Niger-Congo languages facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Niger–Congo
Niger–Kordofanian (obsolete)
Geographic distribution:	Sub-Saharan Africa
Linguistic classification:	one of the world's primary language families
Subdivisions:	Dogon Ijoid Mande (inclusion disputed) Katla (Kordofanian) Rashad (Kordofanian) Atlantic–Congo (noun classes)
ISO 639-2 and 639-5:	nic
Map showing the distribution of Niger–Congo languages (yellow). The area is divided into B (Bantu) and A (rest) to show the extent of the Bantu subfamily.

Map showing the localization of Niger Congo subgroups and important single languages of that family

Map of languages of Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin,

The Niger-Congo languages are one of the world's major language families, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. They may constitute the world's largest language family in terms of distinct languages, although this question is complicated by ambiguity about what constitutes a distinct language. Most of the most widely spoken indigenous languages of Subsaharan Africa belong to this group. A common property of many Niger-Congo languages is the use of a noun class system. The most widely spoken Niger-Congo languages by native speakers are Yoruba, Igbo, Fula and Shona. The most widely spoken by total number of speakers is Swahili.

Subgroups and important single languages of the Niger-Congo family of languages.

Images for kids

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

See also

In Spanish: Lenguas nigerocongolesas para niños