as Kiswahili and Rutooro, Bantu languages are tonal and have two to four register tones.

Reduplication is a common morphological phenomenon in Bantu languages and is usually used to indicate frequency or intensity of the action signalled by the (unreduplicated) verb stem.Abdulaziz Lodhi, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090325021837/http://www.african.gu.se/aa/pdfs/aa02004.pdf Verbal extensions in Bantu (the case of Swahili and Nyamwezi)]". Africa & Asia, 2002, 2:4–26, Göteborg University

• Example: in Swahili, piga means "strike", pigapiga means "strike repeatedly".

Well-known words and names that have reduplication include:

• Bafana Bafana, a football team
• Chipolopolo, a football team
• Eric Djemba-Djemba, a footballer
• Lomana LuaLua, a footballer

Repetition emphasizes the repeated word in the context that it is used. For instance, "Mwenda pole hajikwai," means "He who goes slowly doesn't trip," while, "Pole pole ndio mwendo," means "A slow but steady pace wins the race." The latter repeats "pole" to emphasize the consistency of slowness of the pace.

As another example, "Haraka haraka" would mean "hurrying just for the sake of hurrying" (reckless hurry), as in "Njoo! Haraka haraka" [come here! Hurry, hurry].

In contrast, there are some words in some of the languages in which reduplication has the opposite meaning. It usually denotes short durations, or lower intensity of the action, and also means a few repetitions or a little bit more.

• Example 1: In (Xi)Tsonga and (Chi)Shona, famba means "walk" while famba-famba means "walk around".
• Example 2: in isiZulu and (si)Swati hamba means "go", hambahamba means "go a little bit, but not much".
• Example 3: in both of the above languages shaya means "strike", shayashaya means "strike a few more times lightly, but not heavy strikes and not too many times".
• Example 4: In Shona {{wikt-lang|sn|kwenya}} means "scratch", Kwenyakwenya means "scratch excessively or a lot".
• Example 5: In Luhya cheenda means "walk", cheendacheenda means "take a walk but not far off", as in buying time before something is ready or a situation or time is right.

The following is a list of nominal classes in Bantu languages:{{cite web|url=http://www.bantu-languages.com/fr/classes.html|title=Les classes nominales en bantu|access-date=2005-04-26|archive-date=2017-11-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171101213948/http://www.bantu-languages.com/fr/classes.html|url-status=live}}

Virtually all Bantu languages have a subject–verb–object word order, with some exceptions, such as

the Nen language, which has a subject–object–verb word order.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lqIUDAAAQBAJ&dq=bantu+language+SOV+word+order&pg=PA70|title = Tense and Aspect in Bantu|isbn = 978-0-19-923929-0|last1 = Nurse|first1 = Derek|date = 3 July 2008| publisher=OUP Oxford }}

{{further|List of Bantu peoples}}

Following is an incomplete list of the principal Bantu languages of each country.{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.org |title=According to Ethnologue |publisher=Ethnologue.org |access-date=2012-06-29 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=2012-06-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616034708/http://www.ethnologue.org/ |url-status=live }} Included are those languages that constitute at least 1% of the population and have at least 10% the number of speakers of the largest Bantu language in the country.

Most languages are referred to in English without the class prefix (Swahili, Tswana, Ndebele), but are sometimes seen with the (language-specific) prefix (Kiswahili, Setswana, Sindebele). In a few cases prefixes are used to distinguish languages with the same root in their name, such as Tshilubà and Kiluba (both Luba), Umbundu and Kimbundu (both Mbundu). The prefixless form typically does not occur in the language itself, but is the basis for other words based on the ethnicity. So, in the country of Botswana the people are the Batswana, one person is a Motswana, and the language is Setswana; and in Uganda, centred on the kingdom of Buganda, the dominant ethnicity are the Baganda (singular Muganda), whose language is Luganda.

• Swahili (Kiswahili) (350,000; tens of millions as L2)

• South Mbundu (Umbundu) (4 million)
• Central North Mbundu (Kimbundu) (3 million)
• North Bakongo (Kikongo) (576,800)
• Ovambo (Ambo) (Oshiwambo) (500,000)
• Luvale (Chiluvale) (500,000)
• Chokwe (Chichokwe) (500,000)

• Tswana (Setswana) (1.6 million)
• Kalanga (Ikalanga) (150,000)

:Swahili is a recognized national language

• Kirundi (8.5 – 10.5 million)

• Beti (1.7 million: 900,000 Bulu, 600,000 Ewondo, 120,000 Fang, 60,000 Eton, 30,000 Bebele)
• Basaa (230,000)
• Duala (350,000)
• Manenguba languages (230,000)

• Mbati (60,000)
• Aka (30,000)
• Pande (8,870)
• Ngando (5,000)
• Ukhwejo
• Kako
• Mpiemo
• Bodo
• Kari

• Shingazija
• Shindzuani
• Shimwali

:Swahili is a recognized national language

• Lingala (Ngala) (2 million; 7 million with L2 speakers)
• Luba-Kasai (Tshiluba) (6.5 million)
• Kituba (4.5 million), a Bantu creole
• Kongo (Kikongo) (3.5 million)
• Luba-Katanga (Kiluba) (1.5+ million)
• Songe (Lusonge) (1+ million)
• Nande (Orundandi) (1 million)
• Tetela (Otetela) (800,000)
• Yaka (Iyaka) (700,000+)
• Shi (700,000)
• Yombe (Kiyombe) (670,000)
• Lele (Bashilele) (26,000)

• Beti (Fang) (300,000)
• Bube (40,000)

• Swazi (Siswati) (1 million)

• Baka
• Barama
• Bekwel
• Benga
• Bubi
• Bwisi
• Duma
• Fang (500,000)
• Kendell
• Kanin
• Sake
• Sangu
• Seki
• Sighu
• Simba
• Sira
• Northern Teke
• Western Teke
• Tsaangi
• Tsogo
• Vili (3,600)
• Vumbu
• Wandji
• Wumbvu
• Yangho
• Yasa

• Sidi

:Swahili is the national language. English and Swahili are official languages.{{Cite web |title=Article 7. National, Official and Other Languages {{!}} The Constitution of Kenya 2010 |url=https://blog.afro.co.ke/constitution/chapter-2/article-7/national-official-and-other-languages/ |access-date=2024-11-03 |website=AfroCave |language=en}}

• Gikuyu (8 million)
• Luhya (6.8 million)
• Kamba (4 million)
• Meru (Kimeru) (2.7 million)
• Gusii (2 million)
• Mijikenda (Giriama, Kambe, Ribe, Rabai, Kauma, Chonyi, Jibana, Digo and Duruma)
• Taita
• Embu
• Mbeere
• Pokomo
• Kuria
• Suba
• Swahili

• Sesotho (1.8 million)
• Zulu (Isizulu) (300,000)
• Xhosa (Isixhosa)

• Shimaore
• Shindzuani

• Chewa (Nyanja) (Chichewa) (7 million)
• Tumbuka (1 million)
• Yao (1 million)

• Shimaore

:Swahili is a recognized national language

• Makhuwa (4 million; 7.4 million all Makua)
• Tsonga (Xitsonga) (3.1 million)
• Shona (Ndau) (1.6 million)
• Lomwe (1.5 million)
• Sena (1.3 million)
• Tswa (1.2 million)
• Chuwabu (1.0 million)
• Chopi (800,000)
• Ronga (700,000)
• Chewa (Nyanja) (Chichewa) (600,000)
• Yao (Chiyao) (500,000)
• Nyungwe (Cinyungwe/Nhungue)(400,000)
• Tonga (400,000)
• Makonde (400,000)
• Nathembo (25,000)

• Ovambo (Ambo, Oshiwambo) (1,500,000)
• Herero (200,000)
• Kavango (100,000)
• Lozi (Silozi)

• Jarawa (250,000)
• Mbula-Bwazza (100,000)
• Kulung (40,000)
• Bile (38,000)
• Lame (10,000)
• Mama (2,000–3,000)
• Shiki (1,200)
• Gwa
• Labir
• Dulbu

• Sidi

• Kituba (1.2+ million) [a Bantu creole]
• Kongo (Kikongo) (1.0 million)
• Teke languages (500,000)
• Yombe (350,000)
• Suundi (120,000)
• Mbosi (110,000)
• Lingala (100,000; ? L2 speakers)

:Swahili, Kinyarwanda, English, and French are official languages

• Kinyarwanda (Kinyarwanda) (10 – 12 million)

• Swahili (Mwini dialect)
• Chimwini
• Mushungulu

According to the South African National Census of 2011:South African National Census of 2011{{full citation needed|date=July 2017}}

• Zulu (Isizulu) (11,587,374)
• Xhosa (Isixhosa) (8,154,258)
• Sepedi (4,618,576)
• Tswana (Setswana) (4,067,248)
• Sotho (Sesotho) (3,849,563)
• Tsonga (Xitsonga) (2,277,148)
• Swazi (Siswati) (1,297,046)
• Venda (Tshivenda) (1,209,388)
• Southern Ndebele (Transvaal Ndebele) (1,090,223)
• Total Nguni: 22,406,049 (61.98%)
• Total Sotho-Tswana: 13,744,775 (38.02%)
• Total official indigenous language speakers: 36,150,824 (69.83%)

:Swahili is the national language

• Sukuma (5.5 million)
• Gogo (1.5 million)
• Haya (Kihaya) (1.3 million)
• Chaga (Kichaga) (1.2+ million : 600,000 Mochi, 300,000+ Machame, 300,000+ Vunjo)
• Nyamwezi (1.0 million)
• Makonde (1.0 million)
• Ha (1.0 million)
• Nyakyusa (800,000)
• Hehe (800,000)
• Luguru (700,000)
• Bena (600,000)
• Shambala (650,000)
• Nyaturu (600,000)

:Swahili and English are official languages

• Luganda (9,295,300)
• Runyankore (4,436,000)
• Lusoga (3,904,600)
• Rukiga (3,129,000)
• Masaba (Lumasaba) (2.7 million)
• Runyoro (1,273,000)
• Konjo (1,118,000)
• Rutooro (1,111,000)
• Lugwere (816,000)
• Kinyarwanda (750,000)
• Samia (684,000)
• Ruuli (250,000)
• Talinga Bwisi (133,000)
• Gungu (110,000)
• Amba (56,000)
• Singa

• Socotra Swahili

• Aushi (Unknown)
• Bemba (3.3 million)
• Tonga (1.0 million)
• Chewa (Nyanja) (Chichewa) (800,000)
• Kaonde (240,000)
• Lozi (Silozi) (600,000)
• Lala-Bisa (600,000)
• Nsenga (550,000)
• Tumbuka (Chitumbuka) (500,000)
• Lunda (450,000)
• Nyiha (400,000+)
• Mambwe-Lungu (400,000)

• Shona languages (15 million incl. Karanga, Zezuru, Korekore, Ndau, Manyika)
• Northern Ndebele (IsiNdebele) (estimated 2 million)
• Tonga
• Chewa/ Nyanja (Chichewa/ChiNyanja)
• Venda
• Kalanga
• Xhosa

Map 1 shows Bantu languages in Africa and map 2 a magnification of the Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon area, as of July 2017.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}

{{multiple image|align=none

|image1=Niger-Congo map.png

|width1=300

|image2=Nigeria Benin Cameroon languages.png

|width2=310

|footer=Localization of the Niger–Congo languages

}}

A case has been made out for borrowings of many place-names and even misremembered rhymes – chiefly from one of the Luba varieties – in the USA.{{cite book|last1=Vass|first1=Winifred Kellersberger|title=The Bantu Speaking Heritage of the United States|date=1979|publisher=Center for Afro-American Studies, University of California|page=73|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sbp1AAAAMAAJ&q=Here+we|access-date=7 September 2014|quote="Here we go looby-loo; here we go looby-la (or looby-light) / Here we go looby-loo; all on a Saturday night!" Both of these Luba words, lubilu (quickly, in a hurry), and lubila (a shout) are words still in common usage in the Republic of Zaïre.|isbn=9780934934015|archive-date=30 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330035809/https://books.google.com/books?id=Sbp1AAAAMAAJ&q=Here+we|url-status=live}}

Some words from various Bantu languages have been borrowed into western languages. These include:

{{unreferenced section|date=September 2015}}

{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|

• {{Wikt-lang|sw|boma|Boma}}
• Bomba
• Bongos
• {{Wikt-lang|sw|bwana|Bwana}}
• Candombe
• Chimpanzee
• Gumbo
• "{{lang|sw|Hakuna matata}}"
• {{lang|zu|Impala}}
• {{lang|zu|Indaba}}
• {{lang|sw|Jenga}}
• Jilo
• Jumbo
• Kalimba
• Kwanzaa
• Mamba
• Mambo
• Mbira
• {{lang|bnt|Marimba}}
• Rumba
• {{lang|sw|Safari}}
• {{lang|bnt|Samba}}
• {{lang|sw|Simba}}
• {{lang|zu|Ubuntu}}

}}

Along with the Latin script and Arabic script orthographies, there are also some modern indigenous writing systems used for Bantu languages:

• The Mwangwego alphabet is an abugida created in 1979 that is sometimes used to write the Chewa language and other languages of Malawi.
• The Mandombe script is an abugida that is used to write the Bantu languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, mainly by the Kimbanguist movement.
• The Isibheqe Sohlamvu or Ditema tsa Dinoko script is a featural syllabary used to write the Sintu or Southern Bantu languages.

• Meeussen's rule
• Nguni languages
• Proto-Bantu Swadesh list

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Biddulph |first=Joseph |title=Bantu Byways: Some Explorations among the Languages of Central and Southern Africa |location=Pontypridd |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-897999-30-1}}
• {{cite book |last1=Finck |first1=Franz Nikolaus |title=Die Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse der Bantusprachen |trans-title=The relationships between the Bantu languages |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Ph1WGXroFWoC |access-date=25 August 2012 |year=1908 |publisher=Vandenhoek und Ruprecht |location=Göttingen}}
• {{cite book |last=Guthrie |first=Malcolm |author-link=Malcolm Guthrie |year=1948 |title=The classification of the Bantu languages |location=London |publisher=Oxford University Press for the International African Institute |doi=10.4324/9781315105536|isbn=9781315105536 }}
• {{cite book |last=Guthrie |first=Malcolm |year=1971 |title=Comparative Bantu |volume=2 |location=Farnborough |publisher=Gregg International}}
• {{Cite journal |author-link=Bernd Heine |last=Heine |first=Bernd |date=1973 |title=Zur genetische Gliederung der Bantu-Sprachen |journal=Afrika und Übersee: Sprachen, Kulturen|language=German |volume=56 |issue=3 |pages=164–185}}.
• {{cite journal |last=Maho |first=Jouni F. |year=2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325021837/http://www.african.gu.se/aa/pdfs/aa01040.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-25 |url=http://www.african.gu.se/aa/pdfs/aa01040.pdf |title=The Bantu area: (towards clearing up) a mess |journal=Africa & Asia |issue=1 |pages=40–49}}
• {{cite web |last=Maho |first=Jouni Filip |year=2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325021837/http://www.african.gu.se/maho/downloads/bantulineup.pdf |title=Bantu lineup: comparative overview of three Bantu classifications |url=http://www.african.gu.se/maho/downloads/bantulineup.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-25}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Nurse |first1=Derek |first2=Gérard |last2=Philippson |date=2006 |title=The Bantu Languages |place=London |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9780415412650}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Piron |first=Pascale |date=1995 |url=http://www.journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/Volume25.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115224255/http://www.journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/Volume25.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-15 |title=Identification lexicostatistique des groupes Bantoïdes stables |journal=Journal of West African Languages |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=3–39}}
• {{cite web |website=Stanford University |year=2013 |title=Kiswahili|url=http://swahililanguage.stanford.edu/|access-date=2013-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126072239/http://swahililanguage.stanford.edu/ |archive-date=2013-01-26}}
• {{Cite journal |last=De Blois |first=K.F. |title=The augment in the Bantu languages |journal=Africana Linguistica |volume=4 |date=1970 |pages=85–165 |doi=10.3406/aflin.1970.879}}
• {{cite journal |last=Knappert |first=Jan |title=The Bantu Languages: An Appraisal |journal=European Journal of Sociology |volume=28 |issue=2 |year=1987 |pages=177–191 |doi=10.1017/S0003975600005464 |jstor=23997575|s2cid=143435640 }}

• [https://archive.org/details/artedalinguadean00dias Arte da lingua de Angola: oeferecida [sic] a virgem Senhora N. do Rosario, mãy, Senhora dos mesmos pretos] The art of the language of Angola, by Father Pedro Dias, 1697, Lisbon, artedalinguadean
• [http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/CBOLD/ Comparative Bantu Online Dictionary] linguistics.berkeley.edu, includes comprehensive bibliography.
• Maho, Jouni Filip [https://web.archive.org/web/20130607210512/http://goto.glocalnet.net/mahopapers/nuglonline.pdf NUGL Online. The online version of the New Updated Guthrie List, a referential classification of the Bantu languages] goto.glocalnet.net, 4 June 2009, 120pp. Guthrie 1948 in detail, with subsequent corrections and corresponding ISO codes.
• [http://www.bantu-languages.com/en/ Bantu online resources] bantu-languages.com, Jacky Maniacky, 7 July 2007, including
• [http://www.bantu-languages.com/fr/classes.html List of Bantu noun classes with reconstructed Proto-Bantu prefixes] bantu-languages.com (in French)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120624221430/http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/ehret/kinship/BantuClassification%204-09.pdf Ehret's compilation of classifications by Klieman, Bastin, himself, and others] pp 204–09, ucla.edu, 24 June 2012
• Contini-Morava, Ellen. [http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/swahili/ Noun Classification in Swahili]. 1994, Virginia.edu
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20121120223537/http://www.linguistics.berkeley.edu/CBOLD/Lgs/LgsbyGN.html List of Bantu language names with synonyms ordered by Guthrie number].linguistics.berkeley.edu 529 names
• [http://salanguages.com Introduction to the languages of South Africa] salanguages.com
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110726212602/http://www.journalofwestafricanlanguages.org/NarrowBantu.aspx Narrow Bantu] Journal of West African Languages
• [http://www.ugandatravelguide.com/bantu-people.html Uganda Bantu Languages] ugandatravelguide.com

{{Narrow Bantu languages}}

{{Bantu}}

{{Niger-Congo branches}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bantu languages}}

Category:Synthetic languages

Category:Agglutinative languages