Benue–Congo languages explained

Benue–Congo
Also Known As:	East Benue–Congo
Region:	Africa, from Nigeria eastwards and southwards
Familycolor:	Niger-Congo
Fam2:	Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:	Volta–Congo
Child1:	Bantoid
Child2:	Cross River
Child3:	Defoid
Child4:	Jukunoid
Child5:	Kainji
Child6:	Plateau
Child7:	Ukaan
Child8:	Fali of Baissa
Child9:	Tita
Glotto:	benu1247
Glottorefname:	Benue–Congo
Map:	Map of the Benue–Congo languages.svg
Mapcaption:	The Benue–Congo languages shown within the Niger–Congo language family. Non-Benue–Congo languages are greyscale.

Benue–Congo (sometimes called East Benue–Congo) is a major branch of the Volta-Congo languages which covers most of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Subdivisions

Central Nigerian (or Platoid) contains the Plateau, Jukunoid and Kainji families, and Bantoid–Cross combines the Bantoid and Cross River groups.

Bantoid is only a collective term for every subfamily of Bantoid–Cross except Cross River, and this is no longer seen as forming a valid branch, however one of the subfamilies, Southern Bantoid, is still considered valid. It is Southern Bantoid which contains the Bantu languages, which are spoken across most of Sub-Saharan Africa. This makes Benue–Congo one of the largest subdivisions of the Niger–Congo language family, both in number of languages, of which Ethnologue counts 976 (2017), and in speakers, numbering perhaps 350 million. Benue–Congo also includes a few minor isolates in the Nigeria–Cameroon region, but their exact relationship is uncertain.

The neighbouring Volta–Niger branch of Nigeria and Benin is sometimes called "West Benue–Congo", but it does not form a united branch with Benue–Congo. When Benue–Congo was first proposed by Joseph Greenberg (1963), it included Volta–Niger (as West Benue–Congo); the boundary between Volta–Niger and Kwa has been repeatedly debated. Blench (2012) states that if Benue–Congo is taken to be "the noun-class languages east and north of the Niger", it is likely to be a valid group, though no demonstration of this has been made in print.^[1] The branches of the Benue–Congo family are thought to be as follows:

• Bantoid–Cross languages
  • Cross River
  • Northern Bantoid
  • Southern Bantoid
• Central Nigerian languages, also known as Platoid
  • Jukunoid
  • Kainji
  • Plateau

Ukaan is also related to Benue–Congo; Roger Blench suspects it might be either the most divergent (East) Benue–Congo language or the closest relative to Benue–Congo.

Fali of Baissa and Tita are also Benue–Congo but are otherwise unclassified.

Branches and locations (Nigeria)

Below is a list of major Benue–Congo branches and their primary locations (centres of diversity) within Nigeria based on Blench (2019).^[2]

Distributions of Benue–Congo branches in Nigeria! Branch !! Primary locations

	Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Rivers States; Cameroon
	Obudu and Ogoja LGAs, Cross River State
	Sardauna LGA, Taraba State; Cameroon
	Mayo Belwa LGA, Taraba State and adjacent areas
	Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Gombe, Adamawa, Bauchi, and Plateau States of Nigeria; Cameroon
	Takum LGA, Taraba State; Cameroon
	Kauru and Lere LGAs, Kaduna State; and Bassa LGA, Plateau State; Kano State; Kainji Lake area of Niger and Kebbi States
	Plateau, Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger and Bauchi States and the FCT
	Benue State Obudu LGA, Cross River State and Sardauna LGA, Taraba State; Nasarawa State; Cameroon
	Takum LGA, Taraba State; Cameroon
	Ikom and Ogoja LGAs, Cross River State; Cameroon
	Sardauna LGA, Taraba State; Cameroon
	Bauchi, Plateau, Adamawa, and Taraba States

Comparative vocabulary

Sample basic vocabulary for reconstructed proto-languages of different Benue-Congo branches:

	Branch	Language	eye	ear	nose	tooth	tongue	mouth	blood	bone	tree	water	eat	name
Benue-Congo	Proto-Benue-Congo^[3]	-lito	-tuŋi	-zua	-nini, *-nino; *-sana; *-gaŋgo	-lemi; *-lake		-zi; *-luŋ	-kupe	-titi; *-kwon	-izi; *-ni		-zina
Kainji	Proto-Northern Jos^[4]	iji (lì-/à-)	toŋ (ù-/tì-)	nyimu (bì-/ì-)	ʔini (lì-/à-)	lelem (lì-/à-)	nua (ù-/tì-)	nyì(aw) (mà-)		ti (with reduplication) (ù-/tì-)	nyi (mà-)	lia	ji(a) (lì-/sì-)
Plateau	Proto-Jukunoid^[5]	giP (ri-/a-)	tóŋ (ku-/a-)	wíǹ (ri-/a-)	baŋ (ku-/a-); *gyín (ri-/a-)	déma (ri-/a-)	ndut (u-/i-)	yíŋ (ma-)	kup (ku-/a-)	kun (ku-/i-)	mbyed	dyi	gyin (ri-/a-)
Plateau	Proto-Kagoro^[6]	-gi	-two		nii[ŋ]	-dyam	-nu[ŋ]	-suok	-kup	-kwan	-sii
Plateau		gu-su	gu-to[ŋ]		-gi[ŋ]	ga-lem	ga-nyu	ba-zi	gu-kup
Plateau		-gis	-toŋ		-ɣiŋ	-lyam	-nu	nì-ji	-kup	-kon	-sii
Plateau		ki-sị́	ku-tóŋ		ki-Nyin / *-Nyir	ì-rem	-nuŋ / *-n[y]uŋ	ma-ɣì	kù-kụp	ù-kon	a-ma-sit
Cross	Proto-Upper Cross^[7]	dyèná	-ttóŋ(ì)	dyòná	-ttân	-dák	-mà	-dè; *-yìŋ	-kúpà	-tté	-nì	dyá	-dínà
Cross	Proto-Lower Cross^[8]	ɛ́-ɲɛ̀n / *a-	ú-tɔ́ŋ / *a-	í-búkó	é-dɛ̀t / *a-	ɛ́-lɛ́mɛ̀ / *a-	í-núà	-ɟìːp	ɔ́-kpɔ́	é-tíé	ˊ-mɔ́ːŋ	líá	ɛ́-ɟɛ́n
Cross	Proto-Ogoni^[9]	adɛ́ɛ̃	ɔ̀tɔ́̃	m̀ bĩɔ́̃	àdáNa	àdídɛ́Nɛ́		m̀ miNi, *m̀ muNu	ákpogó	èté	m̀ mṹṹ	dè	àbée
Grassfields	Proto-Grassfields^[10]	Ít`	túŋ-li	L(u)Í`	sòŋ´	lím`	cùl`	lém`; *cÌ´	gÚp; *kúi(n)´	tí´	LÍb; *kÌ´; *mò´	lÍa	lÍn`; *kúm
Grassfields	Proto-Ring^[11]	túɛ̀	túndé	dúì, *tɔ́ŋ	túŋɔ̀, *góìk	dɔ́mì, *dídè	dúɔ̀	dúŋá, *káŋù	gúpɛ́	kák`, *tíɛ́	múɔ̀	dúɛ̀	dítɔ́, *gíd'
Bantu	Proto-Bantu^[12]	i=jíco	kʊ=tʊ́i	i=jʊ́lʊ	i=jíno; *i=gego	lʊ=lɪ́mi	ka=nʊa; *mʊ=lomo	ma=gilá; *=gil-a; *ma=gadí; *=gadí; *mʊ=lopa; *ma=ɲínga	i=kúpa	mʊ=tɪ́	ma=jíjɪ; *i=diba (HH?)	=lɪ́ -a	i=jína
Bantu		jicho	sikio	pua	jino	ulimi	kinywa	damu (Ar.)	mfupa	mti	maji	la	jina

See also

• List of Proto-Benue-Congo reconstructions (Wiktionary)
• Systematic graphic of the Niger–Congo languages with numbers of speakers

References

• 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.

External links

• ComparaLex, database with Benue-Congo word lists
• Web resources for the Benue–Congo languages
• Journal of West African Languages: Benue-Congo
• Proto-Benue-Congo Swadesh list (de Wolf 1971)

Notes and References

1. Roger Blench, Niger-Congo: an alternative view
2. Book: Blench, Roger. An Atlas of Nigerian Languages. Kay Williamson Educational Foundation. 2019. 4th. Cambridge.
3. de wolf, Paul. 1971. The Noun-Class System of Proto-Benue-Congo . Janua Linguarum. Series Practica 167. The Hague: Mouton.
4. Shimizu . Kiyoshi . 1982 . Die Nord-Jos-Grüppe der Plateau-Sprachen Nigerias . de . Afrika und Übersee . 65 . 2 . 161–210 . 0002-0427 .
5. Shimizu, Kiyoshi. 1980. Comparative Jukunoid, 3 vols. (Veröffentlichungen der Institute für Afrikanistik und Ägyptologie der Universität Wien 7–9. Beiträge zur Afrikanistik 5–7). Vienna: Afro-Pub.
6. Book: Gerhardt, Ludwig . 1983 . Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Sprachen des Nigerianischen Plateaus . de . Afrikanistische Forschungen . 9 . Glückstadt . J. J. Augustin . 3-87030-062-0 .
7. Dimmendaal . Gerrit J. . 1978 . PhD . The Consonants of Proto-Upper Cross and their Implications for the Classification of the Upper Cross Languages . Leiden University . 37049861 .
8. Connell, Bruce. n.d. Comparative Lower Cross wordlist . Unpublished manuscript.
9. Blench, Roger and Kay Williamson. 2008. The Ogoni languages: comparative word list and historical reconstructions .
10. Hyman, L.M. 1979. Index of Proto-Grassfields Bantu roots . Ms. U.S.C.; CBOLD ; accessed from Comparalex .
11. Paulin, Pascale. 1995. Etude comparative des langues du groupe Ring: langues Grassfields de l'ouest, Cameroun. MA thesis, Université Lumière Lyon 2.
12. [Thilo C. Schadeberg|Schadeberg, Thilo C.]