Teke languages

The Teke languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken by the Teke people in the western Congo and in Gabon. They are coded Zone B.70 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the Teke languages apart from West Teke form a valid node with Tende (part of B.80):^[1]

Tsege

Teghe (Tɛgɛ, North Teke)

Ngungwel (Ngungulu, NE Teke) – Central Teke (Njyunjyu/Ndzindziu, Boo/Boma/Eboo)

Tio (Bali) – East Teke (Mosieno, Ng'ee/Ŋee)

Kukwa (Kukuya, South Teke)

Fuumu (South Teke) – Wuumu (Wumbu)

Tiene (B.80)

Mfinu (B.80)

Mpuono (B.80)

Teke
Ethnicity	Teke people
Geographic distribution	Central reaches of the Congo River and adjacent areas
Linguistic classification	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu (Zone B.70) Teke–Mbere? Teke
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tek
Glottolog	kasa1251

Pacchiarotti et al. (2019) retain West Teke and include additional B.80 languages:^[2]

Teke (Kasai–Ngounie)

• Boma Nkuu
• Wuumu-Mpuono
• Mfinu
• Kwa South: East Teke
• Kwa–Kasai North
  • Boma Yumu
  • Sakata
  • Tiinic: Boma Nord, Kempee, Tiene
  • Central Kasai–Ngounie
    • Ngungwel, Central Teke (Teke-Eboo-Nzikou)
    • Interior Kasai–Ngounie
      • Teke-Fuumu
      • Teke-Kukuya
      • Teke-Tyee
      • West Kasai–Ngounie
        • Teke-Tsaayi
        • Mbere: Kaningi, Ndumu, Latege, Mbere-Mbamba, Tchitchege
        • Teke-Laali, Yaka, Njebi, Tsaangi, Duma, Wandji, Vili of Ngounie

Footnotes

1. Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard, eds. (2003). The Bantu languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780700711345.
2. Sara Pacchiarotti, Natalia Chousou-Polydouri & Koen Bostoen (2019) 'Untangling the West-Coastal Bantu mess: identification, geography and phylogeny of the Bantu B50–80 languages.' Africana Linguistica 21: 87–162.