Bantoid is a major branch of the Benue–Congo language family. It consists of the

Northern Bantoid languages Northern Bantoid (or North Bantoid) is a branch of the Bantoid languages. It consists of the Mambiloid, Dakoid, and Tikar languages of eastern Nigeria and west-central Cameroon. History A proposal that divided Bantoid into North and South Bant ...

and the

Southern Bantoid languages Southern Bantoid (or South Bantoid) is a branch of the Bantoid language family. It consists of the Bantu languages along with several small branches and isolates of eastern Nigeria and west-central Cameroon (though the affiliation of some branch ...

, a division which also includes the

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

that constitute the overwhelming majority and after which Bantoid is named.

History

The term "Bantoid" was first used by Krause in 1895 for languages that showed resemblances in vocabulary to Bantu.

Joseph Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on M ...

, in his 1963 ''

The Languages of Africa ''The Languages of Africa'' is a 1963 book of essays by the linguist Joseph Greenberg, in which the author sets forth a genetic classification of African languages that, with some changes, continues to be the most commonly used one today. It is a ...

'', 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 to

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and work ...

, the Bantoid languages probably do not actually form a coherent group.

Internal classification

A proposal that divided Bantoid into North Bantoid and South Bantoid was introduced by Williamson. In this proposal, the Mambiloid and Dakoid languages (and later

Tikar The Tikar (formally known as Tikari, Tigar, Tigari, and Tigre throughout their history) are a Central African ethnic group in Cameroon. They are known to be great artists, artisans and storytellers. Once a nomadic people, some oral traditions t ...

) are grouped together as North Bantoid, while everything else Bantoid is subsumed under South Bantoid; ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' uses this classification. The phylogenetic unity of the North Bantoid group is sometimes thought to be questionable, and the Dakoid languages are often now placed outside Bantoid. But the work did establish Southern Bantoid as a valid genetic unit. Southern Bantoid includes the well known and numerous

.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.

References

External links

Kirill Babaev, Reconstructing Bantoid Pronouns

Journal of West African Languages: Bantoid languages
{{Niger-Congo branches Benue–Congo languages