First steps towards the detection of contact layers in Bangime: a multi-disciplinary, computer-assisted approach.

ABSTRACT: Bangime is a language isolate, which has not been proven to be genealogically related to any other language family, spoken in Central-Eastern Mali. Its speakers, the Bangande, claim affiliation with the Dogon languages and speakers that surround them throughout a cliff range known as the Bandiagara Escarpment.  However, recent genetic research has shown that the Bangande are genetically distant from the Dogon and other groups. Furthermore, the Bangande people represent a genetic isolate.  Despite the geographic isolation of the Bangande people, evidence of language contact is apparent in the Bangime language. We find a plethora of shared vocabulary with neighboring Atlantic, Dogon, Mande, and Songhai language groups. To address the problem of when and whence this vocabulary emerged in the

SUBMITTER: Hantgan A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10445931 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature