The Majority of Spoken African Languages Descend From Which Language Family?

Big linguistic communication family of Sub-Saharan Africa

Niger–Congo
Niger–Kordofanian
(Hypothetical)
Geographic distribution	Africa
Linguistic classification	Proposed language family unit
Proto-language	Proto-Niger–Congo linguistic communication
Subdivisions	Dogon? Mande? Ijoid? Lafofa? (Kordofanian?) Kru? Siamou? Atlantic–Congo (noun classes)
ISO 639-2 / 5	nic
Glottolog	None
Map showing the distribution of major Niger–Congo languages. Pink-red is the Bantu subfamily.

Niger-Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa.^[1] Information technology unites the Mande languages (a family with a similar level of diversity as the Indo-European languages), the Atlantic-Congo languages (which share a feature noun-class organization), and possibly several smaller groups of languages that are difficult to classify. If valid, Niger-Congo would be the world's largest in terms of member languages, the tertiary-largest in terms of speakers, and Africa'southward largest in terms of geographical surface area.^[2] It is generally considered to be the world's largest language family in terms of the number of distinct languages,^{[three] [4]} just ahead of Austronesian, although this is complicated past the ambivalence nigh what constitutes a distinct language; the number of named Niger–Congo languages listed by Ethnologue is 1,540.^[five]

If proven valid, it would be the third-largest language family in the world by number of native speakers, comprising around 700 million people every bit of 2015. Inside Niger-Congo, the Bantu languages solitary account for 350 million people (2015), or half the total Niger-Congo speaking population. The about widely spoken Niger–Congo languages past number of native speakers are Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, Shona, Sesotho and Zulu. The most widely spoken past the total number of speakers is Swahili, which is used equally a lingua franca in parts of eastern and southeastern Africa.^[2]

While the ultimate genetic unity of the core of Niger-Congo (called Atlantic-Congo) is widely accepted, the internal cladistic structure is non well established. Other primary branches may include Dogon, Mande, Ijo, Katla and Rashad. The connectedness of the Mande languages particularly has never been demonstrated, and without them, the validity of Niger-Congo family unit as a whole (as opposed to Atlantic-Congo or a like subfamily) has not been established.

One of the most distinctive characteristics common to Atlantic-Congo languages is the utilise of a substantive-course system, which is essentially a gender system with multiple genders.^[6]

Origin [edit]

The language family unit about likely originated in or about the area where these languages were spoken prior to Bantu expansion (i.e. Westward Africa or Cardinal Africa). Its expansion may have been associated with the expansion of Sahel agriculture in the African Neolithic period, post-obit the desiccation of the Sahara in c. 3500 BCE.^{[seven] [viii]}

Co-ordinate to Roger Blench (2004), all specialists in Niger–Congo languages believe the languages to have a common origin, rather than merely constituting a typological classification, for reasons including their shared noun-grade system, shared verbal extensions and shared basic dictionary.^[9] Similar classifications to Niger-Congo have been made ever since Diedrich Westermann in 1922.^[x] Joseph Greenberg continued that tradition, making it the starting signal for mod linguistic classification in Africa, with some of his about notable publications going to press starting in the 1960s.^[11] Nevertheless, in that location has been active debate for many decades over the appropriate subclassifications of the languages in this language family, which is a primal tool used in localising a language's place of origin.^[12] No definitive "Proto-Niger-Congo" lexicon or grammar has been developed for the language family as a whole.

An of import unresolved issue in determining the time and place where the Niger–Congo languages originated and their range prior to recorded history is this language family unit's relationship to the Kordofanian languages, now spoken in the Nuba mountains of Sudan, which is non contiguous with the residuum of the Niger-Congo-language-speaking region and is at the northeasternmost extent of the electric current Niger-Congo linguistic region. The current prevailing linguistic view is that Kordofanian languages are role of the Niger-Congo language family and that these may exist the first of the many languages still spoken in that region to have been spoken in the region.^[13] The evidence is insufficient to determine if this outlier group of Niger-Congo language speakers represents a prehistoric range of a Niger-Congo linguistic region that has since contracted as other languages have intruded, or if instead, this represents a group of Niger-Congo language speakers who migrated to the area at some point in prehistory where they were an isolated linguistic community from the showtime.

There is more agreement regarding the place of origin of Benue-Congo, the largest subfamily of the grouping. Within Benue-Congo, the place of origin of the Bantu languages as well as fourth dimension at which it started to expand is known with great specificity. Cringe (2004), relying especially on prior piece of work by Kay Williamson and P. De Wolf, argued that Benue-Congo probably originated at the confluence of the Benue and Niger Rivers in cardinal Nigeria.^{[9] [14] [fifteen] [16] [17] [eighteen]} These estimates of the place of origin of the Benue-Congo linguistic communication family exercise not fix a appointment for the start of that expansion, other than that it must have been sufficiently prior to the Bantu expansion to allow for the diversification of the languages within this language family that includes Bantu.

The nomenclature of the relatively divergent family of the Ubangian languages, centred in the Central African Commonwealth, every bit part of the Niger-Congo language family unit is disputed. Ubangian was grouped with Niger-Congo by Greenberg (1963), and later authorities concurred,^[19] but it was questioned by Dimmendaal (2008).^[20]

The Bantu expansion, beginning effectually chiliad BC, swept beyond much of Central and Southern Africa, leading to the absorption and extinction of many of the indigenous Pygmy and Bushmen (Khoisan) populations there.^[21]

Major branches [edit]

The following is an overview of the language groups usually included in Niger-Congo. The genetic relationship of some branches is not universally accustomed, and the cladistic connection between those who are accepted as related may also be unclear.

The core phylum of the Niger-Congo group are the Atlantic-Congo languages. The non-Atlantic-Congo languages within Niger-Congo are grouped as Dogon, Mande, Ijo (sometimes with Defaka as Ijoid), Katla and Rashad.

Atlantic-Congo [edit]

Atlantic-Congo combines the Atlantic languages, which do not form 1 branch, and Volta-Congo. It comprises more than eighty% of the Niger-Congo speaking population, or shut to 600 million people (2015).

The proposed Savannas grouping combines Adamawa, Ubangian and Gur. Exterior of the Savannas grouping, Volta-Congo comprises Kru, Kwa (or "W Kwa"), Volta-Niger (also "East Kwa" or "West Benue-Congo") and Benue-Congo (or "Due east Benue-Congo"). Volta-Niger includes the two largest languages of Nigeria, Yoruba and Igbo. Benue-Congo includes the Southern Bantoid grouping, which is dominated by the Bantu languages, which business relationship for 350 1000000 people (2015), or half the full Niger-Congo speaking population.

The strict genetic unity of any of these subgroups may themselves be under dispute. For instance, Roger Blench (2012) argued that Adamawa, Ubangian, Kwa, Bantoid, and Bantu are non coherent groups.^[22]

Although the Kordofanian branch is generally included in the Niger–Congo languages, some researchers do not agree with its inclusion. Glottolog 3.4 (2019)^[23] does not accept that the Kordofanian branches (Lafofa, Talodi and Heiban) or the difficult-to-allocate Laal language have been demonstrated to be Atlantic-Congo languages. Information technology otherwise accepts the family but not its inclusion within a broader Niger-Congo. Glottolog besides considers Ijoid, Mande, and Dogon to be independent language phyla that have not been demonstrated to be related to each other.

The Atlantic-Congo group is characterised by the substantive class systems of its languages. Atlantic-Congo largely corresponds to Mukarovsky'south "Western Nigritic" phylum.^[24]

Atlantic

The polyphyletic Atlantic group accounts for nigh 35 one thousand thousand speakers as of 2016, mostly accounted for by Fula and Wolof speakers. Atlantic is not considered to constitute a valid grouping.

• Senegambian languages: includes Wolof, spoken in Senegal, and Fula, spoken across the Sahel.
• Bak languages, sometimes grouped with Senegambian
• Mel languages
• Limba linguistic communication
• Gola linguistic communication

Volta-Congo

• N-Volta
  • Kru: languages of the Kru people in W Africa; includes Bété, Nyabwa, and Dida.
  • Adamawa-Ubangi:
    • Adamawa: close to 100 languages and dialects scattered across the Adamawa Plateau, spoken by an estimated total of one.6 million as of 1996; the largest is Mumuye, accounting for about a quarter of Adamawa speakers.
    • Ubangian: a group of minor languages spoken in the Central African Republic. May exist an independent family unit or grouped with Adamawa as "Adamawa-Ubangi".
  • Gur: most 70 languages spoken in the Sahel and Savanna regions of W Africa, bookkeeping for some xx meg speakers (2010). The largest language of this group is Mossi (More, Mòoré), with nearly 8 1000000 speakers as of 2010. Gur and Adamawa-Ubangi have also been grouped as Savannas languages.
  • Senufo: languages of the Senufo people (about 3 million speakers as of 2010), spoken in Cote d'ivoire and Republic of mali, with a geographical outlier in Ghana; includes Senari and Supyire. Senufo has been placed traditionally within Gur but is now usually considered an early on offshoot from Atlantic-Congo.
• South-Volta
  • Kwa: a divergent linkage^[25] of languages of uncertain genetic unity, spoken along the Ivory Coast, beyond southern Ghana and in primal Togo, with a total of some 40 one thousand thousand speakers (2010s). The largest linguistic communication in this group is Akan, spoken in Republic of ghana, with well-nigh 22 million speakers as of 2014, followed by Twi (9 million in 2015).
  • Volta-Niger (besides known as "Due west Benue-Congo" or "E Kwa"): a large linkage^[25] of Due west African languages, accounting for roughly 110–120 meg speakers (late 2010s).
    • Gbe: spoken in Republic of ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, of which Ewe (vii one thousand thousand speakers in 2017) is the largest and best known.
    • " YEAI ": a large group of languages centred on Nigeria, accounting for about 100 1000000 speakers (belatedly 2010s)
      • Yoruboid: 50 million speakers (2010s), including Yoruba (c. 40 million 2017)
      • Edoid: including Edo (24 million 2010s)
      • Akoko
      • Igboid: including Igbo (24 1000000 2011)
    • " NOI ":
      • Nupoid: c. three one thousand thousand (c. 1990 estimates)
      • Oko: a minor dialect continuum spoken in Kogi Country
      • Idomoid: group of languages of central Nigeria, including Idoma with ane to 2 1000000 speakers (2010s)
    • Ayere-Ahan (moribund or extinct)
  • Benue-Congo linkage^[25] (East Benue-Congo)
    • Bantoid-Cantankerous:
      • Cross River
      • Northern Bantoid:
        • Dakoid?
        • Fam?
        • Tikar?
        • Mambiloid
      • Bendi
      • Southern Bantoid: includes the far-flung Bantu languages spread across Sub-Saharan Africa in the Bantu expansion from c. k BCE to 500 CE.
        • Tivoid-Beboid: a large range of languages of southwestern Republic of cameroon and southeastern Nigeria: Tivoid, Esimbi, East Beboid, West Beboid?, Momo?, Furu?, Buru?, Menchum?
        • Ekoid-Mbe
        • Mamfe
        • Grassfields
        • Jarawan-Mbam
        • Bantu: divided into Guthrie zones A–South, for a full of between 250 and 550 named languages.
    • Primal Nigerian (Platoid): Jukunoid, Kainji, Plateau
    • other languages unclassified within Benue-Congo: Ukaan, Fali of Baissa, Tita.

Other [edit]

The putative Niger–Congo languages exterior of the Atlantic-Congo family are centred in the upper Senegal and Niger river basins, s and westward of Timbuktu (Mande, Dogon), the Niger Delta (Ijoid), and far to the eastward in south-key Sudan, around the Nuba Mountains (the Kordofanian families). They account for a total population of virtually 100 million (2015), mostly Mandé and Ijaw.

• Dogon: languages of the Dogon people of Republic of mali, estimated at 1.vi 1000000 every bit of 2013. May take a noun-form arrangement related to the Atlantic-Congo languages.
• Ijoid: Ijaw, the languages of the Ijaw people (14 million as of 2011), plus the moribund Defaka language
• Mande: languages of the Mandé peoples, estimated at 70 1000000 as of 2016
• Bangime, spoken in Dogon land but seemingly unrelated to Dogon. May show bear witness of a Nilo-Saharan substrate.
• Siamou, one time classified as Kru

"Kordofanian" [edit]

The various Kordofanian languages are spoken in southward-fundamental Sudan, around the Nuba Mountains. "Kordofanian" is a geographic grouping, not a genetic i, named for the Kordofan region. These are small languages, spoken by a total of nearly 100,000 people according to 1980s estimates. Katla and Rashad languages show isoglosses with Benue-Congo that the other families lack.^[26]

• Talodi languages
• Heiban languages
• Lafofa languages
• Rashad languages
• Katla languages

The endangered or extinct Laal, Mpre and Jalaa languages are often assigned to Niger-Congo.

• 

  Overview map

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  Overview map of Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon

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  Tabular array of demographic estimates in the same color lawmaking equally the maps (est. 400 1000000 speakers every bit of 2007)

Classification history [edit]

Early classifications [edit]

Niger-Congo equally it is known today was merely gradually recognized as a linguistic unit. In early on classifications of the languages of Africa, one of the main criteria used to distinguish different groupings was the languages' utilise of prefixes to classify nouns, or the lack thereof. A major advance came with the piece of work of Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle, who in his 1854 Polyglotta Africana attempted a careful nomenclature, the groupings of which in quite a number of cases correspond to modern groupings. An early sketch of the extent of Niger-Congo every bit one linguistic communication family can be found in Koelle's observation, echoed in Bleek (1856), that the Atlantic languages used prefixes just like many Southern African languages. Subsequent work of Bleek, and some decades later the comparative work of Meinhof, solidly established Bantu as a linguistic unit of measurement.

In many cases, wider classifications employed a blend of typological and racial criteria. Thus, Friedrich Müller, in his ambitious nomenclature (1876–88), separated the 'Negro' and Bantu languages. Also, the Africanist Karl Richard Lepsius considered Bantu to be of African origin, and many 'Mixed Negro languages' as products of an encounter between Bantu and intruding Asiatic languages.

In this period a relation between Bantu and languages with Bantu-like (simply less consummate) noun class systems began to sally. Some authors saw the latter equally languages which had not however completely evolved to total Bantu condition, whereas others regarded them equally languages which had partly lost original features still plant in Bantu. The Bantuist Meinhof made a major distinction between Bantu and a 'Semi-Bantu' group which according to him was originally of the unrelated Sudanic stock.

Westermann, Greenberg, and others [edit]

Westermann'southward 1911 Dice Sudansprachen: Eine sprachvergleichende Studie laid much of the basis for the understanding of Niger-Congo.

Westermann, a pupil of Meinhof, set out to establish the internal classification of the then Sudanic languages. In a 1911 piece of work he established a basic division betwixt 'E' and 'West'. A historical reconstruction of West Sudanic was published in 1927, and in his 1935 'Charakter und Einteilung der Sudansprachen' he conclusively established the human relationship between Bantu and West Sudanic.

Joseph Greenberg took Westermann'due south work every bit a starting-point for his own nomenclature. In a series of articles published betwixt 1949 and 1954, he argued that Westermann's 'West Sudanic' and Bantu formed a single genetic family, which he named Niger-Congo; that Bantu constituted a subgroup of the Benue-Congo co-operative; that Adamawa-Eastern, previously non considered to be related, was another member of this family unit; and that Fula belonged to the Westward Atlantic languages. Just before these articles were nerveless in final book form (The Languages of Africa) in 1963, he amended his classification by adding Kordofanian as a branch co-ordinate with Niger-Congo every bit a whole; consequently, he renamed the family Congo-Kordofanian, subsequently Niger-Kordofanian. Greenberg's piece of work on African languages, though initially greeted with scepticism, became the prevailing view among scholars.^[19]

Bennet and Sterk (1977) presented an internal reclassification based on lexicostatistics that laid the foundation for the regrouping in Bendor-Samuel (1989). Kordofanian was presented as ane of several primary branches rather than existence coordinate to the family equally a whole, prompting re-introduction of the term Niger-Congo, which is in current use amid linguists. Many classifications continue to place Kordofanian as the most afar branch, but mainly due to negative show (fewer lexical correspondences), rather than positive evidence that the other languages course a valid genealogical group. Too, Mande is often assumed to be the 2nd-most distant branch based on its lack of the noun-class organisation prototypical of the Niger-Congo family unit. Other branches lacking any trace of the noun-class arrangement are Dogon and Ijaw, whereas the Talodi branch of Kordofanian does have cognate noun classes, suggesting that Kordofanian is too not a unitary group.

Glottolog (2013) accepts the core with noun-grade systems, the Atlantic-Congo languages, apart from the recent inclusion of some of the Kordofanian groups, but not Niger-Congo as a whole. They list the post-obit as separate families: Atlantic-Congo, Mande, Dogon, Ijoid, Lafofa, Katla-Tima, Heiban, Talodi, and Rashad.

Oxford Handbooks Online (2016) has indicated that the continuing reassessment of Niger-Congo'south "internal structure is due largely to the preliminary nature of Greenberg's classification, explicitly based every bit it was on a methodology that doesn't produce proofs for genetic affiliations between languages but rather aims at identifying "likely candidates."...The ongoing descriptive and documentary work on individual languages and their varieties, greatly expanding our knowledge on formerly little-known linguistic regions, is helping to identify clusters and units that allow for the application of the historical-comparative method. Only the reconstruction of lower-level units, instead of "big motion-picture show" contributions based on mass comparison, tin help to verify (or disprove) our present concept of Niger-Congo as a genetic grouping consisting of Benue-Congo plus Volta-Niger, Kwa, Adamawa plus Gur, Kru, the so-called Kordofanian languages, and probably the language groups traditionally classified as Atlantic."^[27]

The coherence of Niger-Congo as a language phylum is supported by Grollemund, et al. (2016), using computational phylogenetic methods.^[28] The East/West Volta-Congo division, West/East Benue-Congo division, and Northward/Due south Bantoid division are not supported, whereas a Bantoid grouping consisting of Ekoid, Bendi, Dakoid, Jukunoid, Tivoid, Mambiloid, Beboid, Mamfe, Tikar, Grassfields, and Bantu is supported.

The Automated Similarity Judgment Program (ASJP) also groups many Niger-Congo branches together.

Dimmendaal, Crevels, and Muysken (2020) stated: "Greenberg's hypothesis of Niger-Congo phylum has sometimes been taken every bit an established fact rather than a hypothesis awaiting further proof, but there have also been attempts to look at his argumentation in more than item. Much of the discussion concerning Niger-Congo after Greenberg's seminal contribution in fact centered effectually the inclusion or exclusion of specific languages or linguistic communication groups."^[29]

Reconstruction [edit]

The dictionary of Proto-Niger–Congo (or Proto-Atlantic–Congo) has not been comprehensively reconstructed, although Konstantin Pozdniakov reconstructed the numeral organization of Proto-Niger-Congo in 2018.^[xxx] The near extensive reconstructions of lower-order Niger–Congo branches include several reconstructions of Proto-Bantu, which has consequently had a asymmetric influence on conceptions of what Proto-Niger-Congo may take been like. The only stage higher than Proto-Bantu that has been reconstructed is a pilot project by Stewart, who since the 1970s has reconstructed the common ancestor of the Potou-Tano and Bantu languages, without so far considering the hundreds of other languages which presumably descend from that same antecedent.^[31]

Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan [edit]

Over the years, several linguists have suggested a link between Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan, probably starting with Westermann's comparative work on the "Sudanic" family in which 'Eastern Sudanic' (now classified equally Nilo-Saharan) and 'Western Sudanic' (at present classified as Niger-Congo) were united. Gregersen (1972) proposed that Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan be united into a larger phylum, which he termed Kongo-Saharan. His bear witness was mainly based on the dubiety in the classification of Songhay, morphological resemblances, and lexical similarities. A more recent proponent was Roger Cringe (1995), who puts forward phonological, morphological and lexical testify for uniting Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan in a Niger-Saharan phylum, with special affinity between Niger-Congo and Cardinal Sudanic. Even so, fifteen years later his views had changed, with Blench (2011) proposing instead that the substantive-classifier system of Key Sudanic, commonly reflected in a tripartite general-singulative-plurative number system, triggered the evolution or elaboration of the noun-class system of the Atlantic-Congo languages, with tripartite number marking surviving in the Plateau and Gur languages of Niger-Congo, and the lexical similarities beingness due to loans.

Common features [edit]

Phonology [edit]

Niger–Congo languages have a clear preference for open syllables of the type CV (Consonant Vowel). The typical discussion structure of Proto-Niger-Congo (though it has not been reconstructed) is thought to have been CVCV, a structure still attested in, for example, Bantu, Mande and Ijoid - in many other branches this structure has been reduced through phonological change. Verbs are composed of a root followed by one or more extensional suffixes. Nouns consist of a root originally preceded by a noun course prefix of (C)5- shape which is often eroded by phonological change.

Consonants [edit]

Several branches of Niger-Congo have a regular phonological contrast between two classes of consonants. Pending more clarity as to the precise nature of this dissimilarity, it is commonly characterized every bit a contrast between fortis and lenis consonants.

Vowels [edit]

Many Niger–Congo languages' vowel harmony is based on the [ATR] (advanced natural language root) feature. In this type of vowel harmony, the position of the root of the tongue in regards to backness is the phonetic basis for the distinction between 2 harmonizing sets of vowels. In its fullest form, this type involves two classes, each of v vowels:

[+ATR]	[−ATR]
[i]	[ɪ][32]
[e]	[ɛ][32]
[ə]	[a][32]
[o]	[ɔ][32]
[u]	[ʊ][32]

The roots are then divided into [+ATR] and [−ATR] categories. This feature is lexically assigned to the roots because in that location is no determiner within a normal root that causes the [ATR] value.^[33]

In that location are ii types of [ATR] vowel harmony controllers in Niger-Congo. The start controller is the root. When a root contains a [+ATR] or [−ATR] vowel, and then that value is applied to the rest of the word, which involves crossing morpheme boundaries.^[34] For case, suffixes in Wolof assimilate to the [ATR] value of the root to which they adhere. Some examples of these suffixes that alternate depending on the root are:

[+ATR]	[−ATR]	Purpose
-le	-lɛ	'participant' [33]
-o	-ɔ	'nominalizing' [33]
-əl	-al	'benefactive' [33]

Furthermore, the directionality of assimilation in [ATR] root-controlled vowel harmony need not be specified. The root features [+ATR] and [−ATR] spread left and/or right as needed, so that no vowel would lack a specification and exist ill-formed.^[35]

Unlike in the root-controlled harmony organization, where the two [ATR] values comport symmetrically, a large number of Niger–Congo languages exhibit a blueprint where the [+ATR] value is more agile or dominant than the [−ATR] value.^[36] This results in the 2nd vowel harmony controller beingness the [+ATR] value. If there is fifty-fifty i vowel that is [+ATR] in the whole word, then the rest of the vowels harmonize with that feature. All the same, if there is no vowel that is [+ATR], the vowels appear in their underlying form.^[34] This grade of vowel harmony control is best exhibited in Due west African languages. For case, in Nawuri, the diminutive suffix /-bi/ will cause the underlying [−ATR] vowels in a word to get phonetically [+ATR].^[36]

In that location are two types of vowels which touch the harmony process. These are known equally neutral or opaque vowels. Neutral vowels practise non harmonize to the [ATR] value of the word, and instead maintain their own [ATR] value. The vowels that follow them, however, will receive the [ATR] value of the root. Opaque vowels maintain their own [ATR] value also, but they affect the harmony process behind them. All of the vowels following an opaque vowel volition harmonize with the [ATR] value of the opaque vowel instead of the [ATR] vowel of the root.^[33]

The vowel inventory listed above is a x-vowel language. This is a linguistic communication in which all of the vowels of the language participate in the harmony system, producing 5 harmonic pairs. Vowel inventories of this type are notwithstanding plant in some branches of Niger-Congo, for instance in the Ghana Togo Mountain languages.^[37] However, this is the rarer inventory as oftentimes there are one or more vowels that are not part of a harmonic pair. This has resulted in vii-and nine-vowel systems being the more popular systems. The majority of languages with [ATR] controlled vowel harmony have either seven- or 9-vowel phonemes, with the near mutual not-participatory vowel beingness /a/.^[32] Information technology has been asserted that this is because vowel quality differences in the mid-central region where /ə/, the analogue of /a/, is found, are difficult to perceive. Another possible reason for the not-participatory status of /a/ is that there is articulatory difficulty in advancing the tongue root when the natural language torso is low in order to produce a low [+ATR] vowel.^[38] Therefore, the vowel inventory for nine-vowel languages is more often than not:

[+ATR]	[−ATR]
[i]	[ɪ]
[e]	[ɛ]
	[a]
[o]	[ɔ]
[u]	[ʊ]

And seven-vowel languages have ane of ii inventories:

[+ATR]	[−ATR]
[i]	[ɪ]
	[ɛ]
	[a]
	[ɔ]
[u]	[ʊ]

[+ATR]	[−ATR]
[i]
[e]	[ɛ]
	[a]
[o]	[ɔ]
[u]

Notation that in the nine-vowel language, the missing vowel is, in fact, [ə], [a]'south counterpart, every bit would be expected.^[39]

The fact that ten vowels take been reconstructed for proto-Ijoid has led to the hypothesis that the original vowel inventory of Niger-Congo was a total 10-vowel arrangement.^{[40] [41] [42]} On the other hand, Stewart, in contempo comparative piece of work, reconstructs a vii-vowel system for his proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu.^[43]

Nasality [edit]

Several scholars accept documented a contrast betwixt oral and nasal vowels in Niger-Congo.^[44] In his reconstruction of proto-Volta-Congo, Steward (1976) postulates that nasal consonants have originated under the influence of nasal vowels; this hypothesis is supported by the fact that at that place are several Niger–Congo languages that have been analysed equally lacking nasal consonants altogether. Languages like this have nasal vowels accompanied with complementary distribution between oral and nasal consonants before oral and nasal vowels. Subsequent loss of the nasal/oral dissimilarity in vowels may outcome in nasal consonants condign part of the phoneme inventory. In all cases reported to engagement, the bilabial /k/ is the starting time nasal consonant to exist phonologized. Niger-Congo thus invalidates two common assumptions about nasals:^[45] that all languages accept at to the lowest degree i primary nasal consonant, and that if a language has only one primary nasal consonant it is /n/.

Niger–Congo languages commonly show fewer nasalized than oral vowels. Kasem, a linguistic communication with a ten-vowel system employing ATR vowel harmony, has 7 nasalized vowels. Similarly, Yoruba has seven oral vowels and only 5 nasal ones. However, the linguistic communication of Zialo has a nasal equivalent for each of its vii oral vowels.

Tone [edit]

The large majority of present-day Niger–Congo languages are tonal. A typical Niger-Congo tone system involves two or 3 contrastive level tones. Four-level systems are less widespread, and v-level systems are rare. Simply a few Niger–Congo languages are non-tonal; Swahili is perhaps the best known, simply within the Atlantic branch some others are institute. Proto-Niger-Congo is idea to take been a tone linguistic communication with 2 contrastive levels. Synchronic and comparative-historical studies of tone systems show that such a basic system can easily develop more than tonal contrasts under the influence of depressor consonants or through the introduction of a downstep.^{[ commendation needed ]} Languages which have more tonal levels tend to use tone more than for lexical and less for grammatical contrasts.

Contrastive levels of tone in some Niger–Congo languages

Tones	Languages
H, L	Dyula-Bambara, Maninka, Temne, Dogon, Dagbani, Gbaya, Efik, Lingala
H, M, L	Yakuba, Nafaanra, Kasem, Banda, Yoruba, Jukun, Dangme, Yukuben, Akan, Anyi, Ewe, Igbo
T, H, M, L	Gban, Wobe, Munzombo, Igede, Mambila, Fon
T, H, M, L, B	Ashuku (Benue-Congo), Dan-Santa (Mande)
PA/S	Mandinka (Senegambia), Fula, Wolof, Kimwani
none	Swahili
Abbreviations used: T top, H loftier, 1000 mid, 50 low, B lesser, PA/Due south pitch-emphasis or stress Adapted from Williamson 1989:27

Morphosyntax [edit]

Substantive nomenclature [edit]

Niger–Congo languages are known for their arrangement of substantive nomenclature, traces of which can be establish in every branch of the family just Mande, Ijoid, Dogon, and the Katla and Rashad branches of Kordofanian. These substantive-nomenclature systems are somewhat analogous to grammatical gender in other languages, but there are often a adequately big number of classes (often 10 or more), and the classes may be male person human/female person human/breathing/inanimate, or even completely gender-unrelated categories such as places, plants, abstracts, and groups of objects. For case, in Bantu, the Swahili language is called Kiswahili, while the Swahili people are Waswahili. Besides, in Ubangian, the Zande language is called Pazande, while the Zande people are called Azande.

In the Bantu languages, where substantive classification is particularly elaborate, it typically appears every bit prefixes, with verbs and adjectives marked according to the class of the noun they refer to. For example, in Swahili, watu wazuri wataenda is 'skilful (zuri) people (tu) will go (ta-enda)'.

Verbal extensions [edit]

The aforementioned Atlantic-Congo languages which have noun classes also have a set of verb applicatives and other verbal extensions, such as the reciprocal suffix -na (Swahili penda 'to love', pendana 'to love each other'; likewise applicable pendea 'to love for' and causative pendeza 'to delight').

Word club [edit]

A subject field-verb-object word lodge is quite widespread among today's Niger–Congo languages, but SOV is found in branches as divergent as Mande, Ijoid and Dogon. Equally a result, there has been quite some argue as to the bones word order of Niger-Congo.

Whereas Claudi (1993) argues for SVO on the basis of existing SVO > SOV grammaticalization paths, Gensler (1997) points out that the notion of 'basic word gild' is problematic as it excludes structures with, for example, auxiliaries. All the same, the structure SC-OC-VbStem (Subject area concord, Object concord, Verb stem) found in the "exact complex" of the SVO Bantu languages suggests an earlier SOV pattern (where the subject and object were at to the lowest degree represented by pronouns).

Noun phrases in about Niger–Congo languages are characteristically substantive-initial, with adjectives, numerals, demonstratives and genitives all coming after the noun. The major exceptions are constitute in the western^[46] areas where verb-final word club predominates and genitives precede nouns, though other modifiers yet come up afterwards. Degree words nigh ever follow adjectives, and except in verb-final languages adpositions are prepositional.

The verb-concluding languages of the Mende region have ii quite unusual discussion order characteristics. Although verbs follow their directly objects, oblique adpositional phrases (like "in the house", "with timber") typically come up later the verb,^[46] creating a SOVX word social club. Besides noteworthy in these languages is the prevalence of internally headed and correlative relative clauses, in both of which the head occurs inside the relative clause rather than the main clause.

References [edit]

1. ^ Good, Jeff (2020). "Niger-Congo, with a special focus on Benue-Congo". In Vossen, Rainer; Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 139–160. ISBN9780191007378. The term [Niger–Congo], as presently used, nonetheless, is non without its difficulties. On the i hand, it is employed as a referential label for a grouping of over 1,500 languages, putting it among the largest usually cited language groups in the earth. On the other manus, the term is also intended to embody a hypothesis of genealogical relationship between the referential NC languages that has non been proven (p.139)
2. ^ ^{a b} Irene Thompson, "Niger-Congo Language Family", "aboutworldlanguages", March 2015
3. ^ Heine, Bernd; Nurse, Derek (2000-08-03). African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 11. ISBN9780521666299.
4. ^ Ammon, Ulrich (2006). Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Scientific discipline of Language and Social club. Walter de Gruyter. p. 2036. ISBN9783110184181.
5. ^ Simons, Gary F. and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2018. Ethnologue: Languages of the Globe, Twenty-first edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
6. ^ "Niger-Congo Languages", "The Language Gulper", March 2015
7. ^ Manning, Katie; Timpson, Adrian (2014). "The demographic response to Holocene climate change in the Sahara". Quaternary Scientific discipline Reviews. 101: 28–35. Bibcode:2014QSRv..101...28M. doi:ten.1016/j.quascirev.2014.07.003.
8. ^ Igor Kopytoff, The African Borderland: The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies (1989), 9–10 (cited afer Igbo Language Roots and (Pre)-History, A Mighty Tree, 2011).
9. ^ ^{a b} Blench, Roger, The Benue-Congo languages: a proposed internal nomenclature.^{[ unreliable source? ]} "No comprehensive reconstruction has yet been done for the phylum every bit a whole, and it is sometimes suggested (e.thou. by Dixon 1997) that Niger-Congo is merely a typological and not a genetic unity. This view is not held by whatever specialists in the phylum, and reasons for thinking Niger-Congo is a truthful genetic unity will exist given in this affiliate. It is, however, true that the subclassification of the phylum has been continuously modified in contempo years and cannot be presented as an agreed scheme. The factors which have delayed reconstruction are the large number of languages, the inaccessibility of much of the data, and the paucity of able researchers committed to this field. Accent will be placed on three characteristics of Niger-Congo; noun-class systems, verbal extensions, and bones lexicon." Run into also: Bendor-Samuel, J. ed. 1989. The Niger–Congo Languages. Lanham: University Printing of America.
10. ^ Westermann, D. 1922a. Die Sprache der Guang. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
11. ^ Greenberg, J.H. 1964. Historical inferences from linguistic research in sub-Saharan Africa. Boston University Papers in African History, 1:1–15.
12. ^ Cringe, Roger. "Unpublished Working Draft" (PDF). www.rogerblench.info.
13. ^ Herman Bell. 1995. The Nuba Mountains: Who Spoke What in 1976?. (The published results from a major project of the Institute of African and Asian Studies: the Language Survey of the Nuba Mountains.)
14. ^ Williamson, K. 1971. The Benue–Congo languages and Ijo. Current Trends in Linguistics, seven. ed. T. Sebeok 245–306. The Hague: Mouton.
15. ^ Williamson, Thousand. 1988. Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of the Niger Delta. The early history of the Niger Delta, edited by E.J. Alagoa, F.N. Anozie and Due north. Nzewunwa. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
16. ^ Williamson, K. 1989. Benue–Congo Overview. In The Niger–Congo Languages. J. Bendor-Samuel ed. Lanham: University Press of America.
17. ^ De Wolf, P. 1971. The noun grade system of Proto-Benue–Congo. The Hague: Mouton.
18. ^ Cringe, R.Thou. 1989. A proposed new classification of Benue–Congo languages. Afrikanische Arbeitspapiere, Köln, 17:115–147.
19. ^ ^{a b} Williamson, Kay; Blench, Roger (2000). "Niger-Congo". In Bernd Heine; Derek Nurse (eds.). African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–12.
20. ^ Gerrit Dimmendaal (2008) "Linguistic communication Ecology and Linguistic Variety on the African Continent", Language and Linguistics Compass 2/5:841.
21. ^ Martin H. Steinberg, Disorders of Hemoglobin: Genetics, Pathophysiology, and Clinical Direction, Cambridge Academy Press, 2001, p. 717.
22. ^ "Niger-Congo: an alternative view" (PDF). Rogerblench.info. Retrieved 2012-12-29 . "Roger Blench: Niger-Congo reconstruction". Rogerblench.info. Retrieved 2012-12-29 .
23. ^ "Glottolog 3.four -". glottolog.org.
24. ^ Hans G. Mukarovsky, A Study of Western Nigritic, 2 vols. (1976–1977). Blench (2004): "Almost simultaneously [with Greenberg (1963)], Mukarovsky (1976-7) published his assay of 'Western Nigritic'. Mukarovsky'south basic theme was the relationship betwixt the reconstructions of Bantu of Guthrie and other writers and the languages of West Africa. Mukarovsky excluded Kordofanian, Mande, Ijo, Dogon, Adamawa-Ubangian and most Bantoid languages for unknown reasons, thus reconstructing an idiosyncratic grouping. Nevertheless, he buttressed his argument with an extremely valuable compilation of information, establishing the instance for Bantu/Niger-Congo genetic link beyond reasonable doubt."
25. ^ ^{a b c} Blench, Roger. 2012. Niger-Congo: an alternative view.
26. ^ Dimmendaal, Gerrit J.; Storch, Anne (2016-02-11). "Niger-Congo: A brief state of the fine art". Oxford Handbooks Online. doi:x.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.013.3. ISBN978-0-xix-993534-5 . Retrieved 2020-03-26 .
27. ^ Storch, Anne; Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (11 Feb 2016). "Niger-Congo". doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199935345.013.three. ISBN978-0-19-993534-five – via world wide web.oxfordhandbooks.com.
28. ^ Rebecca Grollemund, Simon Branford, Jean-Marie Hombert & Marker Pagel. 2016. Genetic unity of the Niger-Congo family. Towards Proto-Niger-Congo: comparing and reconstruction (2nd International Congress)
29. ^ Dimmendaal, Gerrit J.; Crevels, Mily; Muysken, Pieter (2020). Patterns of dispersal and diversification in Africa. Oxford Academy Press. p. 201. ISBN978-0-19-872381-3.
30. ^ Pozdniakov, Konstantin (2018). The numeral system of Proto-Niger-Congo: A step-past-pace reconstruction (pdf). Niger-Congo Comparative Studies. Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1311704. ISBN978-3-96110-098-9.
31. ^ Tom Gueldemann (2018) Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa, p. 146.
32. ^ ^{a b c d east f} Morton, Deborah. [ATR] Harmony in an Eleven Vowel Language. Ohio State University, 2012:seventy–71.
33. ^ ^{a b c d e} Unseth, Carla (2009). "Vowel Harmony in Wolof" (PDF). Occasional Papers in Practical Linguistics. Graduate Constitute of Practical Linguistics (2–3). Archived from the original (PDF) on September iii, 2013.
34. ^ ^{a b} Bakovic, Eric (2000). Harmony, Dominance and Command (PDF) (PhD dissertation). Rutgers, The Country University of New Bailiwick of jersey. p. ii.
35. ^ Clements, M. N. (1981). "Akan vowel harmony: A non-linear analysis". Harvard Studies in Phonology. two: 108–177.
36. ^ ^{a b} Casali, Roderic F. (2002). "Nawuri ATR Harmony in Typological Perspective" (PDF). Periodical of West African Languages. Summer Constitute of Linguistics. 29 (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on March thirty, 2014.
37. ^ Anderson, C. G. (1999). "ATR vowel harmony in Akposso" (PDF). Studies in African Linguistics. 28 (two): 185–214. doi:ten.32473/sal.v28i2.107372.
38. ^ Archangeli, Diana; Pulleyblank, Douglas (1994). Grounded Phonology. Current Studies in Linguistics. Vol. 25. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN0-262-01137-9.
39. ^ Casali, Roderic F. (2008). "ATR Harmony in African Languages". Language and Linguistics Compass. 2 (3): 496–549. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00064.x.
40. ^ Doneux, Jean Fifty. (1975). "Hypothèses cascade la comparative des langues atlantiques". Africana Linguistica. Tervuren: Musée Purple de 50'Afrique Centrale. 6: 41–129. doi:10.3406/aflin.1975.892. (Re: proto-Atlantic)
41. ^ Williamson, Kay (2000). "Towards reconstructing Proto-Niger-Congo". In Wolff, H. E.; Gensler, O. (eds.). Proceedings of the 2d World Congress of African Linguistics, Leipzig 1997. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 49–70. ISBN3-89645-124-three. (Re: proto-Ijoid)
42. ^ Stewart, John M. (1976). Towards Volta-Congo Reconstruction : Rede. Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden. ISBN90-6021-307-6, Casali, Roderic F. (1995). "On the Reduction of Vowel Systems in Volta-Congo". African Languages and Cultures. viii (two): 109–121. doi:10.1080/09544169508717790. (Re: proto-Volta-Conga)
43. ^ Stewart, John M. (2002). "The potential of Proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu as a airplane pilot Proto-Niger-Congo, and the reconstructions updated". Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. 23 (2): 197–224. doi:x.1515/jall.2002.012.
44. ^ le Saout (1973) for an early overview, Stewart (1976) for a diachronic, Volta–Congo wide analysis, Capo (1981) for a synchronic analysis of nasality in Gbe (run across Gbe languages: nasality), and Bole-Richard (1984, 1985) as cited in Williamson (1989) for similar reports on several Mande, Gur, Kru, Kwa, and Ubangi languages.
45. ^ Equally noted past Williamson (1989:24). The assumptions are from Ferguson'south (1963) 'Assumptions about nasals' in Greenberg (ed.) Universals of Language, pp fifty–60 as cited in Williamson art.cit.
46. ^ ^{a b} Haspelmath, Martin; Dryer, Matthew S.; Gil, David and Comrie, Bernard (eds.) The World Atlas of Language Structures; pp 346–385. Oxford: Oxford Academy Press, 2005. ISBN 0-19-925591-1

Farther reading [edit]

• Vic Webb (2001) African Voices: An Introduction to the Languages and Linguistics of Africa
• Bendor-Samuel, John & Rhonda 50. Hartell (eds.) (1989) The Niger-Congo Languages - A nomenclature and clarification of Africa's largest language family. Lanham, Maryland: Academy Printing of America.
• Bennett, Patrick R. & Sterk, January P. (1977) 'South Central Niger-Congo: A reclassification'. Studies in African Linguistics, 8, 241–273.
• Blench, Roger (1995) 'Is Niger-Congo simply a branch of Nilo-Saharan?'[one] In Proceedings: Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, Overnice, 1992, ed. R. Nicolai and F. Rottland, 83–130. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
• —— (2011) "Tin Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic help us understand the evolution of Niger-Congo noun classes?",[2] CALL 41, Leiden
• —— (2011) "Should Kordofanian be split up?"[3], Nuba Hills Briefing, Leiden
• Capo, Hounkpati B.C. (1981) 'Nasality in Gbe: A Synchronic Interpretation' Studies in African Linguistics, 12, 1, 1-43.
• Casali, Roderic F. (1995) 'On the Reduction of Vowel Systems in Volta-Congo', African Languages and Cultures, 8, 2, December, 109–121.
• Dimmendaal, Gerrit (2008). "Linguistic communication Ecology and Linguistic Diverseness on the African Continent". Linguistic communication and Linguistics Compass. 2 (5): 840–858. doi:10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00085.x.
• Greenberg, Joseph H. (1963) The Languages of Africa. Indiana University Press.
• Gregersen, Edgar A. (1972) 'Kongo-Saharan'. Periodical of African Languages, iv, 46–56.
• Nurse, D., Rose, South. & Hewson, J. (2016) Tense and Aspect in Niger-Congo, Documents on Social Sciences and Humanities, Regal Museum for Primal Africa
• Olson, Kenneth South. (2006) 'On Niger-Congo classification'. In The Bill question, ed. H. Aronson, D. Dyer, 5. Friedman, D. Hristova and J. Sadock, 153–190. Bloomington, IN: Slavica.
• Saout, J. le (1973) 'Languages sans consonnes nasales', Annales de l Université d'Abidjan, H, 6, 1, 179–205.
• Segerer G., Flavier South., 2011–2018. RefLex: Reference Dictionary of Africa, Version i.i. Paris, Lyon.
• Stewart, John M. (1976) Towards Volta-Congo reconstruction: a comparative study of some languages of Black-Africa. (Inaugural speech, Leiden University) Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden.
• Stewart, John K. (2002) 'The potential of Proto-Potou-Akanic-Bantu as a pilot Proto-Niger-Congo, and the reconstructions updated', in Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, 23, 197–224.
• Williamson, Kay (1989) 'Niger-Congo overview', in Bendor-Samuel & Hartell (eds.) The Niger-Congo Languages, iii-45.
• Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger-Congo', in Heine, Bernd and Nurse, Derek (eds) African Languages - An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge Academy Press, pp. 11–42.

External links [edit]

Media related to Niger-Congo languages at Wikimedia Commons

• An Evaluation of Niger-Congo Classification, Kenneth Olson
• Tense and Attribute in Niger-Congo, Derek Nurse, Sarah Rose & John Hewson
• Preliminary Niger-Congo classification (Guillaume Segerer 2005, LLACAN)
• Swadesh lists of African proto-linguistic communication reconstructions (Guillaume Segerer 2005, LLACAN)
• Phonologies and orthographies of African languages (LLACAN)

Journals

• Linguistique et Langues Africaines (LLA)
• Journal Mandenkan (introduction)
• Nordic Periodical of African Studies (archives)
• Journal of West African languages
• Journal of African Languages and Linguistics

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niger%E2%80%93Congo_languages

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