The Defoid languages are a proposed branch of the
Benue–Congo language family. The name of the group derives from the fact that nearly all of the ethnic groups who speak member languages refer to the city of
Ilé Ifè as their place of origin: "Defoid" comes from ''èdè'' ('language') + ''ifè'' (Ife) + ''oid''. It was first proposed by Capo (1989), but evidence for it is still regarded as insufficient by Güldemann (2018).
The Defoid language group consists of three branches,
Yoruboid
Yoruboid is a 'megagroup' of 14 related language clades, composed of the Igala group of dialects spoken in south central Nigeria, and the Edekiri group spoken in a band across Togo, Ghana, Benin and southern Nigeria, including the Itsekiri of W ...
,
Akoko and
Ayere-Ahan.
References
External links
Niger–Congo languages spoken in Nigeria
Volta–Niger languages
{{VoltaNiger-lang-stub