Gourt > Science > Social Sciences > Linguistics > Languages > Natural > Languages of Africa
There are an estimated 1800 languages spoken in Africa. Some African languages, such as Swahili, Hausa, and Yoruba, are spoken by millions of people. Others, such as Laal, Shabo, and Dahalo, are spoken by a few hundred or fewer. In addition, Africa has a wide variety of sign languages, many of whose genetic classification has yet to be worked out. Several African languages are also whistled for special purposes.
The abundant linguistic diversity of many African countries has made language policy an extremely important issue in the neo-colonial era. In recent years, African countries have become increasingly aware of the value of their linguistic inheritance. Language policies that are being developed nowadays are mostly aimed at multilingualism. For example, all African languages are considered official languages of the African Union (AU). 2006 has been declared by AU as the "Year of African Languages". *
Language families
Most African languages belong to one of four language families: Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, and Khoisan. A handful of languages associated with the continent are Indo-European or Austronesian, however, their presence dates to less than 500 and 1000 years ago, respectively, and their closest linguistic relatives are primarily non-African. In addition, African languages include several unclassified languages, and of course sign languages. More on [ African languages ]
@bumiSAYS kwanza is a made up holiday by angry black ppl! They only have swahili words! Africa has hundreds of languages.
TrendyTopicKris (Kristina) Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:37:48 -0000
@bumiSAYS kwanza is a made up holiday by angry black ppl! They only have swahili words! Africa has hundreds of languages.
@Vanache lol. Its one of African Americans' attempt @ connecting to Africa. We use Swahili as default bc we don't know our actual languages.
ChrisThePaxtons (Chris (The Paxtons)) Fri, 25 Dec 2009 03:13:18 -0000
@Vanache lol. Its one of African Americans' attempt @ connecting to Africa. We use Swahili as default bc we don't know our actual languages.
@MartineChoo haha its crazy, now mothers and family members are outside speaking one of the many languages of Africa, dunno which though lol
SCalHarlem (S-Cal) Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:34:46 -0000
@MartineChoo haha its crazy, now mothers and family members are outside speaking one of the many languages of Africa, dunno which though lol
RT @sociolingo book-review-languages-of-africa-diaspora-educating-for-language-awareness « SocioLingo Africa http://bit.ly/4WNpsQ
PeaceNicole (Nicole Hunter) Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:31:28 -0000
RT @sociolingo book-review-languages-of-africa-diaspora-educating-for-language-awareness « SocioLingo Africa http://bit.ly/4WNpsQ
@revkin Great ideas, Andy; glad to volunteer w/ network of communicators; have contacts in S. America; Africa, Asia; speak several languages
Coimbra_ (Coimbra Sirica) Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:47:21 -0000
@revkin Great ideas, Andy; glad to volunteer w/ network of communicators; have contacts in S. America; Africa, Asia; speak several languages
[Blog Post] Book Review : The Languages of Africa and the Diaspora, Educating for Language Awareness http://toast.tw/100ddt
sociolingo (SocioLingo Africa) Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:00:08 -0000
[Blog Post] Book Review : The Languages of Africa and the Diaspora, Educating for Language Awareness http://toast.tw/100ddt
African Language Resources - Columbia University - Area Studies links.
African Languages - Annotated collection of links to web pages providing information on the grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary of various African languages,
Meta Description: [ FW MX DW MX HTML ]
African Languages at Michigan State University - Course offerings and African Linguistics information. Language map, extensive website directory.
Meta Description: [ African Languages at Michigan State University is affiliated with the African Studies Center and the Department of Lanugage and Linguistics. On this website you will find information on african language classes at MSU and other colleges and universities. You will also find information resources ... ]
African Languages Publishing Program - List of academic publications on African languages and linguistics from the German publishing house Rüdiger Köppe Verlag in Cologne.
Meta Description: [ Rüdiger Köppe Publishers - African Languages featured in our publications. ]
404
African Languages: An Introduction - Introduction extracted from a textbook on the major African language groups including coverage of phonology, morphology, syntax, typology and comparative linguistics.
Bartleby.com: African Languages - Entry in the Columbia Encyclopedia describing the different classes of languages spoken in Africa and their respective characteristics.
Meta Description: [ African languages. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-05 ]
Languages of Africa - Map showing the distribution of the four language families of Africa, with associated links to the classification of individual African languages.
| Clicking With Xhosa | |
| Next Video | |
