A Short Introduction To African Languages

From click languages like Sandawe and Dahalo to oral languages like Swahili and Arabic, the continent of Africa is home to thousands of diverse languages. African languages are divided into four language families and an additional Austronesian language spoken in Madagascar and the Comoros. These language groups are different from each other, with some as surviving language isolates that have yet to be classified.

Although estimates of how many languages are spoken in Africa vary, some believe that there are over 3,000. These languages are used for inter-ethnic communication and they usually belong to the four continental language families:

1. Niger-Congo
2. Nilo-Saharan
3. Afroasiatic
4. Khoisan

Language Groups

Niger-Congo

Niger-Congo is one of the largest language families in the world and is spoken in most countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The Niger-Congo language family is regarded as having the most distinct languages in the entire world. This family of languages includes 1350 to 1650 languages, such as Yoruba, Swahili, Igbo, Fula, Shona, Zulu, Sesotho, Shona, Mooré, Akan, and many others.

There are nine major branches of the Niger-Congo languages:

1. Benue-Congo — made up of about 900 languages and spoken by around 500 million people
2. Mande — made up of 40 languages and spoken by around 20 million people
3. Atlantic — made up of about 45 languages and spoken by around 30 million people
4. Kordofanian — made up of 20 languages and spoken by around 500,000 people
5. Gur — made up of 85 languages and spoken by around 20 million people
6. Ijoid — made up of a group of languages and spoken by around 2 million people
7. Kru — made up of 24 languages and spoken by around 3 million people
8. Adamawa-Ubangi — made up of 120 languages and spoken by around 12 million people
9. Kwa — made up of 45 languages and spoken by around 20 million people

Nilo-Saharan

About 80 different languages make up the Nilo-Saharan language family. Most of these languages are spoken in 17 countries in the northern half of Africa, including Tanzania, Uganda, Chad, Kenya, and Sudan.

Some Nilo-Saharan languages spoken with at least a million speakers include:

• Luo — by the Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania (4.4 million people)
• Kanuri — by communities living around Lake Chad (4 million people)
• Dinka — by the Dinka people of South Sudan (1.4 million people)

Afroasiatic

About 300 languages make up this family, which is primarily spoken in northern Africa in countries like Somalia, Ethiopia, Morocco, and Nigeria. Afroasiatic languages have six branches: Berber, Chadic, Egyptian, Cushitic, Semitic, and Omotic.

Some Afroasiatic languages that are commonly spoken include:

• Arabic — Semitic language with over 300 million speakers
• Hausa — Chadic language with over 40 million speakers
• Ormo — Cushitic language with over 30 million speakers
• Amharic — Semitic language with over 25 million speakers
• Somali — Cushitic language with over 21 million speakers

Khoisan

The majority of Khoisan languages are spoken in Southern Africa and they share click consonants. One of the most widely-spoken Khoisan languages that makes use of heavy click consonants is Khoekhoe.

Khoisan language speaker numbers:

• Sandawe — 40,000 speakers
• Maligo — 2,200 speakers
• Gana — 2,000 speakers
• Shua — 6,000 speakers
• Nama (Khoekhoegowab) — 233,701 speakers

Austronesian (Malagasy)

Malagasy is the official language of Madagascar, spoken by about 25 million people. There are two major dialect groups: Eastern and Western.

Eastern Malagasy Dialect Examples:

• Plateau Malagasy — 10,893,000 speakers
• Southern Betsimisaraka — 2,000,000 speakers

Western Malagasy Dialect Examples:

• Tsimihety Malagasy — 1,615,000 speakers
• Sakalava Malagasy — 1,210,000 speakers