Projects

The social ecology of language change in Central Africa: The Kongo kingdom as a test case for historical linguistic method

The magnificent Kongo kingdom, which arose in the Atlantic Coast region of Equatorial Africa, is a famous emblem of Africa’s past. It is an exceptionally important cultural landmark for Africans and the African Diaspora. Thanks to its early involvement in the Trans-Atlantic trade and its early introduction to literacy, the history of this part of sub-Saharan Africa from 1500 onwards is better known than most other parts. Paradoxically, no comprehensive historical linguistic study of the languages of the Kongo and closely affiliated kingdoms has ever been undertaken. Nonetheless, such a study would be groundbreaking in several respects. First of all, the earliest written documents on Bantu languages or containing Bantu language data, going back to the early 16th century, originate from this region, and are readily exploitable for scientific research. This allows for an innovative type of Bantu historical linguistics. It is rarely feasible to compare successive diachronic stages of Bantu languages and has never been done systematically for the Kongo area. The proposed research will therefore consist of a historical-comparative study of the Kikongo dialect cluster and surrounding language groups, such as Kimbundu, Teke and Punu-Shira, comparing current-day data with data from the old documents. More pioneering linguistic research is possible within the field of historical sociolinguistics. Due to the region’s rich historical tradition, it will be possible to examine how the key macro-historical processes of political centralization and economic integration influenced language evolution. We will be able to reconstruct the ‘social ecology’ of language change in this region. Finally, special attention will be given to cultural vocabulary related to politics, religion, social organization, trade and crafts, such as metallurgy, pottery and musical instrument making, which in conjunction with bodies of evidence from other disciplines, will shed new light on the history of the Kongo kingdom itself.

Principal investigator:

Koen Bostoen

Dates:

2011 2014

Museum staff:

Koen Bostoen