Niger–Congo languages

E8177

language family macrofamily

The Niger–Congo languages form one of the world’s largest language families, encompassing hundreds of related languages spoken across much of sub-Saharan Africa, including major groups like Bantu.

Aliases (12)

Statements (80)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	language family → macrofamily →
approximateNumberOfSpeakers	over 700 million →
continent	Africa →
estimatedNumberOfLanguages	over 1500 →
glottologCode	nige1235 →
hasAlternativeName	Niger–Kordofanian languages →
hasWritingSystem	Arabic script → Latin script →
includesLanguage	Akan → Bambara → Chichewa → Ewe → Fula → Igbo → Kikuyu → Kinyarwanda → Kirundi → Lingala → Luganda → Sesotho → Setswana → Shona → Swahili → Wolof → Xhosa → Yoruba → Zulu →
isOneOfLargestLanguageFamilies	true →
majorSubgroup	Adamawa–Ubangi languages → Atlantic–Congo languages → Bantu languages → Benue–Congo languages → Gur languages → Kordofanian languages → Kwa languages → Mande languages →
morphologyFeature	noun class system →
primaryRegion	sub-Saharan Africa →
spokenIn	Angola → Benin → Botswana → Burkina Faso → Burundi → Cameroon → Cape Verde → Central African Republic → Chad → Democratic Republic of the Congo → Equatorial Guinea → Ethiopia → Gabon → Ghana → Guinea → Guinea-Bissau → Ivory Coast → Kenya → Liberia → Malawi → Mali → Mozambique → Namibia → Niger → Nigeria → Republic of the Congo → Rwanda → Senegal → Sierra Leone → South Africa → South Sudan → Sudan → São Tomé and Príncipe → Tanzania → The Gambia → Togo → Uganda → Zambia → Zimbabwe →
typology	mostly SVO word order → mostly tonal languages →

Referenced by (89)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Akan ("Niger–Congo") → Akan people → Berom language → Berom people → Bube → East Africa ("Niger-Congo languages") → Ewe ("Niger–Congo") → Fula language ("Niger–Congo") → Fulani → Fulfulde → Ga language → Ga people → Ghana Empire ("Niger-Congo languages") → Idoma people → Igbo → Ijaw → Itsekiri language → Jukun people → Kwa languages ("Niger-Congo") → Mandinka → Ndowe ("Niger-Congo languages") → Nguni languages → Northern Sotho → Nupe language ("Niger–Congo") → Nupe people → Ogoni people → Pulaar → Punu ("Niger–Congo") → Sesotho → Setswana ("Niger-Congo languages") → Southern Ndebele → Sukuma people → Thembu people → Tiv language ("Niger–Congo") → Tshivenda → Tsonga → Urhobo people → Venda → Western Nigeria → Wolof ("Niger-Congo") → Xhosa → Xitsonga → Yoruba → Zulu →	languageFamily
Atlantic–Congo languages ("Niger–Congo language family") → Benue–Congo languages ("Niger–Congo language family") → Gur languages ("Niger–Congo language family") → Kwa languages ("Niger-Congo language family") → Southern Bantoid ("Niger–Congo") → Southern Bantu ("Niger–Congo language family") →	partOf
Adamawa–Ubangi languages → Atlantic–Congo languages → Bantu languages → Myene → Nupe language → Tiv language →	subfamilyOf
Fang language ("Niger-Congo") → Kimbundu ("Niger-Congo languages") → Northern Ndebele ("Niger–Congo") → Sena → Swahili language ("Niger-Congo languages") →	family
Chichewa ("Niger–Congo") → Kiunguja ("Niger-Congo languages") → Lingala ("Niger–Congo") → Nzebi ("Niger–Congo") → Swati →	languageBranch
Luganda → Northern Ndebele ("Atlantic–Congo") → Northern Ndebele ("Benue–Congo") →	subfamily
West African languages ("Benue-Congo languages") → West African languages ("Adamawa-Ubangi languages") →	includesFamily
Central Banda languages → Kwa languages ("Niger-Congo languages") →	subclassOf
Fang language ("Niger–Congo language family") →	belongsTo
Lozi →	belongsToBranch
Nilo-Saharan phylum ("Niger-Congo languages") →	contrastedWith
Ekiti →	ethnicLanguageFamily
Shona →	geneticAffinity
Kikuyu →	geneticClassification
Southern Bantoid ("Niger–Congo") →	hasFamilyColor
West Africa →	hasLanguageFamily
Africa →	hasMajorLanguageFamily
Equatoguinean Spanish ("Ndowe languages") →	influencedBy
Benue–Congo languages →	isMajorBranchOf
Fipa people ("Niger-Congo languages") →	linguisticBranch
West African languages ("Niger-Congo languages") →	majorFamily
Sub-Saharan Africa →	majorLanguageFamily
Niger–Congo languages ("Atlantic–Congo languages") →	majorSubgroup
Yoruba people ("Niger-Congo peoples") →	subgroupOf