Malcolm Guthrie
Malcolm Guthrie (
February 10,
1903 –
November 22,
1972), professor of
Bantu languages, is known primarily for his classification of Bantu languages (Guthrie 1971). The classification, although certainly not undisputed, is still the most widely used.
Malcolm Guthrie was born in
Hove,
Sussex,
England, the son of a
Scottish father and
Dutch mother.
The magnum opus of Guthrie is
Comparative Bantu which appeared in 4 volumes published in 1967 (volume 1), 1970 (volumes 3 and 4), and 1971 (volume 2). The 4 volumes provide not only a genetic classification but also a reconstruction of
Proto-Bantu as the
Proto-language of the
Bantu language family. For his reconstruction, Guthrie drew data from 28 so-called 'test languages' that were picked more or less randomly. It has been argued, for example by Möhlig, that this renders his reconstruction unreliable, since the reconstructed forms, and hence the genetic tree, would be different if one changes the selection of languages.
Guthrie also published extensively on a wide range of Bantu languages, including
Lingala,
Bemba,
Mfinu, and
Teke.
*
Achilles Emile Meeussen* Guthrie, Malcolm (1948)
The classification of the Bantu languages. London: Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.
* Guthrie, Malcolm (1967â€"71)
Comparative Bantu: an introduction to the comparative linguistics and prehistory of the Bantu languages. 4 vols. Farnborough: Gregg Press.
* Möhlig, Wilhelm J.G. (1974) ‘Guthries Beitrag zur Bantuistik aus heutiger Sicht',
Anthropos, 71, 673-715.
