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. 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. But in contemporary decolonial South African linguistics, the term Ntu languages is used. In the 1990s, the term Kintu was still occasionally used by South African linguists. In addition, Kintu is a figure in some mythologies. This is because kintu refers to "things" and is used as a dehumanizing term for people who have lost their dignity. 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. The word kintu exists in some places, but it means "thing", with no relation to the concept of "language". In the 1980s, South African linguists suggested referring to these languages as KiNtu. 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). The prefix ba- specifically refers to people. The term narrow Bantu, excluding those languages classified as Bantoid by Guthrie (1948), was introduced in the 1960s. Bleek's coinage 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). There is no indigenous term for the group, as Bantu-speaking populations refer to themselves by their endonyms, but did not have a concept for the larger ethno-linguistic phylum. He coined 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. The term Bantu as a name for the group was coined (as Bâ-ntu) by Wilhelm Bleek in 1857 or 1858, and popularized in his Comparative Grammar of 1862. The similarity among dispersed Bantu languages had been observed as early as the 17th century. Name įurther information: Bantu peoples § Name Ethnologue separates the largely mutually intelligible Kinyarwanda and Kirundi, which together have 20 million speakers. Zimbabwe has Kalanga, Matebele, Nambiya and Zulu speakers. Other major Bantu languages include Zulu with 12 million speakers ( South Africa and Zimbabwe), Xhosa with 8.2 million speakers, and Shona with less than 10 million speakers (if Manyika and Ndau are included). Most native speakers of Swahili live in Tanzania, where it is a national language, while as a second language it is taught as a mandatory subject in many schools in East Africa, and is a lingua franca of the East African Community. The most widely spoken Bantu language by number of speakers is Swahili, with 16 million native speakers and 80 million L2 speakers (2015). About one-sixth of Bantu speakers, and one-third of Bantu languages, are found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bantu languages are largely spoken southeast of Cameroon, and throughout Central, Southern, Eastern, and Southeast Africa. The total number of Bantu speakers is estimated to be around 350 million in 2015 (roughly 30% of the population of Africa or 5% of the world population). Many Bantu languages borrow words from each other, and some are mutually intelligible. The total number of Bantu languages is estimated at between 440 and 680 distinct languages, depending on the definition of "language" versus "dialect". They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The Bantu languages (English: UK: / ˌ b æ n ˈ t uː/, US: / ˈ b æ n t uː/ Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a language family of about 600 languages that are spoken by the Bantu peoples of Central, Southern, Eastern and Southeast Africa. The Bantu languages shown within the Niger–Congo language family.
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