The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage of some seventy languages centered on the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, and include the national language, Sango. They are also spoken in

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 ...

, Chad, the DR Congo, and

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

External classification

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 ...

(1963) classified the then-little-known Ubangian languages as Niger–Congo and placed them within the

Adamawa languages The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in central Africa, in Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Chad, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 19 ...

as "Eastern Adamawa". They were soon removed to a separate branch of Niger–Congo, for example within Blench's

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 ...

. 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) includes Ubangian within Niger–Congo. Güldemann (2018) notes that although evidence for the inclusion of Ubangi within Niger-Congo is still weak, the same also applies to many other branches which are uncontested members of Niger-Congo.

Internal classification

Boyd and Moñino (2010) removed the Gbaya and Zande languages. The half dozen remaining branches are coherent, but their interrelationships are not straightforward. Williamson & Blench (2000) propose the following arrangement: In addition there is the Ngombe language, whose placement is uncertain due to a paucity of data. Note: The ambiguous name ''Ngbaka'' is used for various languages in the area. Generally, singular Ngbaka language refers to one of the main

Gbaya languages The Gbaya languages, also known as Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka, are a family of perhaps a dozen languages spoken mainly in the western Central African Republic and across the border in Cameroon, with one language (Ngbaka) in the Democratic Republic o ...

, whereas plural

Ngbaka languages The dozen Ngbaka languages are a family of Ubangian languages spoken in the Central African Republic and neighboring areas. It includes Pygmy languages such as Baka and Gundi. The most populous Ngbaka languages are Mbaka in the western branch, ...

refers to a branch of Ubangian.

Güldemann (2018)

Güldemann (2018) recognises seven coherent "genealogical units" within Ubangian, but is agnostic about their positions within Niger–Congo. * Gbayaic * Zandic * Mbaic * Mundu-Baka * Ngbandic * Bandaic * Ndogoic

Comparative vocabulary

Sample basic vocabulary of Ubangian languages from Moñino (1988):Moñino, Yves. 1988. ''Lexique comparatif des langues oubanguiennes''. Paris: Geuthner.

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

References

{{Authority control Niger–Congo languages Proposed language families Unclassified languages of Africa