This study investigated the encoding of animate/inanimate distinctions in the pronominal systems of a variety of Bantu languages. Various encoding strategies are found to suggest that there is a strong syntactic opposition between animate and inanimate object markers in Bantu languages. Restricted positions and obligatory presence are particularly important for object markers with animate referents. The nature of these strategies suggests a possible historical account of the origin of object markers in Bantu languages: object markers arose as a result of the pressure to mark, formally, object noun phrases with animate referents. (Author/MSE)