This book brings together a collection of papers focusing on the tonal systems of the Bantu languages of sub-Saharan Africa. These papers are alike in their attempt to fuse the description of Bantu tone with linguistic theory, but at the same time reflect a range of such theoretical perspectives (autosegmental phonology, lexical phonology, optimality theory, optimal domains theory). Much new descriptive material is to be found in this collection, as well as attempts to bring Bantu tonology to bear on critical issues of phonological theory. This book provides new theoretical insights and analyses of the complexities known to characterize Bantu tone systems. New insights into the treatment of long-distance tonal effects, tonal domains, depressor consonants, and other issues known through the autosegmental and metrical literature on tone are highlighted.