The Grassfields languages (or Wide Grassfields languages) are a branch of the

Southern Bantoid Southern Bantoid (or South Bantoid) is a branch of the Bantoid language family. It consists of the Bantu languages along with several small branches and isolates of eastern Nigeria and west-central Cameroon (though the affiliation of some branc ...

languages spoken in the

Western High Plateau The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...

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 ...

and some parts of

Taraba state ) , image_map = Nigeria - Taraba.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location of Taraba State in Nigeria , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint = , coordinates_footnotes = , ...

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 ...

. Better known Grassfields languages include the

Eastern Grassfields languages The Eastern Grassfields languages, spoken in the Western High Plateau of Cameroon, are a branch of the Grassfields languages including Bamun, Yamba and Bamileke. There are four or five branches to the family: * Nkambe languages (north) * Mb ...

Bamun, Yamba and the Ring language,

Kom Kom or KOM may refer to: Ethnic groups * Kom people (Afghanistan), a Nuristani tribe in Afghanistan and Pakistan * Kom people (Cameroon), an ethnic group of northwest Cameroon * Kom people (India) a subgroup of the Kuki in north-eastern India * ...

, Nso,

Oku Oku or OKU may refer to: *Oku, Cameroon, subdivision in the Northwest Region of Cameroon ** Lake Oku, a crater lake on the Bamenda Plateau in the Northwest Region of Cameroon ** Mount Oku, the largest volcano in the Oku Massif, in the Cameroon Volc ...

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Bafut. Almost all of these languages are closely related, sharing approximately half of their vocabulary.

Classifications

The Grassfields languages were previously known as ''Grassfields Bantu'' and ''Semi-Bantu.'' They are sometimes classified on two levels, ''Wide Grassfields,'' which includes all the languages, and ''Narrow Grassfields,'' which excludes

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 west ...

, Ambele and sometimes the

Southwest Grassfields languages The Southwest Grassfields, traditionally called Western Momo when considered part of the Momo group or when Momo is included in Grassfields, are a small branch of the Southern Bantoid languages spoken in the Western grassfields of Cameroon ...

. These may form a group of their own, which Nurse (2003) calls Peripheral Grassfields but rejects. Blench (2010) notes there is little evidence for the traditional assumption that the non-Western

Momo languages The Momo languages are a group of Grassfields languages spoken in the Western High Plateau of Cameroon. The languages are: : Meta' (Moghamo)– Ngamambo, Mundani, Ngie (Mengum), Ngoshie, Ngwo Ngwo is a town located in the south-eastern sta ...

belong in Grassfields and that they may actually be closer to the poorly established

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 ...

group; Western Momo is therefore renamed Southwest Grassfields to avoid confusion, and only Menchum and Ambele are left out of Narrow Grassfields. The classification of Amebele is unclear, though it is clearly divergent, and Menchum may be closer to the

Tivoid languages 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 ...

(Blench 2011). Blench (2012) suggests that

Western 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 ...

may belong in Grassfields. Blench (2010b) adds

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 ...

as a Narrow Grassfields subgroup. *Narrow 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 ...

(Ring Road) ** Eastern Grassfields (Mbam–Nkam) **

**? '' Ndemli'' ** Southwest Grassfields (previously Western Momo) *? '' Ambele'' *? ''

'' (Befang) *?

Viti (Vötö) is unclassified Narrow Grassfields. The Eastern Grassfields languages share nasal

noun-class In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some a ...

prefixes with 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 ...

, which are not found in the other branches of Grassfields. However, they appear to be more closely related to the rest of Grassfields than they are to Bantu.

Names and locations (Nigeria)

Below is a list of Grassfields language names, populations, and locations (in

only) from Blench (2019).

References

External links

ComparaLex
database with Grassfields word lists
Journal of West African Languages: Grassfields Bantu (archived on 18 August 2014)
* Proto-Grassfields reconstructions {{Niger-Congo branches Languages of Cameroon Southern Bantoid languages

Classifications

Names and locations (Nigeria)

See also

References

External links