Introducing a state-of-the-art phylogenetic classification of the Kikongo language Cluster

It is shown how past lexicostatistic efforts eventually led to lexically-driven phylogenetic classifications of the Bantu languages. As a new case study, 95 North-West and West Bantu language varieties are sampled across geographical space, with a focus on the wider Lower Congo region. This leads to the discovery of a discrete clade within West-Coastal Bantu, which we term the Kikongo Language Cluster (KLC), a disparate continuum of closely related Bantu languages. Both a brandling tree and a continuum model are called in to 'define' the true nature of the KLC, and pre-historical implications are drawn from this.