HIST 2401 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Bantu Languages, Shona Language, Mutual Intelligibility
20 Feb 2016
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Document Summary
The expansion of bantu language and the early iron age. History is different than europe"s history because there is not as many records to recreate the history. Far enough back there was no oral history. 1000 years are too far back for oral history. Made up of many different languages (approx. Different prefixes change the meaning of the word. Most of the languages are not mutually intelligible, while only some are (example: zulu, xhosa, ndebele) Mutually intelligible usually because historically the people lived beside each. Thinking has evolved about bantu languages, first thought it all started from one. Bantu languages being an expansion of people, as people moved away from one area their language changed. People expanding into already established civilizations, they brought things the other civilizations could benefit from (agriculture, pottery) The more bantu languages are studied the further the time frames goes back. Linguistics have many debates and different views.
