Considerazioni per uno studio delle lingue bantu
Gloria Cocchi
Abstract
This work is broadly divided into two parts. The first one discusses the typical features which characterize Bantu languages, in particular analysing the criteria which have been individuated in order to classify a given language as Bantu. In the second part we will instead provide data from Tshiluba (Congo), one of the most prototypical and conservative Bantu languages spoken in the core Bantu domain. We will first analyse the phonology, as well as the orthographical system, of the language, shifting then to the most interesting morphosyntactic aspects: the complex nominal morphology, which comprehends 18 agreement classes, also labelled genders, and the remarkable verbal system. Indeed in Tshiluba the different verbal forms are morphologically complex and contain several affixes, each with a specific function. Finally, particularly relevant is the fact that the tense distinctions we are so much accustomed with prove immaterial in this language, where the various verbal forms are differentiated in terms of aspect, rather than tense.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7358/ling-2014-001-cocc
Linguæ & - Rivista di lingue e culture moderne
Registered by Tribunale di Milano (06/04/2012 n. 185)
Online ISSN 1724-8698 - Print ISSN 2281-8952
Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione, Studi Umanistici e Internazionali: Storia, Culture, Lingue, Letterature, Arti, Media
Università degli Studi di Urbino Carlo Bo
Editor-in-Chief: Roberta Mullini
Editorial Board: Maurizio Ascari - Stefano Beretta - Antonio Bertacca- Tania Collani - Chiara Elefante - Marina Guglielmi - Maryline Heck - Richard Hillman - Reinhard Johler - Stephen Knight - Cesare Mascitelli - Sonia Massai - Aurélie Moioli - Maria de Fátima Silva - Bart Van Den Bossche
Editorial Staff: Margaret Amatulli - Alessandra Calanchi - Riccardo Donati - Ivo Klaver - Massimiliano Morini - Antonella Negri - Luca Renzi
Referee List