Cover not available
Part of
Investigating Language Isolates: Typological and diachronic perspectives
Edited by Iker Salaberri, Dorota Krajewska, Ekaitz Santazilia and Eneko Zuloaga
[Typological Studies in Language 135] 2025
► pp. 142–175

The Small Bang

A pilot study investigating the origins of a language and population isolate through loan words

ORCID logo | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Language isolates, often viewed as remnants of past linguistic diversity, are predominantly spoken at the edges of dominant linguistic areas. This study explores the origins of the Bangime isolate and its Bangande speakers. By correlating loan words associated with agriculture with interdisciplinary data, the paper focuses on West African crops like millet and sorghum to suggest a Bangande migration timeline. This research contributes to a study on the origins of loan words for plants and animals linked to their domestication in West Africa. Preliminary results indicate a link between early Bangime speakers and Mande communities, especially the Soninke-Bozo. It is yet to be determined if the Bangande originally farmed in their present territories or elsewhere.
Keywords: loan words, pre-colonial West Africa, migration, agriculture, language isolates
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1Geographic position
    • 2.2Genealogical classification
    • 2.3Genetic affiliation
    • 2.4Archeological context
    • 2.5Historical context
    • 2.6Multilingualism
  • 3.Previous findings
  • 4.Materials and methods
    • 4.1Materials
    • 4.2Methods
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1millet ‘pearl millet’ Pennisetum glaucum
    • 5.2fonio ‘fonio’ Digitaria exilis
    • 5.3sorghum ‘sorghum’ Sorghum bicolor
    • 5.4okra ‘okra’ Abelmoschus esculentus
    • 5.5rice ‘African rice’ Oryza glaberrima
    • 5.6maize ‘corn’ Zea mays
    • 5.7groundnut (peanut) ‘Bambara groundnut’ Vigna subterranea
  • 6.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
References (67)
References
Arazi, Noemie. 2005. Tracing History in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali — Archaeology, Oral Traditions and Written Sources. PhD dissertation, University College London/Institute of Archaeology.
Bâ, Amadou Hampâté & Daget, Jacques. 1962. L’empire Peul du Macina, 1818–1853. Paris/Hague: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Babiker, Hiba, Heath, Jeffrey, Reed, Floyd, Schiffels, Stephan, & Gray, Russell D. 2020. Striking genetic diversity among populations of West Africa uncovers the mystery of a language isolate. Current Biology. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bedaux, Rogier. 1972. Tellem, reconnaissance archéologique d’une culture de l’Ouest africain au Moyen Age: Recherches architectoniques. Journal des Africanistes 42(2): 103–185. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bertho, Jacques. 1953. La place des dialectes dogon (Dogõ) de la Falaise de Bandiagara parmi les autres groups linguistiques de la zone soudanaise. Bulletin de l’Institut Francais d’Afrique Noire 15(1): 405–441.Google Scholar
Bigga, Gerlinde & Kahlheber, Stefanie. 2011. From gathering to agricultural intensification: Archaeobotanical remains from Mege, Chad Basin, NE Nigeria. Reports in African Archaeology 3: 19–65.Google Scholar
Blench, Roger. 2005. Baŋgi Me, a Language of Unknown Affiliation in Northern Mali. Unpublished ms. <[URL]>
. 2007. Bangime, a language of unknown affiliation in northern Mali. Mother Tongue XII: 147–178.Google Scholar
. 2017. African language isolates. In Language Isolates [Routledge Language Family Series], Lyle Campbell (ed), 162–192. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bostoen, Koen. 2007. Pearl millet in early Bantu speech communities in Central Africa: A reconsideration of the lexical evidence. Afrika and Ubersee 89: 183–213.Google Scholar
Breedveld, J. O. 1995. Form and Meaning in Fulfulde: A Morphophonological Study of Maasinankoore. Leiden: Research School CNWS.Google Scholar
Brooks, George E. 1986. A provisional historical schema for Western Africa based on seven climate periods (ca. 9000 B.C. to the 19th Century). Cahiers d’Études Africaines, Milieux, Histoire, Historiographie 26(101–102): 43–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burgarella, Concetta, Cubry, Philippe, Kane, Ndjido A., Varshney, Rajeev K., Mariac, Cedric, Liu, Xin, Shi, Chengcheng, Thudi, Mahendar, Couderc, Marie, Xu, Xun, Chitikineni, Annapurna, Scarcelli, Nora, Barnaud, Adeline, Rhoné, Bénédicte, Dupuy, Christian, François, Olivier, Berthouly-Salazar, Cécile, & Vigouroux, Yves. 2018. A western Sahara centre of domestication inferred from pearl millet genomes. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2: 1377–1380. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Calame-Griaule, Geneviève. 1956. Les dialectes Dogon. Africa 26(1): 62–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Campbell, Lyle. 2017. Introduction. In Language Isolates [Routledge Language Family Series], Lyle Campbell (ed), 1–18. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Champion, Louis. 2020. The Evolution of Agriculture, Food and Drink in the Ancient Niger River Basin: Archaeobotanical studies from Mali and Benin. PhD dissertation, University College London.
Champion, Louis, Fuller, Dorian Q., Ozainne, Sylvain, Huysecom, Eric, & Mayor, Anne. 2021. Agricultural diversification in West Africa: An archaeobotanical study of the site of Sadia (Dogon Country, Mali). Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences 13(60). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Childs, George Tucker. 2002. Borrowings into Kisi as evidence of Mande expansionism and influence. Journal of West African Languages 29(2): 81–120.Google Scholar
Diallo, Boubacar. 1993. Les Soninko. In Vallées du Niger, Jean Devisse (ed), 134–142. Paris: Édition de la Réunion des musées nationaux.Google Scholar
Dieterlen, Germaine, Diarra, Sylla, & Soumare, Mamadou. 1992. L’empire de Ghana: Le Wagadou et les traditions de Yéréré. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Eberhard, David M., Simons, Gary F., & Fennig, Charles D. (eds). 2023. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 26th edn. Dallas: SIL International. <[URL]>
Forkel, Robert, List, Johann-Mattis, Greenhill, Simon J., Rzymski, Christoph, Bank, Sebastian, Cysouw, Michael, Hammarström, Harald, Haspelmath, Martin, Kaiping, Gereon A., & Gray, Russell D. 2018. Cross-Linguistic Data Formats, advancing data sharing and re-use in comparative linguistics. Scientific Data 5(1): 180205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fuller, Dorian Q., Barron, Aleese, Champion, Louis, Dupuy, Christian, Commelin, Dominique, Raimbault, Michel, & Denham, Tim. 2021. Transition from wild to domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) revealed in ceramic temper at three middle holocene sites in Northern Mali. African Archaeological Review 38(2): 211–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gordon, Raymond G. Jr. (ed). 2005. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 15th edn. Dallas: SIL International. <[URL]>
Gravina, Richard. 2014. Central Chadic reconstructions. Unpublished. <[URL]>
Güldemann, Tom. 2018. Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa. In The Languages and Linguistics of Africa, Tom Güldemann (ed), 58–444. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hammarström, Harald, Forkel, Robert, Haspelmath, Martin, & Bank, Sebastian. 2022. Glottolog [Database]. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. <[URL]>
Hantgan, A. (2024). Layers of Lexical Borrowing in Long-Term Contact Rooted among Ancient Crops from Mali’s Bandiagara Region. Journal of Language Contact, 16(4), 494–564. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hantgan, Abbie. 2023b. Bangime Crop Borrowing Study Database [Database]. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2024a. Bandiagara Escarpment languages. In Online corpus of African Geolinguistic Data. <[URL]>
. 2024b. Pre-colonial settlement sites in West Africa with a concentration on the Bandiagara Escarpment. In Online Corpus of African Geolinguistic Data. <[URL]>
. 2024c. Terms for MILLET across West African languages. In Online Corpus of African Geolinguistic Data. <[URL]>
. 2024d. Terms for FONIO across West African languages. In Online Corpus of African Geolinguistic Data. <[URL]>
. 2024e. Terms for SORGHUM across West African languages. In Online Corpus of African Geolinguistic Data. <[URL]>
. 2024f. Terms for OKRA across West African languages. In Online Corpus of African Geolinguistic Data. [URL]
. 2024g. Terms for GROUNDNUT across West African languages. In Online Corpus of African Geolinguistic Data. <[URL]>
. 2024h. Terms for MAIZE across West African languages. In Online Corpus of African Geolinguistic Data. <[URL]>
Hantgan, Abbie, & List, Johann-Mattis. 2022. Bangime: Secret language, language isolate, or language island? Papers in Historical Phonology 7: 1–43. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hantgan, Abbie, List, Johann-Mattis, & Babiker, Hiba. 2022. First steps towards the detection of contact layers in Bangime: A multi-disciplinary, computer-assisted approach. Open Res Europe 2(10). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heath, Jeffrey, McPherson, Laura, Prokhorov, Kirill, & Moran, Steven. 2015. Dogon comparative wordlist [Database]. <[URL]>
Hochstetler, J. Lee, Durieux, Jude A., & Durieux-Boon, Evelin I. K. 2004. Sociolinguistic Survey of the Dogon Language Area. Dallas: SIL International.Google Scholar
Huysecom, Eric. 2023. Archéologie et peuplement de l’Afrique. Ounjougou: peuplement humain et paléoenvironnement en Afrique [Research project]. <[URL]>
Huysecom, Eric, Rasse, Michel, Lespez, Laurent, Neumann, Katharina, Fahmy, Ahmed, Ballouche, Aziz, Ozainne, Sylvain, Maggetti, Marino, Tribolo, Chantal, & Soriano, Sylvain. 2009. The emergence of pottery in Africa during the tenth millennium cal BC: New evidence from Ounjougou (Mali). Antiquity 83: 905–917. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Paul M. 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th edn. Dallas: SIL International. <[URL]>
List, Johann-Mattis, Tjuka, Annika, Rzymski, Christoph, Greenhill, Simon, Schweikhard, Nathanael E., & Forkel, Robert (eds). 2022. CLLD Concepticon (2.6.0) [Data set]. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(eds). 2023. CLLD Concepticon (3.1.0) [Data set]. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Majola, Nomathemba G., Gerrano, Abe S., & Shimelis, Hussein. 2021. Bambara Groundnut (Vigna subterranea [L.] Verdc.) production, utilisation and genetic improvement in Sub-Saharan Africa. Agronomy 11(7): 1345. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Manessy, Gabriel. 1979. Contribution à la classification généalogique des langues voltaïques. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.Google Scholar
Manning, Katie, Pelling, Ruth, Higham, Tom, Schwenniger, Jean-Luc, & Fullerd, Dorian Q. 2011. 4500-Year old domesticated pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) from the Tilemsi Valley, Mali: New insights into an alternative cereal domestication pathway. Journal of Archaeological Science 38(2): 312–322. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayor, Anne & Huysecom, Eric. 2016. “Toloy”, “Tellem”, “Dogon”: Une réevaluation de l’histoire du peuplement en Pays dogon (Mali). In Regards scientifiques sur l’Afrique depuis les indépendances, Marina Lafay, Françoise Le Guennec-Coppens, & Élisée Coulibaly (eds), 333–350. Paris: Karthala. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayor, Anne, Huysecom, Eric, Gallay, Alain, Rasse, Michel, & Ballouche, Aziz. 2005. Population dynamics and Paleoclimate over the past 3000 years in the Dogon Country, Mali. Journal of Anthropological Archeology 24: 25–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mayor, Anne, Huysecom, Eric, Ozainne, Sylvain, & Magnavita, Sonja. 2014. Early social complexity in the Dogon Country (Mali) as evidenced by a new chronology of funerary practices. Journal of Anthropological Archeology 34: 17–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McIntosh, Roderick J. & McIntosh, Susan Keech. 1981. The Inland Niger Delta before the empire of Mali: evidence from Jenne-Jeno. The Journal of African History 22(1): 1–22. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McIntosh, Susan Keech (ed). 1995. Excavations at Jenné-Jeno, Hambarketolo, and Kaniana (Inland Niger Delta, Mali). Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Moran, Steven, Forkel, Robert, & Heath, Jeffrey (eds). 2016. Dogon and Bangime Linguistics. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. <[URL]>
Nicolaï, Robert. 2003. La force des choses ou l’épreuve nilo-saharienne. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar
Nunn, Nathan & Puga, Diego. 2012. Ruggedness: the blessing of bad geography in Africa. The Review of Economics and Statistics 94(1): 20–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ozainne, Sylvain, Lespez, Laurent, Garnier, Aline, Ballouche, Aziz, Neumann, Katharina, Pays, Olivier, & Huysecom, Eric. 2014. A question of timing: Spatio-temporal structure and mechanisms of early agriculture expansion in West Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science 50: 359–368. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Plungian, Vladimir A. & Tembine, Issiaka. 1994. Vers une description sociolinguistique du pays Dogon: Attitudes linguistiques et problèmes de standardisation. In Stratègies communicatives au Mali: Langues régionales, bambara, français, Gérard Dumestre (ed), 163–195. Paris: Didier Erudition.Google Scholar
Prokhorov, Kirill, Heath, Jeffrey, & Moran, Steven. 2012. Dogon classification. Paper presented at the Niger-Congo Congress, Paris, September 2012.
Roberts, Richard L. 1987. Warriors, Merchants and Slaves: The State and the Economy in the Middle Niger Valley 1700–1914. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
RefLex, Reference Lexicon of Africa Segerer G., Flavier S., 2011–2023 RefLex: Reference Lexicon, Version 2.2 Paris, Lyon. [URL]
Segerer, Guillaume & Pozdniakov, Konstantin. Forthcoming. Genealogical classification of Atlantic languages. In The Oxford Guide to the Atlantic Languages of West Africa, Friederike Lüpke (ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Simonis, Francis. 2010. L’Afrique soudanaise au Moyen Age. Le temps des grands empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhaï). Marseille: CRDP de l’Académie d’Aix-Marseille.Google Scholar
Souag, Lameen. 2012. The subclassification of Songhay and its historical implications. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 33(2): 181–213. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vydrin, Valentin. 2009. On the problem of the Proto-Mande homeland. Journal of Language Relationships 1: 107–142.Google Scholar
Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger. 2000. Niger-Congo. In African Languages: An Introduction, Bernd Heine & Derek Nurse (eds), 11–42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar