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Bantu languages are a large family of over 500 languages spoken in southern Africa, including Swahili, Xhosa and Zulu. The prefix “ba” and suffix “-ntu” means “people”. Bantu languages are part of the Bantoid and Niger-Congo groups. They use duplication and lack consonant strings. Bantu languages reveal cultural history and beliefs. Communication can be difficult due to many dialects, but Pidgin, Swahili or English are used as lingua franca.
Bantu languages are a large family of languages spoken mainly in the southern part of Africa. Over 500 languages are classified in this family, including Swahili, Xhosa and Zulu. Bantu language learners have a lot of material to work with, as the family is so large and the speakers are widely spread across Africa. Numerous studies of these languages have been published since 1948, when Malcolm Guthrie carried out an exhaustive survey of this language family.
“Bantu” in the Bantu languages refers to a common linguistic trend that can be found in many of the languages of this family. The prefix “ba” is a plural form of people and “-ntu” or “-tu” is a suffix that also means “people”. Many of these languages use the word “Bantu” to refer to people and this commonality is recognized in the naming of this language group.
These languages are part of a larger language group classified as Bantoid languages; The Bantoid languages are, in turn, in the Niger-Congo group of African languages, widely spoken across much of Africa. Some people can distinguish between Bantu languages and restricted Bantu languages; the strict Bantu languages are those defined and discussed by Guthrie in his study. Some linguists have pointed out that many languages were neglected or unknown in Guthrie’s time and that his classification should probably be updated to reflect this.
Many Bantu languages use duplication to emphasize a point, as is the case with the Swahili word piga, meaning “to strike,” which can be used twice to indicate that something has been struck multiple times. Bantu languages also usually lack consonant strings; each consonant is broken by a vowel, and words often end in vowels. Many of these traits are also used in loan words, which can be adopted to fit the pattern of the Bantu language, such as in sukulu for “school.” There are, of course, exceptions to these rules, as is the case with any language.
As is the case with many language families, there are many similarities in Bantu languages that allow linguists to trace historical changes. These languages also reveal a lot about the cultures in which they are spoken, as people preserve their history and beliefs in their spoken language. Visitors to Africa can struggle with Bantu languages, as there are so many and there are also many dialects, making communication difficult at times. In many regions, a language such as Pidgin, Swahili or English is used as a lingua franca.
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