Lutz Marten (SOAS London) and Nina van der Vlugt (Ghent University), international experts in Bantu linguistics, will each give a presentation as part of Linguistic Structures' seminar series. Warm welcome!
Lutz Marten (SOAS London)
鈥淟inguistic explanation and southern epistemologies: Ubuntu translanguaging and comparative Bantu鈥
Research methodologies in descriptive and comparative linguistics have long been seen as being largely well established. The comparative method goes back to the 19th century and there is a long tradition of descriptive grammatical descriptive tools. However, in the last few decades some key assumptions about language and linguistic analysis have been questioned. Effects of multilingualism and complex linguistic ecologies have challenged in particular a perceived monolingual bias in linguistic analysis. In this talk I will explore an alternative conceptual framework, namely Ubuntu Translanguaging (Makalela 2019), which directly addresses multilingualism and the fluidity of linguistic practices. Drawing on different case studies from Bantu languages, the talk shows how this model provides a novel way of understanding complex linguistic relationships of the past and their repercussions in the present.
Nina van der Vlugt (Ghent University)
鈥淎 diachronic typology of diminutives in Shona varieties鈥
The Shona (S10) language cluster encompasses a large group of closely related varieties spanning from the east of Botswana to Zimbabwe and the coast of Mozambique. Based on lexical classifications, Shona itself is grouped together with Southern Bantu, albeit the most divergent branch which split off earliest. The wealth of synchronic descriptions of Shona is in stark contrast with the lack of knowledge about the origin and development of the language cluster. This study will help to bridge this gap by mapping diminutive strategies, studying both the typology from a synchronic perspective and the development from a diachronic perspective.
Shona varieties show a range of different diminutive strategies, some of which can be reconstructed to Proto-Shona and some of which result from innovations linked to later contact events. Notably, many Shona varieties use a diminutive suffix -ana and Karanga Shona employs class 19 -svi for diminutive formation. The use of -ana has previously been associated with a later development in the diversification of Southern Bantu, possibly under the influence of Khoisan languages, whilst class 19 is not found elsewhere in Southern Bantu or in Shona languages. Taken together, the diachronic typology of Shona diminutives will give insight both into the internal classification of the language cluster and the relation of Shona to Southern Bantu.