Benue-Congo languages
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The Benue-Congo group of languages constitutes the largest branch of the Niger-Congo language family, both in terms of sheer number of languages, of which 938 are known (not counting mere dialects), and in terms of speakers, numbering perhaps 550 million. Within Niger-Congo, Benue-Congo is a branching of Volta-Congo.
The main subgroupings of the Benue-Congo family, along with the most important languages in terms of number of speakers, are as follows (with number of constituent languages for each sub-branch in parenthesis):
- Akpes (1)
- Bantoid (668)
- Southern Bantoid (643)
- (Narrow) Bantu
- Tivoid (17)
- Southern Bantoid (643)
- Cross River (68)
- Defoid (16)
- Edoid (27)
- Idomoid (9)
- Igboid (7)
- Kainji (57)
- Nupoid (12)
- Oko (1)
- Platoid (46)
- Ukaan (1)
External links
- Ethnologue report for the Benue-Congo language family (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=21)
- Web resources for the Benue-Congo languages (http://www.african.gu.se/webresources/benuecongo.html)