36.3644, Confs: Ubangi, Bantu and Central Sudanic: Mosaics of Languages, Genes, and Material Cultures in Central Africa (Belgium)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-36-3644. Wed Nov 26 2025. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 36.3644, Confs: Ubangi, Bantu and Central Sudanic: Mosaics of Languages, Genes, and Material Cultures in Central Africa (Belgium)

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Date: 24-Nov-2025
From: Chrisnah Renaudot MFOUHOU [chrisnah.mfouhou at ugent.be]
Subject: Ubangi, Bantu and Central Sudanic: Mosaics of Languages, Genes, and Material Cultures in Central Africa


Ubangi, Bantu and Central Sudanic: Mosaics of Languages, Genes, and
Material Cultures in Central Africa
Short Title: UBanCS

Date: 04-Nov-2026 - 06-Nov-2026
Location: Gent, Belgium

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
Language Family(ies): Central Sudanic; Narrow Bantu; Niger-Congo;
Ubangi

Submission Deadline: 28-Feb-2026

As part of the ERC-funded CongUbangi project, this colloquium aims at
bringing together scholars from different disciplines interested in
Ubangi, Bantu and Central Sudanic languages and language
speaking-communities in northern Republic of Congo, southern Central
African Republic and northern Democratic Republic of Congo. Spanning
multiple ecozones within the Congo rainforest, this area is home to an
intricate demographic configuration where Bantu (Niger-Congo) and
Central Sudanic (putative Nilo-Saharan) speaking groups are
interspersed with Ubangi groups. The internal relationships among
groups lumped under the label “Ubangi” are unclear. While their
individual Niger-Congo affiliation looks promising, this is based on
very little evidence. Linguistic hallmarks of this area include
multidirectional language shift, contact and linguistic enclaves.
The region’s linguistic diversity is matched with human genetic
diversity. The few available studies suggest significant genetic
differentiation among populations also having distinct cultural and/or
linguistic backgrounds, but genetic sampling is insufficient compared
to other parts of Africa, especially among Ubangi and Central Sudanic
speakers. Further, nothing is known about admixture patterns which
might reveal the dynamics of early contacts in the region.
Archaeological research within the region has been sparse, leaving
large gaps in the history of pre-colonial populations and population
movements. While a deep-seated hypothesis deprived of linguistic or
archaeological evidence argues that Bantu were the first to settle in
this region, the astonishing geographic fragmentation of Ubangi
subgroups such as Mundu-Baka and Mbaic and of Central Sudanic
subgroups such as Sara-Bongo-Bagirmi, suggests that these might
descend from the earliest layers of occupation in the region.
Likewise, ethnoarchaeological data has revealed a continuity between
Early Iron Age communities and the Ubangi speakers that inhabit the
region today, suggesting the possible antiquity of these groups in the
region.
With this framework in mind, we welcome contributions from
linguistics, genetics, archaeology and related fields dealing with:
 - Phonological and/or morphosyntactic accounts of yet undocumented or
poorly known languages of the region
 - Language contact phenomena (esp. borrowings and vocabulary shared
across different language families)
 - Linguistic features spreading areally through contact
 - Enclaved varieties (language islands)
 - Language shift
 - Language stratigraphy
 - Reconstruction (and comparison) of proto-languages of Ubangi, Bantu
and Central Sudanic subgroups
 - Methods and challenges with internal classificatory attempts within
Ubangi, Bantu and Central Sudanic
 - Population genetics
 - Metallurgy, including iron production
 - Monumentality of Bouar and adjacent regions
 - Pottery analysis (e.g., stylistic, formal, and petrology)
 - Lithic studies of Late Stone Age (and/or earlier) materials
 - Population movements, including the Bantu Expansion
 - Ethnography (e.g., hunting/foraging, pottery and iron production)
 - Interactions between autochthonous foragers and pottery-producing
communities
Deadlines:
Abstract submission: Submit an abstract of maximum 500 words
(excluding references and/or figures) in pdf format to ubancs at ugent.be
by 28th February 2026
Notification of acceptance: 30th April 2026
For all questions, please contact the organizers at ubancs at ugent.be



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