Bringing together linguistic and genetic evidence to test the Bantu expansion
(2012) PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. 279(1741). p.3256-3263- abstract
- The expansion of Bantu languages represents one of the most momentous events in the history of Africa. While it is well accepted that Bantu languages spread from their homeland (Cameroon/Nigeria) ~5,000 years ago (ya), there is no consensus about the timing and geographic routes underlying this expansion. Two main models of Bantu expansion have been suggested: The “early-split” model claims that the most recent ancestor of Eastern languages expanded north of the rain forest towards the Great Lakes region ~4,000 ya, while the “late-split” model proposes that Eastern languages diversified from Western languages south of the rain forest ~2,000 ya. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the language dispersal was coupled with the movement of people, raising the question of language shift versus demic diffusion. We use a novel approach taking into account both the spatial and temporal predictions of the two models and formally test these predictions with linguistic and genetic data. Our results show evidence for a demic diffusion in the genetic data, which is confirmed by the correlations between genetic and linguistic distances. While there is little support for the early-split model, the late-split model shows a relatively good fit to the data. Our analyses demonstrate that subsequent contact among languages/populations strongly affected the signal of the initial migration via isolation by distance.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-3104755
- author
- Cesare de Filippo, Koen Bostoen UGent, Marc Stoneking and Brigitte Pakendorf
- organization
- year
- 2012
- type
- journalArticle (original)
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keyword
- LANGUAGES, Y-CHROMOSOME, HISTORY, MTDNA, POPULATIONS, AFRICA, Bantu, lexical data, autosome, Y chromosome, mtDNA, ANGOLA, human migration
- journal title
- PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
- Proc. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci.
- volume
- 279
- issue
- 1741
- pages
- 3256 - 3263
- Web of Science type
- Article
- Web of Science id
- 000306335300019
- JCR category
- ECOLOGY
- JCR impact factor
- 5.683 (2012)
- JCR rank
- 13/135 (2012)
- JCR quartile
- 1 (2012)
- ISSN
- 0962-8452
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2012.0318
- project
- KONGOKING (Political centralization, economic integration and language evolution in Central Africa: An interdisciplinary approach to the early history of the Kongo kingdom.)
- language
- English
- UGent publication?
- yes
- classification
- A1
- copyright statement
- I have transferred the copyright for this publication to the publisher
- id
- 3104755
- handle
- http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-3104755
- date created
- 2013-01-23 08:34:16
- date last changed
- 2016-12-19 15:45:43
@article{3104755, abstract = {The expansion of Bantu languages represents one of the most momentous events in the history of Africa. While it is well accepted that Bantu languages spread from their homeland (Cameroon/Nigeria) {\texttildelow}5,000 years ago (ya), there is no consensus about the timing and geographic routes underlying this expansion. Two main models of Bantu expansion have been suggested: The {\textquotedblleft}early-split{\textquotedblright} model claims that the most recent ancestor of Eastern languages expanded north of the rain forest towards the Great Lakes region {\texttildelow}4,000 ya, while the {\textquotedblleft}late-split{\textquotedblright} model proposes that Eastern languages diversified from Western languages south of the rain forest {\texttildelow}2,000 ya. Furthermore, it is unclear whether the language dispersal was coupled with the movement of people, raising the question of language shift versus demic diffusion. We use a novel approach taking into account both the spatial and temporal predictions of the two models and formally test these predictions with linguistic and genetic data. Our results show evidence for a demic diffusion in the genetic data, which is confirmed by the correlations between genetic and linguistic distances. While there is little support for the early-split model, the late-split model shows a relatively good fit to the data. Our analyses demonstrate that subsequent contact among languages/populations strongly affected the signal of the initial migration via isolation by distance.}, author = {de Filippo, Cesare and Bostoen, Koen and Stoneking, Marc and Pakendorf, Brigitte}, issn = {0962-8452}, journal = {PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES}, keyword = {LANGUAGES,Y-CHROMOSOME,HISTORY,MTDNA,POPULATIONS,AFRICA,Bantu,lexical data,autosome,Y chromosome,mtDNA,ANGOLA,human migration}, language = {eng}, number = {1741}, pages = {3256--3263}, title = {Bringing together linguistic and genetic evidence to test the Bantu expansion}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2012.0318}, volume = {279}, year = {2012}, }
- Chicago
- de Filippo, Cesare, Koen Bostoen, Marc Stoneking, and Brigitte Pakendorf. 2012. “Bringing Together Linguistic and Genetic Evidence to Test the Bantu Expansion.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B-biological Sciences 279 (1741): 3256–3263.
- APA
- de Filippo, C., Bostoen, K., Stoneking, M., & Pakendorf, B. (2012). Bringing together linguistic and genetic evidence to test the Bantu expansion. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 279(1741), 3256–3263.
- Vancouver
- 1.de Filippo C, Bostoen K, Stoneking M, Pakendorf B. Bringing together linguistic and genetic evidence to test the Bantu expansion. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES. 2012;279(1741):3256–63.
- MLA
- de Filippo, Cesare, Koen Bostoen, Marc Stoneking, et al. “Bringing Together Linguistic and Genetic Evidence to Test the Bantu Expansion.” PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 279.1741 (2012): 3256–3263. Print.