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.

Vowels
KiBantu has a 7 vowel system. Note that vowels can, and often do, occur directly adjacent to one another. Rather than being long vowels, each vowel is pronounced as a separate syllable.

Consonants
Modern Bantu has 11 basic consonant sounds, with an additional 8 prenasalized sounds. There is one difference between the most commonly reconstructed version of Proto-Bantu and Modern Bantu: vowel-initial stems are allowed in Modern Bantu, while in the most commonly cited reconstructions these stems begin with /j/. This was because, in the vast majority of extant Bantu languages, these stems seem to lack initial vowels.
 * plain /l/ is realized [l] in all environments, but is placed in the obstruent row for historical reasons, and because it is realized as /ⁿd/ when prenasalized.
 * /s/ is realized as an alveolar fricative in all environments, but it is placed in the palatal column for historical reasons.

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 vowels are also represented slightly strangely: /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.

Vocabulary Building
The vast majority of the vocabulary of Modern Bantu is derived directly from Proto-Bantu. Vocabulary that is spread through at least 12 of Guthrie's Bantu zones is prioritized, though on occasion items present in a lower amount of zones is used. However, there are two 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, mpi̧li̧pi̧li̧ "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
 * musu̧mali̧ "nail" from Arabic mismār
 * i̧éma "tent" from Arabic ḵayma
 * i̧embe "mango" from an Indo-Iranian language
 * i̧nanási̧ "pineapple" from Portuguese ananás
 * i̧soko "market" from Arabic sūq
 * malási̧ "perfume" from Arabic marašš
 * malí̧ "money" from Arabic māl
 * mésá "table" from Omani Arabic mēz
 * mbatata "sweet potato" from Portuguese batata
 * ngamí̧la "camel" from Arabic jamal
 * nsabú̧ni̧ "soap" from Arabic ṣābūn
 * nsáni "plate" from Arabic ṣaḥn
 * nsu̧kali̧ "sugar" from Arabic sukkar
 * nsú̧pu̧ "soup" from English soup
 * kabati̧ "cupboard" from English cupboard
 * kapi "coffee" from English coffee
 * kapu̧tu̧la "shorts" possibly from Chichewa kubutula
 * bundú̧ki "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 kauni 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.

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.