<P> A characteristic feature of most Niger--Congo languages, including the Bantu languages, is their use of tone . They generally lack case inflection, but grammatical gender is characteristic, with some languages having two dozen genders (noun classes). The root of the verb tends to remain unchanged, with either particles or auxiliary verbs expressing tenses and moods . For example, in a number of languages the infinitival is the auxiliary designating the future . </P> <P> A typical trait in the Niger - Kordofanian family as a group is the division of nouns . This has been juxtaposed with the gender system of the Indo - European languages . </P> <P> Before the expansion of Bantu - speaking farmers, Central, Southern and Southeast Africa were populated by Pygmy foragers, Khoisan - speaking hunter - gatherers, Nilo - Saharan - speaking herders, and Cushitic - speaking pastoralists . </P> <P> It is thought that Central African Pygmies and Bantus branched out from a common ancestral population c. 70,000 years ago . Many Batwa groups speak Bantu languages; however, a considerable portion of their vocabulary is not Bantu in origin . Much of this vocabulary is botanical, deals with honey collecting, or is otherwise specialised for the forest and is shared between western Batwa groups . It has been proposed that this is the remnant of an independent western Batwa (Mbenga or "Baaka") language . </P>

As the bantu peoples began to migrate out of west africa