Southern Bantoid (or South Bantoid) is a branch of the Bantoid language family. It consists of the

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The t ...

along with several small branches and isolates of eastern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and west-central

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

(though the affiliation of some branches is uncertain). Since the Bantu languages are spoken across most of

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

, Southern Bantoid comprises 643 languages as counted by ''

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

'', though many of these are

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

History

Southern Bantoid was first introduced by Williamson in a proposal that divided

Bantoid Bantoid is a major branch of the Benue–Congo language family. It consists of the Northern Bantoid languages and the Southern Bantoid languages, a division which also includes the Bantu languages that constitute the overwhelming majority and to ...

into North and South branches. The unity of the North Bantoid group was subsequently called into question, and Bantoid itself may be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

, but the work did establish Southern Bantoid as a valid genetic unit, something that has not happened for (Narrow) Bantu itself.

Internal classification

According to Williamson and Blench, Southern Bantoid is divided into the various

Narrow Bantu The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The ...

languages, Jarawan,

Tivoid The Tivoid languages are a branch of the Southern Bantoid languages spoken in parts of Nigeria and Cameroon. The subfamily takes its name after Tiv, the most spoken language in the group. The majority are threatened with extinction. The largest ...

Beboid The Beboid languages are any of several groups of languages spoken principally in southwest Cameroon, although two languages (Bukwen and Mashi) are spoken over the border in Nigeria. They are probably not most closely related to each other. The E ...

Mamfe Mamfe or Mamfé is a city in and the capital of Manyu, a division of the Southwest Region in Cameroon. It is from the border of Nigeria, on the Manyu River. It has a population of 36,500 (2017 estimate). It is known as a centre for traditiona ...

(Nyang), Grassfields and Ekoid families. The

Bendi languages The Bendi languages are a small group of languages spoken in Cross River State, southeastern Nigeria. Bokyi language, Bokyi is one of the Bendi languages having some speakers in Cameroon. Once counted among the Cross River languages, they may be ...

are of uncertain classification; they have traditionally been classified with Cross River, but they may actually be Southern Bantoid. Blench suggests that Tivoid, Momo (ex-Grassfields) and East Beboid may form a group, perhaps with the uncertain languages Esimbi and Buru–Angwe: *? Bendi * Tivoid–Beboid:

, '' Esimbi'', East Beboid, ? '' Buru–Angwe'', ? ''

Menchum Menchum is a department of Northwest Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 4469 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 161,998. The capital of the department lies at Wum. The Menchum River drains this area, flowing we ...

'' * West Beboid (geographic) * Furu *

* Ekoid–Mbe: Ekoid, ''

Mbe Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

'' * Grassfields:

Ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

, Eastern Grassfields (Mbam–Nkam),

Momo Momo may refer to: Geography * Momo (department), a division of Northwest Province in Cameroon * Momo, Gabon, a town in the Woleu-Ntem province of Gabon * Momo, Piedmont, a town in the province of Novara, in northern Italy * Joffrey Tower, in ...

, ? '' Ndemli'', Southwest Grassfields (Western Momo), ? '' Ambele'' * Narrow Bantu, Jarawan–

Mbam MBAM may refer to: * Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, anti-malware software, as its former name * Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, in Québec, Canada, an abbreviation for its French name, ''Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal'' MBAm may refer to: * N,N'-Met ...

Grollemund (2012)

Classification of Southern Bantoid by Grollemund (2012):Grollemund, Rebecca. 2012.
Nouvelles approches en classification : Application aux langues bantu du Nord-Ouest
'. Ph.D Dissertation, Université Lumière Lyon 2, Lyon, 550 pp.

History

Internal classification

Grollemund (2012)

Numerals

References

External links