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Savanna Languages
The Savannas languages, also known as Gur–Adamawa or Adamawa–Gur, is a branch of the Niger–Congo languages that includes Greenberg's Gur and Adamawa–Ubangui families. History of classification The Gur–Adamawa link was demonstrated in Kleinewillinghöfer (1996) and has been accepted as established by later researchers, who have gone further in noting that the Adamawa and Gur languages themselves do not form coherent groups and are not necessarily more closely related internally than they are to each other. Bennett (1983) had also mentioned a ''North Central Niger-Congo'' branch consisting of Gurunsi, "Ubangian", and Trans-Benue groups, with the ''Trans-Benue'' group consisting of the Burak-Jen (i.e., Bikwin-Jen), Yungur (i.e., Bena-Mboi), and Tula- Longuda subgroups. There are several clusters of Adamawa languages; among the Gur languages, only the core of that proposal (Central Gur) has been retained, though it is possible that some of the 'peripheral' languages ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and the Ivory Coast to the southwest. It has a population of 20,321,378. Previously called Republic of Upper Volta (1958–1984), it was renamed Burkina Faso by President Thomas Sankara. Its citizens are known as ''Burkinabè'' ( ), and its capital and largest city is Ouagadougou. The largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso is the Mossi people, who settled the area in the 11th and 13th centuries. They established powerful kingdoms such as the Ouagadougou, Tenkodogo, and Yatenga. In 1896, it was colonized by the French as part of French West Africa; in 1958, Upper Volta became a self-governing colony within the French Community. In 1960, it gained full independence with Maurice Yaméogo as president. Throughout the deca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bambukic Languages
The Bambukic Trans-Benue or Yungur–Jen languages form a proposed branch of the provisional Savanna languages, a reduced form of the Waja–Jen branch of the old Adamawa languages family (G7, G9, G10). They are spoken in north eastern Nigeria. Their unity is not accepted by Güldemann (2018). Bennett (1983) had also proposed a ''Trans-Benue'' group consisting of the Burak-Jen (i.e., Bikwin-Jen languages, Bikwin-Jen), Yungur (i.e., Bena-Mboi languages, Bena-Mboi), and Tula–Waja languages, Tula-Longuda language, Longuda subgroups. Languages Blench (2006) groups the Bena–Mboi languages, Yungur (G7), Bikwin–Jen languages, Bikwin–Jen (G9), and Longuda language, Longuda (G10) languages together within part of a larger Gur languages, Gur–Adamawa languages, Adamawa language continuum. *Bikwin–Jen languages, Bikwin–Jen **Jen: Dza language, Dza (Jen), Mingang Doso language, Mingang Doso, Tha language, Tha, Joole language, Joole **Bikwin: Burak language, Burak–Loo language ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roger Blench
Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and works as a consultant. Career Blench is known for his wide-ranging interests and has made important contributions to African linguistics, Southeast Asian linguistics, anthropology, ethnomusicology, ethnobotany, and various other related fields. He has done significant research on the Niger–Congo, Nilo-Saharan, and Afroasiatic families, as well as the Arunachal languages. Additionally, Blench has published extensively on the relationship between linguistics and archaeology. Blench is currently engaged in a long-term project to document the languages of central Nigeria. He has also carried out extensive research on the herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria Herder–farmer conflicts in Nigeria are a series of disputes over land resour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ubangi Languages
The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage (linguistics), linkage of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, and include the national language, Sango language, Sango. They are also spoken in Cameroon, Chad, the DR Congo, and South Sudan. External classification Joseph Greenberg (1963) classified the then-little-known Ubangian languages as Niger–Congo and placed them within the Adamawa languages as "Eastern Adamawa". They were soon removed to a separate branch of Niger–Congo, for example within Blench's Savanna languages. However, this has become increasingly uncertain, and Dimmendaal (2008) states that, based on the lack of convincing evidence for a Niger–Congo classification ever being produced, Ubangian "probably constitutes an independent language family that cannot or can no longer be shown to be related to Niger–Congo (or any other family)." Blench (2012) includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fali Languages
Fali comprises two languages spoken in northern Cameroon. Included in Greenberg's Adamawa languages (as group G11), it was excluded from that family by Boyd (1989). Roger Blench suspects it may represent one of the earlier lineages to have branched off the Atlantic–Congo stock. Varieties According to ''Ethnologue'' 16, the two branches of Fali are "different," but it is not clear how distinct they are. Blench apparently treats them as half a dozen languages in two branches. South Fali has 20,000 speakers, with several dialects. North Fali, with 16,000 speakers, also has several dialects; North Fali speakers were "rapidly" shifting to Adamawa Fulfulde by 1982. ;North Fali : Dourbeye (Fali-Dourbeye) : Bossum (Fali-Bossum) : Bvəri (Fali du Peske-Bori) ;South Fali : Kaang (Fali Kangou) : Bele (Fali-Bele) : Fali-Tinguélin The Nimbari language The Nimbari language (also Niam-Niam), which is no longer spoken, was a member of the Leko–Nimbari group of Savanna languages. It w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Senufo Languages
The Senufo or Senufic languages (''Senoufo'' in French) has around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the west of Ghana. The Senufo languages constitute their own branch of the Atlantic–Congo sub-family of the Niger–Congo languages. Garber (1987) estimates the total number of Senufos at some 1.5 million; the Ethnologue, based on various population estimates, counts 2.7 million. The Senufo languages are bounded to the west by Mande languages, to the south by Kwa languages, and to the north and east by Central Gur languages. The Senufo languages are like the Gur languages in that they have a suffixal noun class system and that verbs are marked for aspect. Most Gur languages to the north of Senufo have a two tone downstep system, but the tonal system of the Senufo languages is mostly analysed as a three level tone system (High, Mid, Low). The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longuda Language
Lunguda (Nʋngʋra) is a Niger–Congo language of Nigeria. They settle western part of Gongola mainly in and around the hills of the volcanic Lunguda Plateau, Adamawa state. Joseph Greenberg counted it as a distinct branch, G10, of the Adamawa family. When Blench (2008) broke up Adamawa, Lunguda was made a branch of the Bambukic languages. The current number of speakers is according to ''Ethnologue'' cites an SIL figure of 45,000 from 1973. But recent studies has shown 50,000 in the 2006 census. Variants of the name ''Longuda'' include ''Languda, Longura, Nunguda, Nungura, Nunguraba''. Dialects In the Adamawa Languages Project website, Kleinewillinghöfer (2014) lists five dialects in the Longuda dialect cluster. *Longuda/Lunguda of Guyuk and Wala Lunguda *Nʋngʋra(ma) of Cerii, Banjiram *Longura(ma) of Thaarʋ (Koola) *Nʋngʋra(ma) of Gwaanda (Nyuwar) *Nʋngʋra(ma) of Deele (Jessu) Partly due to word taboo Word taboo, also called taboo language, language taboo or lingu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adamawa–Ubangi Languages
The Adamawa–Ubangi languages are a geographic grouping and formerly postulated family of languages spoken in Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, by a total of about 12 million people. History of classification The family was proposed by Joseph Greenberg in ''The Languages of Africa'' under the name Adamawa–Eastern as a primary branch of the Niger–Congo family, which is in turn divided in two branches, Adamawa (e.g. Niellim) and Ubangian (e.g. Azande (Zande language), Ngbandi, on which the creole Sango is based). Kleinewillinghöfer (2014) believes that the Adamawa languages are most closely related to the Gur languages, although the unity of both the Gur and the Adamawa branch is frequently questioned. Roger Blench replaced Adamawa–Ubangi with a Savannas family, which includes Gur, Ubangian and the various branches of Adamawa as primary nodes. Dimmen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Greenberg
Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on May 28, 1915, to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, New York. His first great interest was music. At the age of 14, he gave a piano concert in Steinway Hall. He continued to play the piano frequently throughout his life. After graduating from James Madison High School, he decided to pursue a scholarly career rather than a musical one. He enrolled at Columbia College in New York in 1932. During his senior year, he attended a class taught by Franz Boas concerning American Indian languages. He graduated in 1936 with a bachelor degree. With references from Boas and Ruth Benedict, he was accepted as a graduate student by Melville J. Herskovits at Northwestern University in Chicago and graduated in 1940 with a doctorate degree. During the cour ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niger–Congo Languages
Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic-Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly several smaller groups of languages that are difficult to classify. If valid, Niger-Congo would be the world's largest in terms of member languages, the third-largest in terms of speakers, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area.Irene Thompson"Niger-Congo Language Family" "aboutworldlanguages", March 2015 It is generally considered to be the world's largest language family in terms of the number of distinct languages, just ahead of Austronesian, although this is complicated by the ambiguity about what constitutes a distinct language; the number of named Niger–Congo languages listed by ''Ethnologue'' is 1,540. If valid, it would be the third-largest language family in the world by number of native speakers, comprising around 700 million people as of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |