Proto-Bantu language

Proto-Bantu is the reconstructed ancestral language from which the Bantu languages developed. It is inferred by comparing systematic similarities among their descendants, not attested in written records.

Comparative method: A method for reconstructing ancestral languages by comparing systematic correspondences among related languages. Regular sound correspondences among Bantu languages allow linguists to infer Proto-Bantu forms.
Bantu languages: A large branch of the Niger-Congo language family spoken across much of central, eastern, and southern Africa. These descendant languages supply the comparative evidence for reconstructing Proto-Bantu.
Bantu expansion: The long-term spread of Bantu-speaking populations and languages across much of sub-Saharan Africa. The expansion provides a historical setting for Proto-Bantu's breakup into descendant languages.
Bantu homeland: The proposed geographic origin of the Bantu languages and their earliest speakers. Its precise location remains debated despite broad agreement on a region near Cameroon and Nigeria.
Bantu languages reconstruction: The reconstruction of earlier linguistic forms shared by branches of the Bantu language family. Proto-Bantu provides the principal ancestral baseline for reconstructing later Bantu developments.
Historical linguistics: The study of how languages change and how their histories can be reconstructed. Proto-Bantu is a central reconstruction built from evidence of language change.
Niger-Congo languages: A major language family whose languages are spoken mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. Bantu languages are classified within Niger-Congo, placing Proto-Bantu in a wider family tree.
West African languages: Languages spoken in the western part of Africa, belonging to multiple language families. Proposed Proto-Bantu homelands lie in a region near the western part of Central Africa.
Glottochronology: A method that estimates language divergence dates from rates of vocabulary replacement. Its assumptions have made proposed dates for Proto-Bantu's breakup controversial.
Bantu languages vocabulary: The words and lexical patterns found across the Bantu language family. Reconstructed Proto-Bantu vocabulary reveals inherited terms and supports comparisons across branches.

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