New Perspectives on Eastern Bantu

Summary

A combined anthropological and linguistics project tested the validity of the East/West classification of Bantu languages. We compared ‘cultural profiles’ (worldview, social organization and settlement pattern) and grammatical elements (phonological, morphological and syntactic features) of several languages commonly classified as Eastern. Using Sotho-Tswana and Nguni as a datum for Eastern and Kongo and Chokwe for Western, we found that Chaga and Swahili conformed, but that Ila/Tonga, Bemba and Kamba/Kikuyu were not Eastern. Archaeological correlations suggest that the Early Iron Age Chifumbaze complex was produced by Eastern Bantu speakers, in marked contrast to the Naviundu/Madingo-Kayes tradition in Central Africa. The Late Iron Age Luangwa tradition represents the spread of ‘Western’ Bantu speakers into Central Africa which formed the ‘matrilineal belt’. Kamba/Kikuyu speakers may have moved into East Africa as part of this spread. At about the same time, Nguni and Sotho-Tswana speakers moved out of East Africa where they lived during the Early Iron Age.