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These languages are not tonal apart from Vietnamese where tones developed
recently under Chinese influence. Vietnamese
was once thought not to be
related to other languages. The branches of this family were originally
considered to be separate families.
The Niger-Congo Family of Languages
The
Niger-Congo Family features the many languages of Africa south of
the Sahara. The family originated in West Africa. Migrations
took the languages to
eastern and southern Africa. There are over 900 languages in this family in nine
branches.
Africa's borders reflect colonial history rather than linguistic boundaries. For
this reason, many of these languages are spoken across national frontiers.
The languages of this family include
the west African languages of Fulani
(Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina
Faso),
Malinke (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Ivory Coast),
Mende (Sierra
Leone),
Twi (Ghana),
Ewe (Ghana, Togo),
Mossi (Burkina Faso),
Yoruba (Nigeria),
Ibo (Nigeria),
Kpelle (Liberia),
Wolof (Senegal, Gambia) and
Fang (Cameroon,
Gabon, Guinea).
In east and southern
Africa the languages include Swahili (Tanzania, Kenya,
Uganda, Rwanda, Berundi, Zaire - the most spoken language in this family),
Kikuyu
(Kenya),
Ganda (Uganda),
Ruanda (Rwanda),
Rundi (Berundi),
Luba (Zaire),
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