Published in 2004, The Manenguba Languages of Cameroon is a valuable contribution to the field of Asian Studies.

Written by an international team of experts, this comprehensive volume presents grammatical analyses of individual Bantu languages, comparative studies of their main phonetic, phonological and grammatical characteristics and overview chapters on their history and classification. It is estimated that some 300 to 350 million people, or one in three Africans, are Bantu speakers. Van de Velde and Bostoen bring together their linguistic expertise to produce a volume that builds on Nurse and Philippson’s first edition. The Bantu Languages, 2nd edition is divided into two parts; Part 1 contains 11 comparative chapters, and Part 2 provides grammar sketches of 12 individual Bantu languages, some of which were previously undescribed. The grammar sketches follow a general template that allows for easy comparison. Thoroughly revised and updated to include more language descriptions and the latest comparative insights. New to this edition: • new chapters on syntax, tone, reconstruction and language contact • 12 new sketch grammars • thoroughly updated chapters on phonetics, aspect-tense-mood and classification • exhaustive catalogue of known languages with essential references This unique resource remains the ideal reference for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Bantu linguistics and languages. It will be of interest to researchers and anyone with an interest in historical linguistics, linguistic typology and grammatical analysis.

The Mbos are a large ethnic group in present day Cameroon and an important and powerful group until the Anglo-French partition. Following the defeat of the colonial power, Germany, in the First World War (WWI), the League of Nations in a March 1916 Mandate, partitioned the territory into two unequal halves among the victorious imperial powers of England and France, to be governed in trust as from 1922. As a result of the partition, the Mbos, who happened to find themselves right along the lines of division, were thrust under French and English administration, respectively. Roughly two thirds of the Mbos found themselves in what had then become French (East) Cameroon, while the remaining one third was thrust under British (West) Cameroon rule. Today the Mbos, as a whole, occupy parts of the Littoral and Western (Francophone) and Southwest (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon. While the Francophone Mbos have, over the decades, benefited from all aspects of economic, social, political, and agricultural development, the Anglophone Mbos have been isolated and deprived of all the outward and physical (tangible) aspects of socio-economic and political progress. The persistence of such colonial divisions makes for inequality among the Mbos, despite their common ancestry, ethnicity and cultural heritage. This book seeks to update on diverse aspects of the study conducted on the British Mbos by J.W.C. Rutherfoord and others as a first step toward a comprehensive publication on the Anglophone Mbos.

This book is about reconstructing the grammar of Proto-Bantu, the ancestral language at the origin of current-day Bantu languages. While Bantu is a low-level branch of Niger-Congo, the world’s biggest phylum, it is still Africa’s biggest language family. This edited volume attempts to retrieve the phonology, morphology and syntax used by the earliest Bantu speakers to communicate with each other, discusses methods to do so, and looks at issues raised by these academic endeavours. It is a collective effort involving a fine mix of junior and senior scholars representing several generations of expert historical-comparative Bantu research. It is the first systematic approach to Proto-Bantu grammar since Meeussen’s Bantu Grammatical Reconstructions (1967). Based on new bodies of evidence from the last five decades, most notably from northwestern Bantu languages, this book considerably transforms our understanding of Proto-Bantu grammar and offers new methodological approaches to Bantu grammatical reconstruction.

In 2005, a United Nations study reported that half of the worlds languages (estimated at 6,000) would disappear by the end of this century. A third of these endangered languages are in Africa where, according to the same study, nearly 250 languages have disappeared in the last century. Language is the heart, identity, storage system for the collective and unique memory and experience of every culture, people, including their natural habitat. Loss of language means loss of the ability to retain and pass on not just a belief system but also invaluable knowledge to future generations. This English-Lekongho/Lekongho-English Dictionary is a modest first attempt to minimize the envisaged sad phenomenon of language loss. Nkongho-Mbo people speak Lekongho, one of the five variants of the Mbo language of the Mbo ethnic group of Cameroon, with their ancestral home in the Kupe Muanenguba Administrative Area of the South-west Region. With this book, the authors fervent hope is that there will no longer surface any justification to continue to refrain from speaking Lekongho on a daily basis. This effort will help to regionalize, nationalize and internationalize the Lekongho language since Nkongho people are spread all over the country, Africa and the world.

The institution of family has been central to the well-being of African societies over the years. African families have undergone significant transformation caused by the interplay of indigenous, Arabic/Islamic, and European/Christian cultures. The juxtaposition of these three cultures in the lives of African peoples captures the triple-heritage image of the continent. At the same time, modernization, urbanization, and migration have played and continue to play significant roles in the transformation of families across the continent. While it is true that the traditional family has changed in many ways and that African families are continuously confronted with new challenges, the renowned contributors to this volume recognize that the African family continues to adapt to emerging structural changes. In the new millennium, a host of issues and challenges has emerged, each with the potential to weaken or threaten the survival of the traditional African family. These include the HIV/AIDS pandemic; a growing elderly population; declining governmental support; and economic decay. How the post-colonial family reacts to these threats and challenges has the potential to either maintain or undermine the family's role as a major organizing principle in Africa. The institution of family has been central to the well-being of African societies over the years. African families have undergone significant transformations caused by the interplay of indigenous, Arabic/Islamic, and European/Christian cultures. The juxtaposition of these three cultures in the lives of African peoples captures the triple-heritage image of the continent. At the same time, modernization, urbanization, and migration have played and continue to play a role in the transformation of families across the continent. While it is true that the traditional family has changed in many ways and that African families are continuously confronted with new challenges, the contributors to this volume recognize that the African family has adapted to the emerging structural changes. In the new millennium, a host of issues and challenges have the potential to weaken or threaten the survival of the traditional African family. These include the HIV/AIDS pandemic, which seems to afflict the young and able-bodied; a growing elderly population; declining governmental support; and economic decay. How the post-colonial family reacts to these threats and challenges has the potential to either maintain or undermine the family's role as a major organizing principle in Africa. Profound transitions have occurred in family structure and processes since the post-colonial period. This work points to some of the documented transformations in African family life, including the changing modes of decision-making due to the establishment of a cash crop economy, nuptial patterns, changing maternal roles, an increasing age at marriage and declining fertility, a growing number of households headed by women, an increase in the rate of marital instability and dissolution, and changing patterns of mate selection and family relations.

Archaeology, Language, and the African Past is an overview of theories and methods, a fusion of African linguistics and archaeology. Roger Blench provides a comprehensive look at the history of all African language families, incorporating the latest linguistic classifications, current evidence from archaeology, genetic research, and recorded history. This original and definitive volume examines the economic culture of the continent_from major crops and plant life to animals and livestock_from a multi-dimensional perspective. It provides students of linguistics, archaeology, and anthropology with a critical discussion on the history of African languages and the cultures they articulate.