title: Changing language, remaining pygmy.
abstract: In this article I am illustrating the linguistic diversity of African Pygmy populations in order to better address their anthropological diversity and history. I am also introducing a new method, based on the analysis of specialized vocabulary, to reconstruct the substratum of some languages they speak. I show that Pygmy identity is not based on their languages, which have often been borrowed from neighboring non-Pygmy farmer communities with whom each Pygmy group is linked. Understanding the nature of this partnership, quite variable in history, is essential to addressing Pygmy languages, identity, and history. Finally, I show that only a multidisciplinary approach is likely to push forward the understanding of African Pygmy societies as genetic, archeological, anthropological, and ethnological evidence suggest.
authors.affiliation: Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Unité de recherche éco-anthropologie et ethnobiologie (UMR 7206 MNHN-CNRS-Université Paris Diderot) CP 135, 57 Rue Cuvier, 75,005 Paris, France. bahuchet@mnhn.fr
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bahuchet
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000383:Agriculture / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D044383:Black People / Q000235:genetics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000235:genetics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005828:Genetics, Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language