37.2220, TOC: Language in Africa 7 / 1 (2026)

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2220. Tue Jun 30 2026. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 37.2220, TOC: Language in Africa 7 / 1 (2026)

Moderator: Steven Moran (linguist at linguistlist.org)
Managing Editor: Valeriia Vyshnevetska
Team: Helen Aristar-Dry, Mara Baccaro, Daniel Swanson
Jobs: jobs at linguistlist.org | Conferences: callconf at linguistlist.org | Pubs: pubs at linguistlist.org

Homepage: http://linguistlist.org

Editor for this issue: Mara Baccaro <mara at linguistlist.org>

================================================================


Date: 16-Jun-2026
From: Stanislav Beletskiy [languageinafrica at iling-ran.ru]
Subject: Language in Africa Vol. 7, No. 1 (2026)


Publisher: Language_in_Africa
https://iling-ran.ru/web/en/publications/journals/languageinafrica

Journal Title: Language in Africa
Volume Number: 7
Issue Number: 1
Issue Date: 2026
https://iling-ran.ru/web/ru/publications/journals/languageinafrica/7-1

Subtitle: Mande and Bantu in the Niger-Congo context

Main Text:

That Mande family belongs to the Niger-Congo macro-family was first
proposed by Joseph Greenberg in the middle of the 20th century. Over
the last two decades this affiliation has regularly been questioned,
the main argument for skepticism being the well-known fact there is no
trace of any noun class in Mande.Our study proves that these doubts
are groundless as far as the lexicon is concerned.
Our conclusion is based on the following arguments which appear to be
sufficient for the establishment of a relationship between Mande and
Bantu and, consequently, for the inclusion of Mande in Niger-Congo:
In the basic vocabulary, the average cognacy rate of contemporary
Mande languages with Proto-Bantu is higher than the rate for other
families whose membership in the Niger-Congo macro-family is
uncontested.
In the basic vocabulary, the number of phonetic similarities actually
observed far exceeds the number expected on the basis of random
coincidence alone.
In the basic vocabulary, Proto-Bantu and Proto-Mande are considerably
closer to each other than contemporary Bantu and Mande languages are.
Phonetic correspondences between Proto-Bantu and Proto-Mande are not
only regular, but also proportional, which excludes the possibility
that they are merely fortuitous.
In the basic vocabulary, the distribution of roots by their stability
in the Mande family displays a strong positive correlation with their
distribution in the other Niger-Congo families.
If we establish cognacy between specific Mande and Bantu roots, these
roots can be regarded as candidates for membership in the Niger-Congo
common lexical stock.
We thus provide materials for a Proto-Niger-Congo comparative
etymological dictionary: 207 common roots and their probable reflexes
in contemporary languages and lower level proto-languages are proposed
for future discussion by specialists.

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics

Language Family(ies): Mande (mand1469)
                      Niger-Congo



------------------------------------------------------------------------------

********************** LINGUIST List Support ***********************
Please consider donating to the Linguist List, a U.S. 501(c)(3) not for profit organization:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=87C2AXTVC4PP8

LINGUIST List is supported by the following publishers:

Australian Linguistics Society https://als.asn.au/Home

Bloomsbury Publishing http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Cambridge University Press http://www.cambridge.org/linguistics

Cascadilla Press http://www.cascadilla.com/

De Gruyter Brill https://www.degruyterbrill.com/?changeLang=en

Edinburgh University Press http://www.edinburghuniversitypress.com

European Language Resources Association (ELRA) http://www.elra.info

John Benjamins http://www.benjamins.com/

Language Science Press http://langsci-press.org

Lincom GmbH https://lincom-shop.eu/

MDPI Languages https://www.mdpi.com/journal/languages

MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/

Multilingual Matters http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG http://www.narr.de/

Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics / Landelijke (LOT) http://www.lotpublications.nl/

Peter Lang AG http://www.peterlang.com

SIL International Publications http://www.sil.org/resources/publications

Wiley http://www.wiley.com


----------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-37-2220
----------------------------------------------------------