The Niger-Congo Languages

• According to Ethnoloque 1,532 languages

• → largest phylum in the world

• Occupies larger area than any other African phylum

• subclassifications has been continuously modified– large number of languages– inaccessibility of much of

the data– lack of able researchers

General Information

Classification1 Kordofanian• Kordofanian as fist branch→lexical evidence for uniting with

Niger-Congo languages is poor• Kordofanian are most poorly

documented languages within Niger-Congo

• Small languages• Spoken in Nuba mountains (Rep. of

Sudan)• Many have been replace by

political insecurity

•Greenberg: 5 groups of languages, grouped together as Kordofanian assigned them to Niger-Congo•Schadeberg (1981c) removed Kadugli-Krongo/Kadu from Kordofanian, added it to Nilo-Saharian→ 4 remaining groups classified by Schadeberg (1989)

Schadeberg (1989)

Schadeberg showed that the noun class affixed correspond in a regular way to those of the rest of Niger-Congo

2 Mande•Extend over greater part of the western half of West Africa (Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, also in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mauretania, Benin, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria)•10 to 12 million speakers•Over 50% speak Manding•Most classifications based on lexicostatistics→ problems pointed out by Kastenholz (1991/2)→ studied lexical innovations to gain improved classification

• Mande as part of Niger-Congo• Dwyer(1998): Excamination of 603 comparative lexical

entries→leads to table of cognates

From: Dwyer.(1998) The place of Mande in Niger-Congo. In: Language History and Linguistic Description in Africa. Maddison, Hinnebush (Editors.).

Niger-Congo Cognate Types:Total Set examined: 603Probable cognates: 187Likely cognates: 124Possible cognates: 128

Conclusion:• Western Nigrit, Benue-Congo and Mande are lexically

related→lexical coherence

3 Atlantic • (West-Atlantic in

Westermann’s classification)

• Spoken along Atlantic coastline of West Africa

• Largest languages:– Fulfulde (several million

speakers)– Wolof (2 million speakers)– Diola (400,000 speakers)– Serer (600,000 speakers)– Temne (600,000 speakers)

• Classification by Sapir (1971) based on lexicostatistics

• Three-way division: Northern, Southern, Bijago

4 Ijoid• Small family, only spoken in

Niger Delta• Languages:

– Defaka (endangered), – Ijo - language cluster with over

one million speakers• Closely related internally, very

distinct from other Niger-Congo languages

5 Dogon• About half a million speakers

in Mali & Burkina Faso• Often referred as single

language• Bertho (1953) proposed at

least 4 languagesCalame-Griaule (1978) list 5 groups of dialects

• Ethnologue: 14 Dialects

6 Volta-Congo

6.1 West Volta-Congo• Contains three families: Kru, Gur,

Adamawa-Ubangi

6.1.1 Kru• Spoken in the south-west

quadrant of Côte d'Ivoire, greater part of Liberia

• Between 1 and 2 million speakers• Main division: East and West-Kru• First classified within Kwa

(Westermann (1927) and Greenberg (1963))

• Bennett and Sterk (1977) suggested is as part of North/West Volta-Congo

• Body of Kru languages are closely related

• Additionally three Kru isolates: Kuwaa (north-west) Tiegba & Abrako (from Aizi group) (east), Sεmε (north)

6.1.2 Gur• Very large family • Spoken in south of Mali, northern

parts of Côte d'Ivoure, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria

• About 5,5 million speakers at least 1,7mio speak Mõõre

• Relationship of the body is quiet clear

• Membership of others is more doubtful

6.1.3 Adamawa-Ubangi • Extend from north-west Nigeria

through northern Cameroon, southern Chad, Central African Republic northern Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, south-west Sudan

• about 1,5 million speakers of Adamawa

• 2,3 million speakers of Ubangi• Greenberg (1963a) divided

Adamawa into 14 groups, "Eastern" into 8 groups

• Bennett added group 3 (containing Daka) to Benue-Congo

6.2 East Volta-Congo• Greenberg (1963a:39) doubted

the division between Kwa & Benue-Congo6.2.1 Kwa

• Spoken along Atlantic coast of West Africa, south western corner of Nigeria, south-eastern quadrant of Côte d'Ivoire

• About 20 million speakers• Greenberg (1963a) divided into 8

groups, intigrated Central Togo languages into his group

• Benett & Sterk (1977) reassigned Ijoid and Kru to Benue-Congo

6.2.2 Benue-Congo • Occupy a vast area • Greenberg divided into 4

branches: – Platoid– Jukunoid– Cross River– Bantoid

• Shimizu (1975) and Gerhardt (1989) integrated Jukunoid to Platoid

• Bennett and Sterk (1977) added eastern branches of Greenberg's Kwa

• → grouped together as "West Benue-Congo"

• → former "Benue-Congo" was named "East Benue-Congo"

6.2.2.1 Bantoid

Term• First used by Krause in 1895• → describing languages with similarity in vocabulary of Bantu• Guthrie (1948) used it for languages with noun class systems resembling

Bantu (no regular sound correspondence)• → established “Guthrie Zones”

– Standart referential scheme– Most zones not genetic groups → geographical

• Present meaning goes back to Greenberg• → Bantu together with its closest relatives ("non-Bantu Bantoid")

Classification

• Benue-Congo working group tried to define in the 1970s and 1980s "Narrow Bantu" - the languages recognised by Guthrie as Bantu - as a subgroup of "Wide Bantu"

• Blench and Williamson (1988) proposed a basic division within Bantiod is between North Bantoid (old "non-Bantu Bantiod" without Tivoid) and South Bantoid (all remaining Bantu languages)

• → North Bantu consisting of Mambiloid and Dakoid• → Dakoid includes Chamba Daka• Classified by Greenberg as Adamawa, by Bennett (1983) as Benue-Congo• Blench assigned it to North Bantoid• Classification of Narrow Bantu is based on lexicostatistics → not overall

agreed• Mostly agreed, that there is North-West Bantu (Zones A, B, C and parts of D)• → those languages are more distinct from the rest and one another• → ancient splits• Definition of boundaries between West and East Bantu differs a lot• Even suggestions for Central Bantu

Problem with these classifications• Accept arbitrary boundaries of Guthrie• Piron (1998) presented most recent lexicostatistic classification, including

samples of all Bantiod groups• Because of various problems (defective lists, inadequate or

unrepresentative data) the work suggests different levels of relationships• South Bantoid appears as coherent group• Furthest Neightbor method shows a break between (Narrow) Bantu and

the rest• Average method splits East

and South Bantu from all the rest• → further work needed

Typology and Reconstructions 1 Vowels• Niger-Congo languages often show vowel harmony• Maximal systems:• [+ATR] Vowels: / i e ɜ o u/• [-ATR] Vowels: / ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ / • Some systems with only oral vowels, some with both, oral and nasalised• Always fewer nasalised than oral vowels• Westermann reconstructed #a #i #u for Proto-West-Sudanic• → midvowels as later developments from coalescence or assimilation• Steward (1998) reconstructed *i *ɪ *a *ʊ *u as oral and * * *a * *u as nasal i� ɪ � ʊ�

vowels for Proto-East Volta-Congo• Doneux (1975) even reconstructed a system of ten vowels with ATR harmony

for Proto Northern Atlantic• →it is possible that Proto-Niger-Congo had ten vowels

2 Consonats• Typically five contrasting places of articulation:

– Labial– Dental/alveolar– Palatal (incl. post-alveolar)– Velar– Labial-velar

• Almost always voiceless and voiced plosives (often affricates)• Usually voiced implosives (except for Kordofanian, Dogon, parts of Benue-

Congo)• Occasionally unvoiced implosives• Often labialisation as secondary articulation• Sometimes palatalisation• Very rarely verlarisation

Reconstruction• Westermann(1927): Very small consonant inventory• Mukarovsky (1976-7:37) richer one, including a series of

consonants represented as Ch (might have been aspirate plosive, implosive, affricate or fricative)

• Stewardt(1973): reconstructed the consonants of Proto-Bantu-Potou-Tano from sound correspondences– 4 series of stops– Voiceless and voiced lenis

• 1993: proposed that lenis consonants were rather implosives→more promising given wide distribution of implosives in Niger-Congo

• Non-implosive/implosive contrast has not been confirmed as going farther back than Proto-Potou-Tano

• Possibly the voiced plosives found in daughter languages of Proto-Bantu-Potou-Tano go back to voiced implosives

•Steward (1973) showed regular sound correspondence between Potou-Tano and Bantu

•Also possible between Proto-Ijo and Bantu

3 Noun Classes• Doubtlessly Proto-Niger-Congo must have had a

grammaticalised noun-class-system– every family shows at least traces of the system

• Mande as instance for exception– But initial consonant mutation in nouns suggest conditioning by

earlier prefixes