Volta-Nigerian languages , also known as Western Benue-Congolese languages or Eastern kwa languages - relatively recently (Williamson & Blench, 2000) is a language family that is a part of the macro - family of Nigerian-Congolese languages , which was distinguished by linguists from the kwa family. The number of speakers is about 50 million. This family includes such common languages as Yoruba , Igbo , Edo (Bini), Von and Ewe .
| Volta-Nigerian languages | |
|---|---|
| Taxon | family |
| Status | allocated at the end of XX century. |
| Area | Africa (Ghana, Togo, Nigeria) |
| Classification | |
| Category | African languages |
Nigerian-Congolese Languages
| |
| Composition | |
| Language group codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | - |
| ISO 639-5 | - |
The structure of this family is still debatable, but generally includes the following languages:
- akpes (1 language)
- ayere (1 language)
- Languages GBE (21 languages)
- background (2 million carriers)
- ewe (3 million carriers)
Branch "YEAI":
- Yoruboid languages (15 languages)
- Igala (1 million)
- Yoruba (22 million carriers)
- Edoid Languages (27 languages)
- Edo (bean, 1 million carriers)
- Akoko (1 language)
- Igbooid languages (7 languages)
- Igbo (18 million carriers)
Branch "NOI":
- Nupoid languages (12 languages)
- Ebira (1 million carriers)
- Noupe (1 million carriers)
- Eye (1 language)
- Idomoid languages (9 languages)
- idoma (600,000 carriers)
- ? indicated (1 language)
Map of the distribution of languages of the Volta-Niger family
Literature
- Wolf, Paul Polydoor de (1971) The Noun Class System of Proto-Benue-Congo (Thesis, Leiden University). The Hague / Paris: Mouton.
- Williamson, Kay (1989) 'Benue-Congo Overview', pp. 248–274 in Bendor-Samuel, John & Rhonda L. Hartell (eds.) The Niger-Congo Languages - A classification and description of Africa's largest language family . Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.