Non daté
Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Savanna-Bantu is a proposed historical grouping of Bantu-speaking communities identified through shared stem-morpheme innovations, phonological developments, and patterns of geographical distribution. The classification divides it principally into Western-Savanna and Eastern-Savanna branches, with Mbala considered a possible third branch. Its reconstructed early homeland lay near the Kwa–Kasai–Congo confluence, from which descendant communities expanded toward the Zambezi, the Great Rift highlands, and regions of eastern and southern Africa.
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Savanna-Bantu is presented as a historical-linguistic grouping rather than a unified state or kingdom. Its classification rests on recurring innovations in vocabulary and sound change, including Meinhof’s law across the proposed Eastern-Savanna branch and a distinctive type of vowel-height harmony in verb extensions. These features are used to identify relationships among communities whose later distributions extended across central, eastern, and southern Africa.
The proposed structure contains two principal branches. Western-Savanna includes Luyana-Southwest Bantu, Lwena, Lunda, Pende, Mbundu, and Ovimbundu groupings, while Eastern-Savanna includes Luban, Lega, Botatwe, Sabi, and Mashariki. Mashariki is further divided into Kaskazi and Kusi groupings, encompassing communities associated with the Great Lakes, Nyasa, Shona, Makua, coastal, upland, and other regional zones.
The reconstructed homeland of the proto-Savanna-Bantu people lay close to the Kwa–Kasai–Congo confluence. From this zone, Western-Savanna communities are proposed to have moved southward and southeastward through the Kwilu watershed and upper Zambezi country, while another expansion followed the Kasai watershed toward the Benguela highlands. Eastern-Savanna communities are described as advancing eastward along the southern edge of the equatorial rainforest, with the Sankuru River serving as a likely corridor.
Later movements created a broad and uneven geography of interaction. Proto-Sabi and proto-Botatwe communities are associated with routes along the Lubilashi and Lomami rivers, while proto-Mashariki communities moved toward the highlands along the western edge of the Great Rift. Their Kaskazi- and Kusi-speaking descendants subsequently spread across much of eastern Africa. In the south and southwest, Luyana-Southwest and Southwest-Bantu expansions reached the northern Kalahari fringes and the Kunene River areas, where they interacted with other Western-Savanna groups.
Non daté
Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Savanna-Bantu is a proposed historical grouping of Bantu-speaking communities identified through shared stem-morpheme innovations, phonological developments, and patterns of geographical distribution. The classification divides it principally into Western-Savanna and Eastern-Savanna branches, with Mbala considered a possible third branch. Its reconstructed early homeland lay near the Kwa–Kasai–Congo confluence, from which descendant communities expanded toward the Zambezi, the Great Rift highlands, and regions of eastern and southern Africa.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Savanna-Bantu is presented as a historical-linguistic grouping rather than a unified state or kingdom. Its classification rests on recurring innovations in vocabulary and sound change, including Meinhof’s law across the proposed Eastern-Savanna branch and a distinctive type of vowel-height harmony in verb extensions. These features are used to identify relationships among communities whose later distributions extended across central, eastern, and southern Africa.
The proposed structure contains two principal branches. Western-Savanna includes Luyana-Southwest Bantu, Lwena, Lunda, Pende, Mbundu, and Ovimbundu groupings, while Eastern-Savanna includes Luban, Lega, Botatwe, Sabi, and Mashariki. Mashariki is further divided into Kaskazi and Kusi groupings, encompassing communities associated with the Great Lakes, Nyasa, Shona, Makua, coastal, upland, and other regional zones.
The reconstructed homeland of the proto-Savanna-Bantu people lay close to the Kwa–Kasai–Congo confluence. From this zone, Western-Savanna communities are proposed to have moved southward and southeastward through the Kwilu watershed and upper Zambezi country, while another expansion followed the Kasai watershed toward the Benguela highlands. Eastern-Savanna communities are described as advancing eastward along the southern edge of the equatorial rainforest, with the Sankuru River serving as a likely corridor.
Later movements created a broad and uneven geography of interaction. Proto-Sabi and proto-Botatwe communities are associated with routes along the Lubilashi and Lomami rivers, while proto-Mashariki communities moved toward the highlands along the western edge of the Great Rift. Their Kaskazi- and Kusi-speaking descendants subsequently spread across much of eastern Africa. In the south and southwest, Luyana-Southwest and Southwest-Bantu expansions reached the northern Kalahari fringes and the Kunene River areas, where they interacted with other Western-Savanna groups.