Semi-Bantu or Semibantu is an outdated term used for specific inhabitants of the
Western grassfields
The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...
of
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
(portions of the
Adamawa,
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
,
Northwest, and
Southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
regions), who speak languages that have certain characteristics to the
Bantu language family, but they're excluded from them. The people themselves are considered ethnically divergent from other
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
peoples of
central and
southern Africa.
[Blench, Roger (2011). "'The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu" (PDF). Berlin: Humboldt University. p. 16.]
When these ethnic groups migrated into northern Cameroon, their languages were influenced by the languages of both
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
-speaking ethnic groups in the forests to the south and of the
Benue-Congo-speaking peoples of the savannas to the north.
References
* Neba, Aaron (1999). ''Modern Geography of the Republic of Cameroon,'' 3rd ed. Bamenda: Neba Publishers.
Languages of Cameroon
Languages of Nigeria
Bantoid languages
{{Bantoid-lang-stub