Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa

Lexical data has been key in attempts to reconstruct the early history of the banana (Musa sp.) in Africa. Previous language-based approaches to the introduction and dispersal of this staple crop of Asian origin have suffered from the absence of well-established genealogical classifications and ina...

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Autores principales:	Sifra Van Acker, Sara Pacchiarotti, Edmond De Langhe, Koen Bostoen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR
Publicado:	LibraryPress@UF 2021
Materias:	Philology. Linguistics P1-1091
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1a1e4e7de97843cc89b7f9ed10d8634b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1a1e4e7de97843cc89b7f9ed10d8634b2021-11-19T03:51:37ZReconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa10.32473/sal.v50i2.1222860039-35332154-428Xhttps://doaj.org/article/1a1e4e7de97843cc89b7f9ed10d8634b2021-09-01T00:00:00Zhttps://journals.flvc.org/sal/article/view/122286https://doaj.org/toc/0039-3533https://doaj.org/toc/2154-428X Lexical data has been key in attempts to reconstruct the early history of the banana (Musa sp.) in Africa. Previous language-based approaches to the introduction and dispersal of this staple crop of Asian origin have suffered from the absence of well-established genealogical classifications and inadequate historical-linguistic analysis. We therefore focus in this article on West-Coastal Bantu (WCB), one specific branch within the Bantu family whose genealogy and diachronic phonology are well established. We reconstruct three distinct banana terms to Proto-West-Coastal Bantu (PWCB), i.e. dɪ̀‑ŋkòndò/mà‑ŋkòndò ‘plantain’, dɪ̀‑ŋkò/mà‑ŋkò ‘plantain’ and kɪ̀‑túká/bì‑túká ‘bunch of bananas’. From this new historical-linguistic evidence we infer that AAB Plantains, one of Africa’s two major cultivar subgroups, already played a key role in the subsistence economy of the first Bantu speakers who assumedly migrated south of the rainforest around 2500 years ago. We furthermore analyze four innovations that emerged after WCB started to spread from its interior homeland in the Kasai-Kamtsha region of Congo-Kinshasa towards the Atlantic coast, i.e. dɪ̀‑kòndè ‘plantain’, kɪ̀‑tébè ‘starchy banana’, banga ‘False Horn plantain’, and dɪ̀‑tòtò ‘sweet banana’. Finally, we assess the historical implications of these lexical retentions and innovations both within and beyond WCB and sketch some perspectives for future lexicon-based banana research. Note: Changes were made to the title of this article after publication, on 9/20/2021. Sifra Van AckerSara PacchiarottiEdmond De LangheKoen BostoenLibraryPress@UFarticlePhilology. LinguisticsP1-1091ENFRStudies in African Linguistics, Vol 50, Iss 2 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR
topic	Philology. Linguistics P1-1091
spellingShingle	Philology. Linguistics P1-1091 Sifra Van Acker Sara Pacchiarotti Edmond De Langhe Koen Bostoen Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa
description	Lexical data has been key in attempts to reconstruct the early history of the banana (Musa sp.) in Africa. Previous language-based approaches to the introduction and dispersal of this staple crop of Asian origin have suffered from the absence of well-established genealogical classifications and inadequate historical-linguistic analysis. We therefore focus in this article on West-Coastal Bantu (WCB), one specific branch within the Bantu family whose genealogy and diachronic phonology are well established. We reconstruct three distinct banana terms to Proto-West-Coastal Bantu (PWCB), i.e. dɪ̀‑ŋkòndò/mà‑ŋkòndò ‘plantain’, dɪ̀‑ŋkò/mà‑ŋkò ‘plantain’ and kɪ̀‑túká/bì‑túká ‘bunch of bananas’. From this new historical-linguistic evidence we infer that AAB Plantains, one of Africa’s two major cultivar subgroups, already played a key role in the subsistence economy of the first Bantu speakers who assumedly migrated south of the rainforest around 2500 years ago. We furthermore analyze four innovations that emerged after WCB started to spread from its interior homeland in the Kasai-Kamtsha region of Congo-Kinshasa towards the Atlantic coast, i.e. dɪ̀‑kòndè ‘plantain’, kɪ̀‑tébè ‘starchy banana’, banga ‘False Horn plantain’, and dɪ̀‑tòtò ‘sweet banana’. Finally, we assess the historical implications of these lexical retentions and innovations both within and beyond WCB and sketch some perspectives for future lexicon-based banana research. Note: Changes were made to the title of this article after publication, on 9/20/2021.
format	article
author	Sifra Van Acker Sara Pacchiarotti Edmond De Langhe Koen Bostoen
author_facet	Sifra Van Acker Sara Pacchiarotti Edmond De Langhe Koen Bostoen
author_sort	Sifra Van Acker
title	Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa
title_short	Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa
title_full	Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa
title_fullStr	Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa
title_full_unstemmed	Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa
title_sort	reconstructing west-coastal bantu vocabulary as evidence for early banana cultivation in central africa
publisher	LibraryPress@UF
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/1a1e4e7de97843cc89b7f9ed10d8634b
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Reconstructing West-Coastal Bantu Vocabulary as Evidence for Early Banana Cultivation in Central Africa

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