Key features of Afrolangs

[ltrout99]

I'm thinking about starting an a priori Afrolang soon and I just wanted to find out what some of the main features of African Languages are. (Also, I am thinking about it being a Bantu language with a lot of influence from Semitic Languages)

Here is the features I have found so far:

1) Large vowel inventory (Most of the languages either have a lot of vowels or very little vowels, nothing in between usually).
2) Vowel Harmony &/or Tone
3) Reduplication
4) (V)CV(CV) Word structure (A word ending in a consonant is not permissible in the Bantu Languages)
5) Noun classes (Humans, animate, plants, inanimate, etc.) NO GENDER
6) No front-rounded Vowels

What are some features of the phonology and/or the grammar of Bantu Languages that you know?

[Vlürch]

Clicks...? But if it's going to be so similar to Bantu languages that your intention is to make it Bantuish, wouldn't it be an a posteriori conlang rather than a priori?

[ltrout99]

Clicks...? But if it's going to be so similar to Bantu languages that your intention is to make it Bantuish, wouldn't it be an a posteriori conlang rather than a priori?

I'm mainly going to base only the grammar off of Bantu Languages. I'll be using at least 90% a priori vocabulary.

[vijayjohn]

Lots of suffixes

Agreement for noun class on adjectives, verbs, quantifiers (or at least 'all'), the particle meaning 'of' (at least in Swahili...), and native numerals below ten

Place-markers (e.g. Swahili yuko wapi 'where is he/she?' where -ko indicates indefinite location and is used for asking where something is, whereas -po refers to definite location e.g. yupo posta 'he's at the post office', and -mo refers to location inside e.g. yumo posta 'he's in the post office')

Applicative voice marker

Widespread use of stative verbs (e.g. 'be full up')