As I reflect, my highlight for the just ended week was my participation in the Bantu10 conference held at University of Dar es Salaam from 12th - 14th August 2024. The Bantu conferences are held every two years and linguists gather to discuss issues of Bantu languages and culture through examining language structure and use. Bantu languages are spoken in West, Central, East and Southern Africa. They are one of largest language families in the world.
I did two presentations. Paper 1 was on Migration, language change and contact focusing on Cisukwa, Cindali and Cilambya languages of Malawi.
Paper 2 was a collaboration with Prof. Lee Bickmore from University of Albany and Associate Professor Winfred Mkochi on Nyiha Verbal tonology. We discussed undocumented tone patterns in the language.
The conference was well organized and offered great opportunities for collaboration. It was attended by delegates from 23 countries across the globe. Congratulations to Associate Professor Amani Lusekelo for the great work in organising the conference. In 2022, the Malawi University of Science and Technology hosted the Bantu 9 conference.
