S09: Languages
 
 

9. Classification of languages - B) The Niger-Congo family

 

  • Most prominent language family of sub-Saharan Africa: up to almost 1,500 separate languages distinguished.
  • A hypothetical common ‘proto-Niger-Congo’ ancestor thought to have ceased to exist 5,000 years ago.
  • Exact hierarchical subdivision still under debate.
  • The largest of the sub-families is made up by the Bantu languages, native to Central and the largest part of Southern Africa.


    Source: Wikipedia / Author: Mark Dingemanse / Creative_Commons Licenses

Most spoken languages:

  • Swahili (5 M first language speakers in the East African countries, plus 30 million using it as a second language lingua franca)
  • Yoruba (20 M) in Nigeria and the eastern part of West Africa; Igbo (17 M) of Nigeria
  • Fulani (13 M, including second language speakers) in West Africa
  • Wolof (2.7 M in Senegal, plus 7 million second language speakers)
  • Zulu (9.5 M) of South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique
  • Rwanda (9.5 M) of Rwanda and adjacent countries

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Copyright United Nations Statistics Division and International Cartographic Association, July 2012