Languages of Africa
The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated at between 1,250 and 2,100, and by some counts at over 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages, one of the greatest concentrations of linguistic diversity in the world. The languages of Africa belong to many distinct language families, among which the largest are:
- Niger–Congo, which include the large Atlantic-Congo and Bantu branches in West, Central, Southeast and Southern Africa.
- Afroasiatic languages are spread throughout Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and parts of the Sahel.
- Saharan, Nilotic and Central Sudanic languages, are present in East Africa and Sahel.
- Austronesian languages are spoken in Madagascar and parts of the Comoros.
- Khoe–Kwadi languages are spoken mostly in Namibia and Botswana.
- Indo-European languages, while not indigenous to Africa, are spoken in South Africa and Namibia and are used as lingua francas in Liberia and the former colonies of the United Kingdom, former colonies of France and of Belgium, former colonies of Portugal, former colonies of Italy, former colonies of Spain and the current Spanish territories of Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands and the current French territories of Mayotte and La Réunion.
Around a hundred languages are widely used for interethnic communication. These include Arabic, Swahili, Amharic, Oromo, Igbo, Somali, Hausa, Manding, Fulani and Yoruba, which are spoken as a second language by millions of people. Although many African languages are used on the radio, in newspapers and in primary-school education, and some of the larger ones are considered national languages, only a few are official at the national level. In Sub-Saharan Africa, most official languages at the national level tend to be colonial languages such as French, Portuguese, or English.
The African Union declared 2006 the "Year of African Languages".
Language groups
Most languages natively spoken in Africa belong to one of the two large language families that dominate the continent: Afroasiatic, or Niger–Congo. Another hundred belong to smaller families such as Ubangian, Nilotic, Saharan, and the various families previously grouped under the umbrella term Khoisan. In addition, the languages of Africa include several unclassified languages and sign languages.The earliest Afroasiatic languages are associated with the Capsian culture, the Saharan languages are linked with the Khartoum Mesolithic/Neolithic cultures. Niger-Congo languages are correlated with the west and central African hoe-based farming traditions and the Khoisan languages are matched with the south and southeastern Wilton culture.
Afroasiatic languages
are spoken throughout North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia and parts of the Sahel. There are approximately 375 Afroasiatic languages spoken by over 400 million people. The main subfamilies of Afroasiatic are Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Omotic, Egyptian and Semitic. The Afroasiatic Urheimat is uncertain. The family's most extensive branch, the Semitic languages, is the only branch of Afroasiatic that is spoken outside Africa.Some of the most widely spoken Afroasiatic languages include Arabic, Somali, Berber, Hausa, Amharic and Oromo. Of the world's surviving language families, Afroasiatic has the longest written history, as both the Akkadian language of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egyptian are members.
Nilo-Saharan languages
are a proposed grouping of some one hundred diverse languages. Genealogical linkage between these languages has failed to be conclusively demonstrated, and support for the proposal is sparse among linguists. The languages share some unusual morphology, but if they are related, most of the branches must have undergone major restructuring since diverging from their common ancestor.This hypothetical family would reach an expanse that stretches from the Nile Valley to northern Tanzania and into Nigeria and DR Congo, with the Songhay languages along the middle reaches of the Niger River as a geographic outlier. The inclusion of the Songhay languages is questionable, and doubts have been raised over the Koman, Gumuz and Kadu branches.
Some of the better known Nilo-Saharan languages are Kanuri, Fur, Songhay, Nobiin and the widespread Nilotic family, which includes the Luo, Dinka and Maasai. Most Nilo-Saharan languages are tonal, as are Niger-Congo languages.
Niger–Congo languages
The Niger–Congo languages constitute the largest language family spoken in West Africa and perhaps the world in terms of the number of languages. One of its salient features is an elaborate noun class system with grammatical concord. A large majority of languages of this family are tonal such as Yoruba and Igbo, Akan and Ewe language. A major branch of Niger–Congo languages is the Bantu phylum, which has a wider speech area than the rest of the family.The Niger–Kordofanian language family, joining Niger–Congo with the Kordofanian languages of south-central Sudan, was proposed in the 1950s by Joseph Greenberg. Today, linguists often use "Niger–Congo" to refer to this entire family, including Kordofanian as a subfamily. One reason for this is that it is not clear whether Kordofanian was the first branch to diverge from rest of Niger–Congo. Mande has been claimed to be equally or more divergent. Niger–Congo is generally accepted by linguists, though a few question the inclusion of Mande and Dogon, and there is no conclusive evidence for the inclusion of Ubangian.
Other language families
Several languages spoken in Africa belong to language families concentrated or originating outside the African continent.Austronesian
belongs to the Austronesian languages and is the westernmost branch of the family. It is the national and co-official language of Madagascar, and a Malagasy dialect called Bushi is also spoken in Mayotte.The ancestors of the Malagasy people migrated to Madagascar around 1,500 years ago from Southeast Asia, more specifically the island of Borneo. The origins of how they arrived to Madagascar remains a mystery, however the Austronesians are known for their seafaring culture. Despite the geographical isolation, Malagasy still has strong resemblance to Barito languages especially the Ma'anyan language of southern Borneo.
With more than 20 million speakers, Malagasy is one of the most widely spoken of the Austronesian languages.
Indo-European
is Indo-European, as is most of the vocabulary of most African creole languages. Afrikaans evolved from the Dutch vernacular of South Holland spoken by the mainly Dutch settlers of what is now South Africa, where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the course of the 18th century, including the loss of verbal conjugation, as well as grammatical case and gender. Most Afrikaans speakers live in South Africa. In Namibia it is the lingua franca. Overall 14 to 21 million people are estimated to speak Afrikaans.Since the colonial era, Indo-European languages such as Afrikaans, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish have held official status in many countries, and are widely spoken, generally as lingua francas. Additionally, languages like French, and Portuguese have become native languages in various countries.
French has become native in the urban areas of the DRC, and Gabon. Spanish is spoken as a native language by a small minority in Equatorial Guinea, primarily in larger cities.
German was once used in Germany's colonies there from the late 1800s until World War I, when Britain and France took over and revoked German's official status. Despite this, German is still spoken in Namibia, mostly among the white population. Although it lost its official status in the 1990s, it has been redesignated as a national language. Indo-Aryan languages such as Gujarati and Sindhi are spoken by South Asian expatriates exclusively. In earlier historical times, other Indo-European languages could be found in various parts of the continent, such as Old Persian and Greek in Egypt, Latin and Vandalic in North Africa and Modern Persian in the Horn of Africa.
Small families
The three small Khoisan families of southern Africa have not been shown to be closely related to any other major language family. In addition, there are various other families that have not been demonstrated to belong to one of these families. The classifications below follow Glottolog.- Mande, some 70 languages, including the major languages of Mali and Guinea; these are generally thought to be divergent Niger–Congo, but debate persists
- Ubangian, some 70 languages, centered on the languages of the Central African Republic; may be Niger–Congo
- Te-Ne-Omotic, some 20 languages, previously classified under Afro-Asiatic, spoken in Ethiopia
- Khoe-Kwadi, around 10 languages, the primary family of Khoisan languages of Namibia and Botswana
- Surmic, some 11 languages, previously classified within either Sudanic or Nilo-Saharan
- Kxʼa, around five languages, with various dialects, spoken in Southern Africa
- South Omotic, around five languages; previously classified within Afro-Asiatic, spoken in Ethiopia
- Tuu, or Taa-ǃKwi, two surviving languages
- Hadza, an isolate of Tanzania
- Bangime, a likely isolate of Mali
- Jalaa, a likely isolate of Nigeria
- Sandawe, an isolate of Tanzania
- Laal, a possible isolate of Chad