Niger-congo languages

Niger-Congo is one of the largest language families in the world – perhaps even the largest – spanning an enormous area of Africa from the southern edge of the Sahara desert at the north of its extent to the very south of the continent itself. It further spreads across a diverse range of ecological environments, from rainforest to desert, as well as a number of apparent linguistic areas. Its internal genealogical diversity is similarly remarkable, as well as controversial in some key respects. Any discussion of the areal linguistics of the family can only begin to scratch the surface, especially if sociocultural dimensions of its language dynamics are to be taken into account. The goal of this chapter is, therefore, merely to give some general sense of the ‘flavour’ of the areal patterns of the family's languages and highlight select topics for the study of areal linguistics generally that these patterns raise. The discussion begins with an overview of the geographic distribution of the family and the state of the art with respect to the genealogical classification of its languages in Section 17.2. A brief summary is then given regarding salient features that most Niger-Congo languages have in common in order to set a ‘baseline’ for discussion of areal patterns within the family, which is the subject of Section 17.3. The chapter then shifts in Section 17.4 from a more geographic-centred view of areality to consider the relatively underexplored issue of how an appreciation of the social dynamics of speakers of Niger-Congo languages is likely to play a crucial role in coming to a fuller understanding of the family's areal patterns. In Section 17.5, the chapter concludes with a brief discussion of possible future directions for the study of Niger-Congo areal linguistics. Genealogical and Geographic Overview Genealogical Overview Niger-Congo, in the broadest sense, is the largest referential (if not genealogical) language group in world (Williamson and Blench 2000: 11), dominating Sub-Saharan Africa geographically. The extent to which the ‘traditional’ group of Niger-Congo languages forms a true genealogical unit is not clear, however, and this obviously complicates any examination of the areal linguistics of the family.