Modern Bantu

Modern Bantu is an attempt to revive Proto-Bantu for modern use. Instead of attempting to fit the typology of modern Bantu languages or act as an auxiliary language, Modern Bantu is like other proto-language revival attempts.

Modern Bantu does not try to be exactly what Proto-Bantu was, for this task is impossible. As with any reconstructed proto-language, we do not know many of the characteristics that were present in Proto-Bantu, and we likely retain only a fraction of its vocabulary. Therefore, Proto-Bantu is not what Modern Bantu strives to be. Instead, Modern Bantu attempts to be what Proto-Bantu would have be like if it still existed in a form similar to its ancient counterpart. Modern Bantu is set out as a highly conservative language that accepts only a scant few borrowings, but still has much of the terms necessary to be spoken in the modern world.

Vowels
Modern Bantu has a 7 vowel system. Note that Modern Bantu does not have vowel length; if two of the same vowel are placed occur next to each other, each is treated as a separate syllable.

Consonants
Modern Bantu has 12 basic consonant sounds, with an additional 8 prenasalized sounds.
 * /d/ is realized as [d] before high vowels and when prenasalized, and [l] in all other environments. Although they are the same phoneme, the difference is expressed in writing.
 * /s/ is realized as an alveolar fricative in all environments, but it is placed in the palatal column for historical and morphophonological reasons (e.g. the alteration between muyájú "yawn" and -yásama "to yawn").
 * /ɟ ~ d͡ʒ/ and its prenasalised counterpart may can be pronounced as a plosive or an affricate.
 * /j/ and /ɟ ~ d͡ʒ/ are made separate phonemes, despite not being separate in many reconstructions of Proto-Bantu. This is because there are many modern reflexes in many Bantu languages that are difficult to explain without this split, and would likely require a complex system of phonemic rules. However, there are no minimal pairs for these two sounds.
 * Although it is phonetically a palatal nasal, from a phonemic perspective /ɲ/ can be considered a prenasalised version of /j/, as it appears whenever /j/ is prenasalised.

Tone
Modern Bantu has two tones: high and low.

Orthography
The orthography of Modern Bantu mostly reflects the protoforms. Aside from the prenasalised sounds, there is one digraph: ⟨ny⟩ for /ɲ/. It is considered a separate letter in Modern Bantu. The one redundancy is with the phoneme /d/: it is written as ⟨d⟩ when realized as [d] and ⟨l⟩ when realised as [l]. The vowels are also represented slightly strangely, in modern terms: /i/ and /u/ are written as ⟨i̧⟩ and ⟨u̧⟩ with cedillas, while /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ are written as regular ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩; this is done for historical reasons. Tone is written with an acute above the vowel, and the low tone is left unmarked.

Grammar
Note that nearly all of this section is applicable to Proto-Bantu as well as Modern Bantu; despite deviating from Proto-Bantu in terms of vocabulary, Modern Bantu attempts to stick as close as possible to what can be reconstructed for Proto-Bantu grammar. As a language, Modern Bantu is generally head-initial. The basic word order is SVO, and all descriptors follow what they modify. Modern Bantu is prepositional, though it only has one true preposition. There are two main structures that define the grammar of Modern Bantu: the noun class system, and the verb system.

Root
Before going into the rest of the grammar, the proto-typical Bantu root will be discussed. There are almost no vowel-initial roots; the only one in the language is -í "what". The structure CV(N)(C)V is by far the most common root, for nouns, adjectives, as well as verbs, though the final V is replaced by a final vowel for verbs. Though the prenasalised prefix makes prenasalised consonants common, prenasalised roots are very rare; there are only a scant few roots that begin with voiceless prenasalised consonants, while no roots begin with voiced prenasalised consonants. While some noun roots are longer, almost all verb roots that are longer than CVCV can be explained via extensions, though some of these are dubious, e.g. -táku̧na "to chew".

Noun Classes
Modern Bantu nouns are built from noun roots with the addition of the noun class prefixes. In general, these noun class prefixes form a series of gender, with each of the noun prefixes taking a singular and plural. Although there many schemes have been devised to define the semantics of the noun classes, it is generally accepted that the noun class system is somewhat arbitrary. The classes will be detailed by their prefixes, and some of the most likely Proto-Bantu forms will be listed. Any nouns not reconstructable for Proto-Bantu will be bolded:

Mu-Ba Class
The mu-ba class, known numerically as class 1 in the singular and class 2 in the plural, is the most semantically coherent class in Modern Bantu. It refers exclusively to people, though not all nouns that have human referents are placed in this class: There are also derived agent words in this class, and this is usually done by the addition of the suffix -i to a verb: There is also a subset of nouns in this class known as class 1a. They do not take the normal mu- prefix but they do take the same agreements as the mu class and the ba- prefix in the plural. Almost all of these are kinship terms:

Mu-Mi class
The mu-mi class is one of the most semantically varied classes in Modern Bantu, and is class 3/4 numerically. Though it's prototypical meaning is listed as "trees", its primary semantic field is long objects: Trees also fall into this category. Though there are few reconstructable roots for trees, roots for trees and other plants can be regularly derived from fruits by changing their class to the mu-mi class. Because very few fruits are reconstructable for Proto-Bantu proper, this rule is mostly applied to loans: Intangible or diffuse substances are another primary semantic field that falls into the mu-mi class: Finally, there are several miscellaneous nouns that fall into this class:

I̧-Ma Class
Known as classes 5 and 6. Although the traditional semantic field of this class is stated to be fruits, this is slightly misleading. Only two fruits can be truly reconstructed for Proto-Bantu: i̧konde "banana" and i̧tanga "melon", and they are both indeed in this class (this is somewhat complicated by the fact that the word for fruit itself, kibu̧má, is in the ki-bi class). However, the primary semantic field of this class is much more broad, and generally comprises objects that are rounded or protruded in some way: There are many liquids which are plurale tantum in the ma class: Like the mu-mi class, there are many miscellaneous nouns:

Ki-Bi̧ Class
Although the semantic field of classes 7 and 8, the ki-bi̧ class, is said to be inanimates, most inanimate objects in Modern Bantu do not fall into this class. Though its primary semantic field is utilitarian objects, it also includes words for despised objects or people: A more modern use is to derive new inanimate objects from verbs. Though some of these are attested in a few Bantu zones, many of these are calqued from modern Bantu languages:

N Class
The N Class, known as classes 9 and 10, is the largest class in Modern Bantu. Its prefix is a homorganic nasal, realized as m, n, or ny depending on the first consonant of the root. It is unique in that its prefix does not change for singular and plural, though verbs and other parts of speech do inflect differently. Some reconstructions of Proto-Bantu, however, include the class 10 plural di̧-, which precedes the prenasalised initial of class 9 instead of replacing it. To reconcile this, this prefix is optional in Modern Bantu; it may be used to pluralize class 10 nouns, or it may not. Either way, all class 10 agreements are the same.

The primary semantic field of this class is animals. The vast majority of animals are in this class, and much of this class is composed of animals: Other than animals, this class appears to be the default class for nouns not assigned to other classes, and as such there are numerous miscellaneous nouns in this class:

Lu-N Class
The Lu-N is the first of the polyplural classes in Modern Bantu. Although its singular is known as class 11 numerically, any lu class nouns take the N class in the plural.

Although it is one of the small classes, the the lu-n class is one of the most semantically coherent. Like the mu-mi class, it refers to long objects, though they are generally curved:

Ka-Tu Class
The ka-tu class deviates from the other class in that it is primarily used in derivation. It also breaks the pattern of odd-singular/even-plural; numerically they are class 12 and 13 respectively. It is the first "secondary" class, distinguished from the primary classes in that its main use is to derive nouns. There are only nine nouns naturally within the ka-tu class; three are loanwords and two are plurale tantum: The primary purpose of the ka-tu class is to derive diminutives from other nouns by replacing its normal noun prefix. This can in theory be applied to any noun to create a diminutive, though there a few items that are lexicalised:

Bu-Ma Class
The Bu-Ma Class, numerically 14-6, is once again a primary class, and the second class to be polyplural, though nouns that take the plural are generally rare. They can all be listed here, and there is little that unites them semantically: Mass nouns that are in this class, on the other hand, are generally round or lumpy substances: The primary semantic field of this class, however, is abstract nouns. They can be underived, or they can be derived from verbs or adjectives:

Ku-Ma Class
The Ku-Ma class, 15-6, contains five regular nouns, and the semantic field is rather clear: paired body parts. There is, however, one exception: The primary field of this class, however, is clearly verbal infinitives. All verbal infinitives take the ku- prefix with a final -a vowel. They cannot take a ma class plural. When following an auxiliary verbs take infinitives, and these infinitives can also stand as the subject of a sentence.

The Locative Classes
The locative classes are a unique set of three secondary classes. They are pa-, ku-, and mu-; 16, 17, 18 respectively. Unlike any other secondary classes, they do not replace the noun class prefix. Instead, they are added onto the existing noun prefix. There is one obvious exception to this: the locative prefixes can be added to the general root -ntu to mean "place". They each represent a different notion of location: pa- expresses directly location on or against, ku- expresses location by or near to, and mu- represents location inside. The class 17 prefix ku- can also express direction towards.

Though these prefixes can be applied to any noun, the following nouns are reconstructable for Proto-Bantu as having often taken these prefixes to express a locational meaning:

The Pi̧-Tu Class
Classes 19-13, or the pi̧-tu class, is the last class commonly reconstructed for Proto-Bantu. There are no nouns that are inherently in this class. It is another diminutive class, signifying an even smaller thing than the ka-tu class. It can also be used to make the nouns that are naturally in the ka-tu diminutive, e.g. pi̧yuni "a small bird", pi̧nua "a small mouth".

Other Classes
A number of other classes have been hypothesized for Proto-Bantu. The most common are another locative class or a series of augmentative classes. Data is too spare for these classes is too sparse to current include them in Modern Bantu, meaning that Modern Bantu currently has 19 classes total; 10 singular-plural genders (some of which are polyplural) and 3 locative classes.

Noun Class Agreement
Important as the noun classes themselves is noun class agreement. The subject and object of verbs, adjectives, numerals, demonstratives, pronouns, and the connective particle all agree with the noun in class. There are five main instances of each prefix. The nominal prefix is used on nouns and adjectives, the numeral on numerals, the pronominal in many environments, and the subject and object for non-relative verbs. Classes 1 and 2 are divided into 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person as well. Not listed here is the unique reflexive infix, -í̧-, which will be further discussed later. Note that the "pronominal" stems given for the first and second person pronouns are actually used to form their independent form, and may not be pronominal in the sense of the other concords.

Classes 2, 7, 8, and 11–19 are entirely regular: a low tone for the nominal prefix, and the same form with a high tone for all other prefixes. Class 5 is almost regular, but all forms other than the nominal prefix use lí-''. ''The most irregular paradigms are those of the prefixes that begin with nasals, class 18 exempt. They all reflect a rather similar pattern: the initial consonant is lost in the numerical

Verbs
Along with the noun class, the verb is the center of Modern Bantu grammar. Much of the information present in a sentence is given by the verb, and there is a complex template to which verbs adhere. Each verb belongs to one of two tonal classes based on the tone of the first vowel in the root: high or low. Though for most tenses this does not come into play, for non-indicative verbs it does influence how the tonal pattern of the verb.

Tense and Aspect
This is a table summarizing many of the possible positive indicative tense forms, using a sample paradigm involving the word tudi̧ma "we farm" (blank spaces are not reconstructable as being in Proto-Bantu): Note that the habitual form can also be combined with the perfect.

For the negative, the prefixes in all indicative main clauses are the same. In most cases, they are formed with the pronominal prefix preceded by ka-. The pronominal concords, however, have special forms: In the basic present negative, the final vowel is replaced by -i, e.g. sídi̧mi "I don't farm", kádi̧mi "he doesn't farm".

Moods
Aside from the indicative, which is the default mood in Modern Bantu, there are two other moods: imperative and subjunctive. Unlike with the tense and aspects, each mood has a specific tone pattern.

The imperative mood is used for bare commands. When there is no object, the suffix is a high -á. Any extensions take the opposite tone of the verb root. If an object prefix is used, a final -é is used instead, and all extensions are high: There is an exception: when the object is the first person singular, the final vowel is once again á: When the command is being addressed to multiple people, the suffix -ní̧ is added to the imperative: There is no negative imperative; this role is filled by the negative subjunctive, which will be discussed below.
 * táku̧na! "chew!"
 * di̧má! "farm!" vs. di̧mílá! "farm for!"
 * túmá! "send!" vs. túmilá! "send for!"
 * bí̧tákú̧né! "chew it!" (e.g. food)
 * gúdi̧mé! "farm it!" vs. mudi̧mílé "farm for him!"
 * kítúmé! "send it!" vs. mutúmílé "send for him!"
 * ndi̧mílá! "farm for me!"
 * ntúmílá! "send for me!"
 * tákú̧naní̧! "(you all) chew!
 * di̧mílání̧! "(you all) farm for!"
 * mudi̧míléní̧ "(you all) farm for him!"
 * kítúméní̧! "(you all) send it!"
 * mutúmíléní̧! "(you all) send for him!"

The subjunctive mood is used in a much wider variety of situations than the imperative. It is used for requests (and negative commands) and hortatives, as well as obligation or wishes.

In the positive form, the subjunctive can only occur in the present tense. The final vowel of the subjunctive is -é. The subjunctive has a clear tonal pattern. When there is no object prefix, the ordinary subject prefix is made high, and all tones in the verb are made low. When there is an object prefix, the tone pattern is the same as the imperative with an object except that the subject prefix is high. Because the second and third person singular prefixes would be homophonous, the class 1 subject prefix is á- in the subjunctive.

Independent
The independent pronouns have somewhat irregular forms. The 1st and 2nd person are formed with the addition of the pronominal prefix to -e. The class 1 3rd person form is irregular, while for the rest of the class forms it is a regular paradigm of adding -o to the pronominal prefix: There are also two special affixes which can attach to each of the pronouns: -nka "alone" and -nse "all", each of which can attach to the independent forms of the pronouns. When this happens, the initial í̧- of the plural first and second person is dropped: túenka "we alone", nyúenka "you all alone", túense "us all", nyúense "you all".

Connective
The connective, realized as -a, basically acts a genitive. It is bound to a noun (this binding is represented by using a hyphen in the orthography) and takes pronominal prefixes based on the class of the noun that the connective phrase modifies. The tone of the connective also varies: it takes the same tone as the class prefix it modifies.

Examples can illustrate this somewhat:
 * mbúa yia-mulúme "the man's dog"
 * migú̧í̧ gíá-butáa "the bow's arrows"
 * i̧kú̧pa líá-mbúa "the dog's bone"

Possessives
The possessives are all formed with the prefix á-, whose resemblance to the connective prefix is likely not a coincidence. Like many other paradigms present in Modern Bantu, the forms for the personal pronouns are relatively irregular while the class forms are derived according to a regular scheme. The class 2, however, also has an irregular possessive form.

Demonstratives
There are four degrees of demonstrative in Modern Bantu, all formed using the pronominal prefixes. They are best translated as: this (close to speaker and listener), this (close to speaker but not addressee), that (close to addressee but not addressee, referential) and that (far from both speaker and addressee) They are called proximal, medial, non-proximal, and distal. Each has a specific template:

Determiners
There are two determiners that occur with the pronominal prefixes: -ngí̧ "other" and -ní̧ "which".

Numerals
As has already been discussed, basic numerals have their own unique prefixes. There are five basic numbers, and one interrogative that also takes the numeral prefix: There are also three numerals that are expressed as nouns: i̧kúmi "ten", and i̧gana "hundred". The numbers six, seven, eight, and nine with the phrase -táano na -moi "five and one", -táano na -bi̧dí̧ "five and two", -táano na -tátu "five and three", and -táano na -nai "five and four" respectively.
 * -moi "one"
 * -bi̧dí̧ "two"
 * -tátu "three" (í̧sátu class 10)
 * -nai "four" (í̧nyai class 10)
 * -táano "five" (í̧sáano class 10)
 * -ngá "how many"

Adjectives
Adjectives, as has been discussed, take the nominal prefix of the noun they agree with. There are few true adjectives in Modern Bantu, and they can all be listed here: Note that the adjective -yípí̧ is unique, in that it only appears in the locative classes 16 and 17.

Question Words
There are relatively few question words in Modern Bantu, and the system is somewhat fragmentary. Note that all the question words take the pronominal prefix, except -ngá, which takes the numeral prefixes: The most obvious omission is the word for who. Though it is often reconstructed as ndai, this reconstruction is not widespread enough to be convincing for Proto-Bantu. Therefore, one can say muntu yuní̧ "which person" to signify "who".
 * kíí "what"
 * páí "where", kúí "whither", múí "in where"
 * -ní̧ "which"
 * -ngá "how many"

Vocabulary Building
The vast majority of the vocabulary of Modern Bantu is derived directly from Proto-Bantu. Vocabulary that is spread through at least 3 of Guthrie's Bantu regions is prioritized, though on occasion items present in a lower amount of regions is used. However, there are several strategies that allow for the creation of words that are not directly attested in Proto-Bantu:

Borrowing
There are already some words considered Proto-Bantu that likely have a foreign origin: i̧baata "duck" from Arabic baṭṭ, mpi̧di̧pi̧di̧ "pepper" from Persian ''pelpel. ''Therefore, some more words have selectively been loaned into Modern Bantu. These loanwords have mostly originated in Arabic and spread by means of Swahili, and are few and far between. All loanwords can in fact be listed here: As can be seen, these words generally refer to food, crops, or goods. All other words in Modern Bantu are derived from Proto-Bantu in some fashion.
 * mukási̧ "scissors" from Arabic maqaṣ
 * musu̧madi̧ "nail" from Arabic mismār
 * i̧nanási̧ "pineapple" from Portuguese ananás
 * i̧soko "market" from Arabic sūq
 * i̧tála "lamp" from Swahili taa
 * i̧yéma "tent" from Arabic ḵayma
 * i̧yembe "mango" from an Indo-Iranian language
 * madí̧ "money" from Arabic māl
 * kitábu "book" from Arabic kitāb
 * mésá "table" from Omani Arabic mēz
 * mbatata "sweet potato" from Portuguese batata
 * ngadi̧ "vehicle" from Hindi gāṛī
 * ngamí̧la "camel" from Arabic jamal
 * nsabú̧ni̧ "soap" from Arabic ṣābūn
 * nsáni "plate" from Arabic ṣaḥn
 * nsu̧kadi̧ "sugar" from Arabic sukkar
 * kabati̧ "cupboard" from English cupboard
 * kapi "coffee" from English coffee
 * kapu̧tu̧la "shorts" possibly from Chichewa kubutula
 * bundú̧ki̧ "gun" from Omani Arabic bunduq

Calquing
Calquing can be used to derive new words. These words are most often calqued from existing Bantu languages, or from European languages.

Repurposing
Redundant words that existed in Proto-Bantu can be repurposed to serve new functions. While kayuni is the most common general word for bird, the redundant word, ndege can be repurposed to mean "airplane", despite the fact that it had no such meaning in Proto-Bantu. Often, a word can keep both its ancient meaning and a more modern meaning. The word mupi̧la, for example, meant rubber in Proto-Bantu, and it still means rubber in Modern Bantu. However, like in many modern Bantu languages, mupi̧la can also refer to a ball used for sports.

Derivation
While many derivations do go back to Proto-Bantu, derivations from other Bantu languages can be freely taken into modern Bantu, even if the equivalent Proto-Bantu derivation was not widespread.

Vocabulary
For a dictionary, see: here.