Pdf metrical structures a neglected property of nilotic. The bantu languages of central, southern, and eastern africa form a subgroup of the niger congo branch. An introduction al includes 11 articles of relevance to african linguistics written by specialists who have pursued knowledge on their respective topics for decades 4, and an introduction written by the editors that outlines the. Whereas chinese dialects have an abundance of contour tones, contours seem quite secondary in african tone languages, where the primary opposition is between level tones. African languages an introduction semantic scholar. And finally, in southwest africa are the khoisan languages.
In accordance with this classification the languages of the continent are exhaustively assigned to five families. Multilingualism in south africa discipline of music. Languages in a language family are usually thought to have come from a common origin. In total, there are at least 75 languages in africa which have more than one million speakers. Family language independent koreanjapanese korean, japanese, and ainu are often grouped together as a branch of the altaic language family. The theories offered to explain these differences are diverse and have generated heated debates.
Language technologies for african languages, eacl, athens, greece. African language families and their structural properties. In discussing african culture and values, we are not presupposing that all african societies have the same. It covers the four major language groupings nigercongo, nilosaharan, afroasiatic and khoisan, the core areas of modern theoretical linguistics phonology, morphology, syntax, typology, sociolinguistics, comparative linguistics, and language, history and society. Languages of the world department of computer science. We have 1 answer for the clue african language family. Map of the distribution of african language families and. The largest african family, nigercongo, is estimated to consist of about 1,000 languages and several times as many dialects. Except for arabic and hausa, the major languages are from the nigercongo family. Khoisan gathering about thirty languages in western part of southern africa. Joe greenberg was born on may 28th, 1915, in brooklyn, new york, the second of two children.
It is home to the three major language families on the. Each of these three main language families has its own specific characteristics. This paper is a continuation of the discussion about primary kin term inconsistencies within major language families. The americas have been more linguistically diversified than other. All social and cultural practices find their connection with a notion of family, either supporting or distorting it. This book is the first general introduction to african languages and linguistics to be published in english. Due to turbulent historical events from slavery to racial segregation, family bonds in this culture are very strong. These singlemember language families are referred to as language isolates.
Lynne rienner publishers, 1996 dont be fooled, advised a senior zambian bureaucrat. The languages of africa are classified into four major groups. Many african languages have only two level tones, high and low. The kordofanian branch is undemonstrated, and its fiv. West africa linguistic data consortium university of pennsylvania. At the time, african languages were classified into five families. University of california television uctv recommended for. Language families are large groups of many languages that have some things in common with one another. A paper delivered as part of a symposium on africa, sponsored by the committee on african anthropology, national research council, and held at the annual meetings of the american anthropological association, chicago, 1946. African language families are illustrated and sistercousin discrepancies are noted. Map showing the distribution of african language families and some major african.
Spoken languages of african countries nations online project. Most of the languages are primarily oral with little available in written form. African family and kinship brian siegel from family and kinship, pp. It is the second most widely spoken bantu language, after shona, and is written using the latin alphabet. The complex spectrum of the indigenous languages of south africa is a. Metrical structures a neglected property of nilotic and other african language families. Mar, 2014 map showing the distribution of african language families and some major african languages stay safe and healthy. North africa 1 afroasiatic hamitosemitic branches into semitic, which includes arabic proper, hebrew, ethiopic and aramaic, and berber in the atlas. Yet there are many languages that do not appear to be related to any other.
Blacks are far more likely than whites to be come single parents and to reside in extended families. All african languages are considered official languages of the african union. Meinhof and werner, postulated the existence of three great indigenous language families in africa, the sudanic, the hamitic, the socalled bantu, and with the semitic group standing at a slightly tangent angle. The diversity of africas languages is evidenced by their populations. From western africa south of the sahara to southeast africa is the nigerkordofanian family of languages.
Map showing the distribution of african language families. Yet he also made major contributions to sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics, phonetics and phonology, morphology, and especially african language studies. With anywhere between and 2000 languages, africa is home to approximately onethird of the worlds languages. However, as people speaking that language moved away from each other, the language changed in different ways with each group. The identification of isolates in africa has not been without controversy. African languages fall into four basic families following ancient migratory patterns of influence. The nigercongo language family is one of the largest language families in the world and the largest one in africa in terms of its geographical spread across most of subsaharan africa, number of speakers, and the number of languages 1514. In the north, following the saharan routes of trade and travel are the afroasiatic linguistic groups. Are the different african language families related. His father was a polish jew and his mother, a german jew. We want to thank in particular the children, teachers, school principals, and research assistants who contributed in a variety of ways to the feasibility and outcomes of the durban language survey, as. The introduction section is a prose listing of the major subfamilies, i. Introduction the khoisan language family is the smallest of the languages families of africa. Joseph greenberg, whose classification of african languages remains the principal framework in use today, was a committed lumper and was inclined to ensure every language.
Relationships of ancient african languages duration. The afroasiatic chapter, by richard hayward, is a good example of how to present a language family. It is used for several ethnic groups who were the original inhabitants of southern africa before the bantu migrations southward and later european. African language families and their structural properties 1. Archived from the original pdf on 14 february 2012. We shall see many examples of this later in this chapter, where we shall describe more than ten different language families in asia and africa. The first, enunciated in the first article greenberg 1949. None of the 4 megafamilies propposed by greenberg have been fully demonstrated to this day. T wo distinctive features of africanameri can family structure are well known.
The problem of negative beliefs about african american families in schools is not a new idea, and many educators, including delpit 2012 and ladsonbillings 2000, have written much about institutionally racist beliefs held by teachers about black families. Pdf this is a short overview of african languages and linguistic. It also includes language isolates, unclassified languages and other types. The main objective of this paper is to examine african culture and values. Family is cherished within the african american community in this country.
Afroasiatic, nilosaharian, nigersaharian nigercongo, and khoisan, on the map you see the distribution of language families and some major african languages. It is home to the three major language families on the african continent. Ethnologue 22 2019 lists the following families as containing at least 1% of the 7,111 known languages in the world. Based on that, there is a serious argument among african critics about which languages would be authentic in writing african literature. Introduction to african languages the african language. The name khoisan derives from the name of the khoikhoi group of south africa and the san bushmen group of namibia. The languages of africa break down into four large families phyla, with an additional austronesian family spoken in madagascar. Mbiti says that each person in african traditional life lives in or as a. These events have tested family bonds throughout african american history, changing the family makeup by causing these families to become more. Pike 1948 had split tone systems into what we can refer to as a chinese vs.
In many cases some agreed standard form is used as a national or oycial language, is the only oycially condoned written. Greenberg classified them instead into sixteen families, based on two fundamental principles. The languages of africa are divided into several major language families. The rest are spoken by populations ranging from a few hundred to several hundred thousand. Multilingualism in south africa 3 acknowledgements this publication would not have been possible without the support of many people involved. Midsaharan and extending southward into north central africa are the nilosaharan languages. Semitic, hamitic, sudanic, bantu and bushman newman 1995. The udc classification of african languages seems to be largely based on joseph. Isizulu, or zulu, is one of south africas official language, and has over 10 million speakers. Languages west africa language families few regions of the world boast as diverse and dense a collection of language families as west africa. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. It is a member of the bantunguni family of languages, and is spoken mainly in eastern south africa.
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