Great Lakes Bantu
Bantu zone J
Geographic
distribution		Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya and the DRC
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
Proto-languageProto-Great Lakes Bantu[1]
Glottologgrea1289

The Great Lakes Bantu languages, also known as Lacustrine Bantu and Bantu zone J, are a group of Bantu languages of East Africa. They were recognized as a group by the Tervuren team, who posited them as an additional zone (zone J) to Guthrie's largely geographic classification of Bantu.[2]

History

By 500BC, proto-Great Lakes Bantu speakers initially settled between Lakes Kivu and Rweru in Rwanda, before rapidly spreading as far east as Kenya.[3][4]

Languages

The languages are, according to Bastin, Coupez, & Mann (1999), with Sumbwa added per Nurse (2003):

(See also Rutara languages, Runyakitara language, Nkore-Kiga)

The codes in parentheses are Guthrie's original geographic classification.

Maho (2009) adds Yaka. Kobo was recognized later. It's said to be about equidistant between Nande and Hunde, so it's not clear where it should be in the tree above.

Glottolog (2022) separates Nyole in Uganda (and its dialects: Hadyo or Luhadyo, Menya, Sabi or Lusabi, and Wesa or Luwesa) from the E30 group (Masaba-Luhya) into an unclassified subgroup within a "Greater Luyia" group containing the Logoo-Kuria (E40) group. Beside this, it does not consider this older geographic classification relevant for its ongoing classification based on more recent linguistic studies, and uses four different subgroups (Greater Luhya, West Nyanza, East Nyanza, and Western Lakes Bantu), keeping Gungu (E10) separate from them.

Notes

  1. ^ Schoenbrun, David L. (1993). "We Are What We Eat: Ancient Agriculture between the Great Lakes". The Journal of African History. 34 (1): 1–31. doi:10.1017/S0021853700032989. JSTOR 183030. S2CID 162660041.
  2. ^ Derek Nurse, 2003, The Bantu Languages
  3. ^ Stephens, Rhiannon (2 September 2013). A History of African Motherhood: The Case of Uganda, 700-1900. ISBN 9781107030800.
  4. ^ Schoenbrun, David L. (1993). "We Are What We Eat: Ancient Agriculture between the Great Lakes". The Journal of African History. 34 (1): 1–31. doi:10.1017/S0021853700032989. JSTOR 183030. S2CID 162660041.


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