YEAI
| Volta–Niger | |
|---|---|
| West Benue–Congo East Kwa |
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| Geographic distribution: |
West Africa, from Eastern Ghana to central Nigeria |
| Linguistic classification: |
Niger–Congo
|
| Subdivisions: |
|
| Glottolog: | None |
Some important branches of the Volta–Niger and Benue–Congo families are concentrated in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Benin.
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The Volta–Niger family of languages, also known as West Benue–Congo or East Kwa, is one of the branches of the Niger–Congo language family, with perhaps 50 million speakers. Among these are the most important languages of southern Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and southeast Ghana: Yoruba, Igbo, Bini, Fon, and Ewe.
These languages have variously been placed within the Kwa or Benue–Congo families, but Williamson & Blench (2000) separate them from both. The boundaries between the various branches of Volta–Niger are rather vague, suggesting diversification of a dialect continuum rather than a clear split of families.
The constituent groups of the Volta–Niger family, along with the most important languages in terms of number of speakers, are as follows (with number of languages for each branch in parentheses):
Akpes (1)
Ayere–Ahan (2)
Gbe (21: Fon [2 million], Ewe [3 million])
Yoruboid (15: Igala [1 million], Yorùbá [22 million])
Edoid (27: Edo [Bini, 1 million])
Akoko (1)
...
Wikipedia