The 9 Most Spoken Languages in Africa — Complete Guide Learn more about the Niger-Congo language family on Ethnologue. MWZhNmNjZjNjZjNmZGQzNGJmOTYxOWMxZmIyZjI1OTcyNTc0MTdmYTdlM2Ez Less-well investigated languages include Irimba, Luo, Mawa, Rer Bare (possibly Bantu), Bete (evidently Jukunoid), Bung (unclear), Kujarge (evidently Chadic), Lufu (Jukunoid), Meroitic (possibly Afroasiatic), Oropom (possibly spurious) and Weyto (evidently Cushitic). The languages on this map are also classified by language family. Top Languages in Africa: The Most Spoken African Languages [37] They are all spoken in southwest Ethiopia except for the Ganza language, spoken in Sudan. NzNmNmQ2Njk2NjJkNzAyZTRiYTI4MTBjY2Q0MWJiYWJiM2FiMTkyMWQ5ZTg0 This genealogy reflects the political and cultural inclinations of the authors and original audience, rather than the literal origins of these people groups and the languages they spoke. Benin Official Language: French [22][13], The name Lisramic—based on the Afroasiastic root *lis- ("tongue") and the Egyptian word rmṯ ("person")—has also been proposed. The Niger–Congo languages constitute the largest language family spoken in West Africa and perhaps the world in terms of the number of languages. [177] Three derivational prefixes can be reconstructed for Proto-Afroasiatic: *s- 'causative', *t- 'middle voice' or 'reflexive', and *n- 'passive'. It is the national and co-official language of Madagascar, and a Malagasy dialect called Bushi is also spoken in Mayotte. This can be found in Semitic, Egyptian, Beja, Berber, and Chadic. ". Swahili gaining popularity globally | Africa Renewal "[93] The Afroasiatic languages spoken in Africa are not more closely related to each other than they are to Semitic, as one would expect if only Semitic had remained in an Western Asian homeland while all other branches had spread from there. It is the official language in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. [193] Also common are dependent/affix pronouns (used for direct objects and to mark possession). Keep reading to get to know 5 of the most spoken rare languages in America and their histories! [5], Afroasiatic languages are spoken throughout North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia and parts of the Sahel. Other important West African languages are Yoruba, Igbo, Akan and Fula. Most Nilo-Saharan languages are tonal, as are Niger-Congo languages. MWQyMjZmNTgyNTcwMWVkZiJ9 French is the official language in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo . [200] Modern Chadic numeral systems are sometimes decimal, having separate names for the numbers 1-10, and sometimes base-5, deriving the numbers 6-9 from the numbers 1-5 in some way. If counted as a single language, Arabic is by far the most widely spoken in the family, with around 300 million native speakers concentrated primarily in the Middle East and North Africa. There are approximately 375 Afroasiatic languages spoken by over 400 million people. They can occur together with subject pronouns but cannot fulfill an object function. Nzg2MWZlMWZjYTQ3NTVhZDhiZjAxMDBjYzYxNTM0ZTE4NjAwNTgwODYwMzJk [38] It may have as many as 80 to 100 million first and second language speakers. A map showcasing some of the major languages of Africa by country. Auxiliary verbs are also widespread among African languages; the fusing of subject markers and TAM/polarity auxiliaries into what are known as tense pronouns are more common in auxiliary verb constructions in African languages than in most other parts of the world.[26]. [142] These pronouns tend to show a masculine "u" and a feminine "i". [139] Moreover, all Afroasiatic languages have long been in contact with other language families and with each other, leading to the possibility of widespread borrowing both within Afroasiatic and from unrelated languages. [192], The forms of the pronouns are very stable throughout Afroasiatic (excluding Omotic),[142] and they have been used as one of the chief tools for determining whether a language belongs to the family. YjkyY2Y1NWFmODU5MTQzOTc2ZmNhYzFjOGEyN2MiLCJzaWduYXR1cmUiOiIx The only group with an African origin is Ethiopian Semitic. -----BEGIN REPORT----- [7][8] The languages share some unusual morphology, but if they are related, most of the branches must have undergone major restructuring since diverging from their common ancestor. However, since the 1970s and '80s, comparisons of other Chadic subject pronouns with the Hausa ones have convinced most scholars that the similarity to the prefix conjugation is incidental. [79] Some scholars would continue to regard Hausa as related to the other Afroasiatic languages, but the idea was controversial: many scholars refused to admit that the largely unwritten, "Negroid" Chadic languages were in the same family as the "Caucasian" ancient civilizations of the Egyptians and Semites. [112] Various Semitic, Cushitic, Berber, and Chadic languages, including Arabic, Amharic, Berber, Somali, and East Dangla, also exhibit various types of vowel harmony. [171] In Chadic, verb stems can include an inherent vowel as well. [157][158] Zygmont Frajzyngier states that a general characteristic of case marking in AA languages is that it tends to mark roles such as genitive, dative, locative, etc. By focusing on the languages with the most L1 plus L2 speakers, you can expand the reach of your content. [2] Nigeria alone has over 500 languages (according to SIL Ethnologue),[3] one of the greatest concentrations of linguistic diversity in the world. There are five Khoisan families that have not been shown to be related to each other: Khoe, Tuu and Kx’a, which are found mainly in Namibia and Botswana, as well as Sandawe and Hadza of Tanzania, which are language isolates. Africa, 33(3), 237–265. MTNlY2FjYzEwODI5ZDE1OGNmZjUwMmUwYTc2MjIzZDIzZGU4Mzc5NDExM2E2 For other uses, see, Distribution of the Afro-Asiatic languages, Similarities in grammar, syntax, and morphology, Consonantal root structures and verbal forms, In this display, the universally recognized primary branches of AA are in, Old East Africa Cushitic =South Cushitic and. [80][81], An important development in the history of Afroasiatic scholarship - and the history of African linguistics - was the creation of the "Hamitic theory" or "Hamitic hypothesis" by Lepsius, fellow Egyptologist Christian Bunsen, and linguist Christian Bleek. YzE3YzIyOGU3MTc5YzcwNGYxOWFiNmY4NmZiYmM2Yjk5OTI4ZTY1ZjRiNTk1 [196], Another factor making comparisons of AA numeral systems difficult is the possibility of borrowing. [195], Unlike in the Indo-European or Austronesian language families, numerals in AA languages cannot be traced to a proto-system. The origins of how they arrived to Madagascar remains a mystery, however the Austronesians are known for their seafaring culture. This is the most widely spoken African language, with the United Nations placing the number of speakers at over 200 million. In addition to the (likely modest) impact of borders, there are also cases of dialect levelling (such as in Igbo and probably many others), koinés (such as N'Ko and possibly Runyakitara) and emergence of new dialects (such as Sheng). Several of these are extinct, and adequate comparative data is thus unlikely to be forthcoming. The diversity of Africa's languages is evidenced by their populations. Here are the language origins of the 100 most spoken languages: Indo-European languages have the widest spread worldwide. Language policies that are being developed nowadays are mostly aimed at multilingualism. NGMzYTdlYjc0MGQwMTk1YWEyZjFlOTRlMGVhYmJkY2Y1MmJhNGRkNmUyNGMz The classifications below follow Glottolog. [35], There are about 30 Cushitic languages,[40] more if Omotic is included,[41] spoken around the Horn of Africa and in Sudan and Tanzania. Both the Nilo-Saharan and the Khoi-San phyla are fully tonal. There is likewise no consensus as to when Proto-Afroasiatic was spoken, with dates ranging from 18,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE - even at the latest dating, this makes Afroasiatic the oldest language family accepted by linguists today.[7]. [21] The name refers to the fact that it is the only major language family with large populations in both Africa and Asia. [89] Roger Blench writes that the debate posseses "a strong ideological flavor", with associations between an Asian origin and "high civilization". The African Union declared 2006 the "Year of African Languages".[4]. MmY3NmYxZDAxNDAwZDI2NDRhZjBlOWE3ODU2ZDlmMzZjM2U1NWZiNGFkM2Zk [40] The Cushitic family is traditionally split into four branches: the single language of Beja (c. 3 million speakers), the Agaw languages, Eastern Cushitic, and Southern Cushitic. [114][d] The emphatic consonants are typically formed deeper in the throat than the others;[112] they can be realized variously as glottalized, pharyngealized, uvularized, ejective, and/or implosive consonants in the different branches. A large majority of languages of this family are tonal such as Yoruba and Igbo, Akan and Ewe language. In Ivan R. Dihoff (editor). Around a hundred languages are widely used for interethnic communication. Genealogical linkage between these languages has failed to be conclusively demonstrated, and support for the proposal is sparse among linguists. In earlier historical times, other Indo-European languages could be found in various parts of the continent, such as Old Persian and Greek in Egypt, Latin and Vandalic in North Africa and Modern Persian in the Horn of Africa. Copyright © 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, Department of African and African American Studies, Introduction to African Languages and Cultures, 2016 African Languages in the Disciplines Conference, 2015 African Languages in the Disciplines Conference, 2014 African Languages in the Disciplines Conference, 2013 African Languages in the Disciplines Conference, 2012 African Languages in the Disciplines Conference, 2011 African Languages in the Disciplines Conference. It remains unclear what word order Proto-Afroasiatic had. Chinese, including Mandarin and Cantonese, has 1,231,425 speakers which are 2.80% of the whole population. ZGI2ZTU5Y2RkNWYzN2ZhOTk2ZmZiNmYzOTFhOWFmYTYyMmIyYTE2OWU5OGJi [134], As part of these templates, the alternation (apophony) between high vowels (e.g. Arabic speakers in Africa account for 62% of the total Arabic speakers in the world. Njc0NGFkNmJmZjc3ZGQwOTZhNjJlYTQ5ODllNzZkMDJmOTI1ODhjNDM3OWM3 The popularity of Africa's languages - The Star [148], A widespread pattern of gender and number marking in Afroasiatic is a consonant N for masculine, T for feminine, and N for plural. [78] He did not include the Chadic languages, though contemporary Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius argued for the relation of Hausa to the Berber languages. A striking feature of Khoisan languages, and the reason they are often grouped together, is their use of click consonants. Other sign languages are restricted to small areas or single villages, such as Adamorobe Sign Language in Ghana. These occupy Eastern Africa and the North Eastern region of Africa, namely: Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Chad, the Sudan, etc. YTA3NTVlYzVkYWViYWYwMzJjZmQ0M2Y3NDMyMDdhZjViNDk4YTdlZWE0NDAx NTk3ZTJiOGQxMGNkMWRiZWI1ZTNlOGQxMjZmOWIzNjE5YzEzNDRjYWE4YmEx Afroasiatic M2UzNGJiYTRhODYyYzJlZjdjODAyOGFkZGFkMjlmM2NiN2I4NzIyNTFiYzRm Top 10 Most Spoken Languages in Africa 2020 - The African Exponent John A. Shoup, Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East (2011), p. 333, Category:Unclassified languages of Africa, List of territorial entities where English is an official language, List of territorial entities where French is an official language, Herkomst en groei van het Afrikaans - G.G. [60] However, Meinhof's "Hamitic" classification remained prevalent throughout the early 20th century until it was definitively disproven by Joseph Greenberg in the 1940s, based on racial and anthropological data.[81]. MjZiNTU2NmZmNzQyZjc4MWExODdlNzU5N2I1NjI5OWMxNDJkM2MwNWIyYmNk These include Arabic, Somali, Amharic, Oromo, Igbo, Swahili, Hausa, Manding, Fulani and Yoruba, which are spoken as a second (or non-first) language by millions of people. [36] A common characteristic of AA languages is the existence of a special set of "independent" pronouns, which are distinct from subject pronouns. [77] The French orientalist Guillaume Postel had also pointed out similarities between Hebrew, Arabic, and Aramaic in 1538, and Hiob Ludolf noted similarities also to Ge'ez and Amharic in 1701. [102] Igor Diakonoff argues that this constraint goes back to Proto-Afroasiatic. In Cushitic and Chadic languages, a glottal stop or glottal fricative may be inserted to prevent a word from beginning with a vowel. [95], A significant minority of scholars supports an Asian origin of Afroasiatic,[70] most of whom are specialists in Semitic or Egyptian studies. Map 1: African Languages - Exploring Africa [42][40] Only one Cushitic language, Oromo, has more than 25 million speakers; other languages with more than a million speakers include Somali, Saho-Afar, Hadiyya, and Sidaama. At present, there is no generally accepted reconstruction of Proto-Afroasiatic grammar, syntax, or morphology, nor one for any of the sub-branches besides Egyptian. [70] An additional complicating factor is the lack of agreement on the subgroupings of Afroasiatic (see Further subdivisions) - this makes associating archaeological evidence with the spread of Afroasiatic particularly difficult. One common objection is that the Hamitic component inaccurately suggests that a monophyletic "Hamitic" branch exists alongside Semitic. ZDNjZjZkMjFjM2ZmZDE2MzNjZTBlNmNjZWM3ZmY5YThhNDZlMDFlMDViNDhl [32] The second is the Guanche language, which was formerly spoken on the Canary Islands and went extinct in the 17th century CE. [114] The Omotic forms of the personal pronouns differ from the others, with only the plural forms in North Omotic appearing potentially to be cognate. [13] Most Afrikaans speakers live in South Africa. [4] The vast majority of Afroasiatic languages—and the totality of those outside Semitic—are thought to be indigenous to the African continent. [81] In 1969, Harold Fleming proposed that a group of languages classified by Greenberg as Cushitic were in fact their own independent "Omotic" branch—a proposal that has been widely, if not universally, accepted. The total number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated (depending on the delineation of language vs. dialect) at between 1,250 and 2,100,[1] and by some counts at over 3,000. [77] In the same year T.N. African Languages - Department of Linguistics, Languages, and Cultures [120] Another widespread constraint is against two non-identical lateral obstruents, which can be found in Egyptian, Chadic, Semitic, and probably Cushitic. [65], The degree to which the Proto-AA verbal root was triliteral (having three consonants) is debated. Ranked: The 100 Most Spoken Languages Worldwide - Visual Capitalist ZTEzYTE3Mjg5MDQzNjAwYjk4NDQyZGI0ODRjYmE1ZDRlNjRiNWM1MDM3ZDY5 2009. There is no information on whether Egyptian had tones. [45] The absolute latest date for when Proto-Afroasiatic could been extant is c. 4000 BCE, after which Egyptian and the Semitic languages are firmly attested. [89], Conjugation of verbs using prefixes that mark person, number, and gender can be found [206][207], Afroasiatic languages share a vocabulary of Proto-Afroasiatic origin to varying extents. As of 2018, the languages most commonly spoken by individuals inside of South African households were isiZulu at 25.3 percent, isiXhosa at 14.8 percent and Afrikaans at 12.2 percent. [172] It is unclear whether this system is a common AA trait;[173] the Chadic examples, for instance, show signs of originally deriving from affixes, which could explain the origins of the alterations in other languages as well. (1963). [37] Hausa is the largest Chadic language by native speakers, and is spoken by a large number of people as a lingua franca in Northern Nigeria. There are also many less widely spoken languages that may be considered endangered languages. Another hundred belong to smaller families such as Ubangian, Nilotic, Saharan, and the various families previously grouped under the umbrella term Khoisan. [45] Scholars have proposed locations for the Afroasiatic homeland across Africa and western Asia. NzgxMjUyN2M1OThmN2FkYjlkZjExOWYzMTFjMzMxOGQ0Zjc4YTg3M2FjYTNh Of the world's surviving language families, Afroasiatic has the longest written history, as both the Akkadian language of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egyptian are members. [60][86][16] Reluctance among some scholars to recognize Chadic as its own branch persisted as late as the 1980s. The quality of the underlying vowels varies considerably by language; the most common vowel throughout AA is schwa. In 2021, the UN designated July 7 as World Kiswahili Language Day. [156] However, the number and types of cases varies across AA and also within the individual branches. [45] Coptic is the only stage written alphabetically to show vowels, whereas Egyptian was previously written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, which only represent consonants. English, French and Portuguese are important languages in Africa.

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