Considerazioni per uno studio delle lingue bantu

Abstract

This work is broadly divided into two parts. The first one discusses the typical features which characterize Bantu languages, in particular analysing the criteria which have been individuated in order to classify a given language as Bantu. In the second part we will instead provide data from Tshiluba (Congo), one of the most prototypical and conservative Bantu languages spoken in the core Bantu domain. We will first analyse the phonology, as well as the orthographical system, of the language, shifting then to the most interesting morphosyntactic aspects: the complex nominal morphology, which comprehends 18 agreement classes, also labelled genders, and the remarkable verbal system. Indeed in Tshiluba the different verbal forms are morphologically complex and contain several affixes, each with a specific function. Finally, particularly relevant is the fact that the tense distinctions we are so much accustomed with prove immaterial in this language, where the various verbal forms are differentiated in terms of aspect, rather than tense.