Bantu Diachronic Phylogenetics: A case study for the Kikongo Language Cluster

The Lower Congo region in Central Africa occupies a pivotal position in Bantu history. Received knowledge tells us that it lies at the junction of two major Bantu subgroups, the North-West Bantu and West Bantu, not only geographically, but also historically. Several early studies have also located a secondary nucleus of early Bantu expansion in this zone (Heine et al. 1977, Vansina 1984). Similarly, a lexical classification of Guthrie's zone C by correspondence analysis has suggested that the coastal Congo area is at the start of a longterm wave-of-advance which resulted in the settlement of the Inner Congo Basin by Bantu speakers (Wotzka & Bostoen 2009). However, it remains very poorly understood how and when Bantu speech communities peopled the Lower Congo region itself.