Niger–Congo
Also known as Niger–Congo languages, Niger-Congo
language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa, uniting the Mande languages, the Atlantic-Congo languages and possibly several smaller groups of languages
AI overview
Niger–Congo is a major family of languages spoken across most of sub-Saharan Africa that includes Mande languages, Atlantic-Congo languages, and possibly some smaller language groups. It matters because it represents one of the world's largest language families, encompassing the languages of hundreds of millions of people across the African continent.
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Article
Niger–Congo is a proposed family of African languages spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic–Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly several smaller groups of languages that are difficult to classify. If valid, Niger–Congo would be the world's largest language family in terms of member languages, the third-largest in terms of speakers, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area. The number of named Niger–Congo languages listed by Ethnologue is 1,540.
The proposed family would be the third-largest in the world by number of native speakers, with around 600 million people as of 2025. Within Niger–Congo, the Bantu languages alone account for 350 million people (2015), or half the total Niger–Congo speaking population. The most widely spoken Niger–Congo languages by number of native speakers include Yoruba, Fula, Igbo, Lingala, Mooré, Ewe, Fon, Zulu, Shona, Xhosa, Twi and Fante, Sesotho, Swahili, Edo, Gã and Dangme; the most widely spoken by the total number of speakers is Swahili, which is used as a lingua franca in parts of eastern and southeastern Africa.