- Date | 21 March 2023
- Location | University of Zurich
Presentation by Maarten Mous at the Department of Comparative Language Sciences Colloquium: Fusion of related languages: the case of the Rangi and Mbugwe Bantu languages of Tanzania.
Abstract: Within our project on the linguistic history of East Africa (https://lheaf.org/), one of contact zones that we study in more detail is the Tanzanian Rift Valley. A challenge for the reconstruction of contact induced change is that between Bantu languages. These languages are similar enough to allow speakers to recognise correspondences and to accommodate lexicon from a related language easily. This is the situation for Rangi and Mugwe, languages showing links with each other, with neighboring Bantu languages and sime further afield. Oral traditions, in particular clan traditions reveal a history of various origins forming a new ethnic unit. I argue that the lexicon too mirrors these multiple sources displaying conflicting sound correspondences.
LHEAf 