Author: Koen Bostoen

• Chrisnah Renaudot Mfouhou, Grammatical tone as a diagnostic of tonal stem classes in Ndunga (“Ubangi”, Mbaic),
• Elisabeth Kerr (with Adriel Josias Bébiné), Particles and A’-movement in Nuasúɛ;
• Nina van der Vlugt (with Maarten Mous), The travels of dama ‘calf’ in Eastern and Southern Africa;
• Paulin Baraka Bose, Segmental morphology of the verb in Furu,

At the end of the Bantu 11 conference, organized at UGent by our research team, Prof. Sara Pacchiarotti (BantUGent) was appointed as the new president of the International Bantu Languages Conference Standing Committee. She succeeds Prof. Amani Lusekelo of Dar es Salaam University College of Education (DUCE) in Tanzania. Bantu 12 will be organized at the University of Marien Ngouabi in Brazzaville by Prof. Ndongo-Ibara and his team.

From 13–17 July 2026, the UGent Department of Translation, Interpreting and Communication and the UGent Department of Linguistics hosted the 6th edition of the Summer School in Methods in Language Sciences.

96 junior researchers from 17 countries and 44 universities came together for an intensive week of learning, exchange, and research methods.

On Wednesday, 15th July 2026, Koen Bostoen (BantUGent)  gave a keynote lecture titled ‘The Comparative Method Does Not Need Decolonization’.

During the celebration of International Swahili Language Day (July 7) at the UNESCO headquarters, Paris, Ghent University has been awarded a prize to recognize and appreciate its unique contribution to promoting and developing Swahili in Belgium and Europe through teaching and research.  Koen Bostoen (BantUGent) ,  students Lies Van Hoey and Tanne Naessens and PhD student Aron Zahran (BantUGent) received a certificate of recognition from the Prime Minister of Tanzania, His Excellency Dr. Mwigulu Lameck Nchemba. Unfortunately, our other Swahili teachers  Maud Devos (BantUGent) and Gundelinda Shayo were unable to attend.

Lis Kerr gave an invited talk titled “OV/VO variation within a genealogical subgroup: The case of Mbam Bantu” at the West African Word Order Workshop (WAWOW) at CNRS-LLACAN, 6^th July 2026:

In June 2026, Hilde Gunnink conducted two weeks of linguistic fieldwork in South Africa and Lesotho, funded by FWO (grant # K229826N). She collected data for her ongoing FWO-funded project “Language contact and linguistic reconstruction. (Pre)historic Bantu-Khoisan interactions in Southern Africa in a historical linguistic perspective”. She interviewed 34 Sesotho speakers from different areas in South Africa and Lesotho in collaboration with linguists from South Africa, Ntebogeng Shongwe and Edled Lekhela, and from Lesotho, Amina Moosa. The interviews were targeted at understanding variation in the realization of clicks in Sesotho, challenging the standard view of Sesotho as only using an alveolar click type. The preliminary data suggest far more individual variation in Sesotho phonology than previously reported, with many speakers interchanging alveolar and dental clicks. The results will be presented at the conference of the Southern African Linguistics and Applied Linguistics Society (SALALS) in September 2026. In addition, she collected data on South African English, in order to investigate the possible influence of tonal depression on the prosody of South African English.

• Banto3d: The Bantoid diminutive suffix from a comparative and typological perspective (with Maarten Mous, Leiden University)
• ACAL57: Testing for phonetic correlates of stem-initial prominence in Mbam Bantu

In the first two weeks of May 2026, BantUGent PhD students Edward Ntonda and Aron Zahran hosted a workshop in Luangwa (Zambia) for the promotion and preservation of the Chikunda language and culture.

The workshop was funded by the UGent Global Minds Fund and was organised in collaboration with local partners BiLTA, Lusaka National Museum, and Chikunda community members and language activists from Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The goal of the workshop has been to:
1. Document Chikunda history and cultural heritage
2. Produce Chikunda literary materials including booklets about tangible and intangible culture heritage such as historical sites, artifacts, stories, riddles, proverbs, and dances.
3. Produce Chikunda literary materials for children about topics related to sustainability, such as health and environmental issues.
4. Promoting cross-border unity and collaborations between Chikunda communities in Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Various invitees attended the workshop to give speeches and presentations, including
– Lawrence Shawa, Mayor of Luangwa Town Council
– Joseph Feremenga, President of Luangwa Establishment (association for the promotion of Chikunda and Nsenga cultural heritage)
– Reverend Dr. Gervazious Tizola Tembo, Team administrator of BiLTA Luangwa
– Precious Chisanga, Senior curator at Lusaka National Museum
– Traditional doctors, spirit mediums, and community elders.

The Chikunda language is unrecognised in the constitutions of the three countries where it is spoken. Hopefully this initiative will be a stepping stone towards recognition and increasing cultural pride of the Chikunda.