Teke languages explained

Teke
Ethnicity:Teke people
Region:Central reaches of the Congo River and adjacent areas
Familycolor:Niger-Congo
Fam2:Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:Volta-Congo
Fam4:Benue–Congo
Fam5:Bantoid
Fam6:Southern Bantoid
Fam7:Bantu (Zone B.70)
Fam8:Teke–Mbere?
Iso3:tek
Glotto:kasa1251
Glottorefname:Kasai - Ngounie

The Teke languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken by the Teke people in the western Congo and in Gabon. They are coded Zone B.70 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the Teke languages apart from West Teke form a valid node with Tende (part of B.80):[1]

Tsege

Teghe (Tɛgɛ, North Teke)

Ngungwel (Ngungulu, NE Teke) – Central Teke (Njyunjyu/Ndzindziu, Boo/Boma/Eboo)

Tio (Bali) – East Teke (Mosieno, Ng'ee/Ŋee)

Kukwa (Kukuya, South Teke)

Fuumu (South Teke) – Wuumu (Wumbu)

Tiene (B.80)

Mfinu (B.80)

Mpuono (B.80)

Pacchiarotti et al. (2019) retain West Teke and include additional B.80 languages:[2]

Teke (Kasai - Ngounie)

Notes and References

  1. Book: Nurse . Derek . Philippson . Gérard . The Bantu languages . 2003 . Routledge . London . 9780700711345.
  2. Sara Pacchiarotti, Natalia Chousou-Polydouri & Koen Bostoen (2019) 'Untangling the West-Coastal Bantu mess: identification, geography and phylogeny of the Bantu B50 - 80 languages.' Africana Linguistica 21: 87 - 162.