KiBantu

KiBantu is a zonal language that is meant to act as a potential lingua franca for the Bantu-speaking peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa. Though it is highly influenced by Swahili, it is slightly simplified and incorporates Bantu vocabulary of disparate origins.

Phonology
KiBantu's phonology is principally derived from that of Proto-Bantu, although sound correspondences aren't always regular. KiBantu is fundamentally different from nearly all Bantu languages in that, like Swahili, it does not employ contrastive tone. This was done principally because tone is enough not written in the orthographies of Bantu languages, and therefore it is more difficult to gather information on the tone of various languages. And of course, the Bantu language with the largest number of total speakers, Swahili, does not have tone. Though this should not act justification in and of itself, not employing tone was ultimately done to facilitate learning the language for speakers of a variety of Bantu languages.

Vowels
KiBantu, like Swahili, Shona, and Zulu, has a simple five vowel system. In addition, there is no contrastive vowel length. The mid vowels /e/ and /o/ may be realized as close-mid and open-mid, and may be pronounced according to each speaker's preference. There are no diphthongs in KiBantu. All vowel sequences are permitted, and each vowel constitutes a separate syllable. Sequences of two of the same vowels, such as /aa/ or /ee/ are rarely found in word roots, but can often be found in inflected words.