A Historical-Comparative Approach to the Kikongo Language Cluster, with a Special Focus on Cabinda

Abstract

My doctoral dissertation is aimed at gaining a better understanding of how the Kikongo Language Cluster (klc) as we know it today was shaped through time, with a special focus on Cabinda, Angola. It does so by adopting a historical-comparative linguistic approach to phonological, morphophonological and morphological variation which current-day language varieties manifest, both among each other and with regard to historical varieties for which documentation is available. This diachronic study spanning nearly four centuries complements earlier studies on the history of the klc within the BantUGent research group, especially the lexicon-based phylogenetic classifications. It has relied on the vast, multifaceted and long-range documentation on the klc accumulated since the KongoKing project (2012–2016) and continued during the BantuFirst project (2018–2023). The PhD thesis is cumulative, including four articles pertaining to (1) Bantu spirantisation and 7 > 5 vowel reduction, (2) progressive vowel harmony involving verb derivational suffixes, (3) the broader morphophonology of the verb ending *-ide, and (4) diminutive marking. These articles are preceded by an introduction including several original-language maps of Cabinda and other data from several fieldwork missions. The conclusion offers answers to the dissertation’s four main research questions, three pertaining to the historical development of the klc and one to the planned promotion across Cabinda of the standardised language Ibinda.