Languages of Africa

There are 1,250 to 2,100 and by some counts over 3,000 languages spoken natively in Africa, in several major language families:

Afroasiatic is spread throughout the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahel

Nilo-Saharan is centered on Sudan and Chad (disputed validity)

Niger–Congo (Bantu and non-Bantu) covers West, Central, Southeast and Southern Africa

Khoe is concentrated in the deserts of Namibia and Botswana

Austronesian is spoken in Madagascar.

Indo-European is spoken on the southern tip of the continent.

There are several other small families and language isolates, as well as obscure languages that have yet to be classified. In addition, Africa has a wide variety of sign languages, many of which are language isolates.

About a hundred of the languages of Africa are widely used for inter-ethnic communication. Arabic, Somali, Berber, Amharic, Oromo, Swahili, Hausa, Manding, Igbo, Fulani and Yoruba are spoken by tens of millions of people. If clusters of up to a hundred similar languages are counted together, twelve are spoken by 75 percent, and fifteen by 85 percent, of Africans as a first or additional language.

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Languages_of_Africa

Latest News for: African languages

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Lowcountry charm and Gullah history packed into one tiny S.C. island

Fayetteville Observer 23 Mar 2019

Saturday ... by water ... About one-quarter of these, including Sallie Ann, are Gullah, or Geechee — African-Americans descended from slaves who, even today, maintain a distinct culture and dialect. The latter is a combination of West and Central African languages and English ... "Daufuskie" means "sharp feather" in the Muscogee language ... ... ....

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Tacko Fall Is a Basketball Spectacle to Rival Zion Williamson. Now They Share the Same Stage

Sports Illustrated 23 Mar 2019

COLUMBIA, S.C — Let me tell you about my experience with really tall people ... I was fascinated watching Manute open a bottle of beer ... Back when I first saw Manute Bol, African-born players were a rare thing ... He speaks four languages, including an African dialect called Wolof, and he’s carried a 4.0 GPA ever since he landed at Liberty Christian Prep....

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'I think I've developed a fairly healthy relationship with fame' - Lupita Nyong’o talks Us, privacy and privilege

Irish Independent 23 Mar 2019

Paul Whitington. March 23 2019 2.30 AM ... Email ... She was very much front and centre, however, in Black Panther, Ryan Coogler's massively successful 2018 superhero film about a technologically advanced African nation that hides its superiority from the outside world. She studied judo, jujitsu and the Hausa language to play the dynamic warrior spy Nakia ... ....

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French? No Please.

Joy Online 22 Mar 2019

Together with the proliferation of religion, especially the going of Christian missionaries into the continent, the ways of Africans, including their language, was looked down on as primitive and backward ... it the first African language outside South Africa to be offered in class....

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Local choir notes importance of giving back

Herald-Standard 22 Mar 2019

For nearly 15 years, the Daughters of Grace Choir has been entertaining audiences with its musical offerings ... The same holds true to the upcoming spring concert at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 5 at the Greene Valley Presbyterian Church in Carmichaels ... “We’ll be singing in Bemba, an African language, as well as Hebrew, Latin and English,” she said ... .......

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Low country charm and Gullah history packed into one tiny island

Longview News-Journal 22 Mar 2019

Sallie Ann Robinson is down in St ... About one-quarter of these, including Sallie Ann, are Gullah, or Geechee - African-Americans descended from slaves who, even today, maintain a distinct culture and dialect. The latter is a combination of West and Central African languages and English ... "Daufuskie" means "sharp feather" in the Muscogee language ... --- ... $7....

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Equal use of #IndigenousLanguages a human right, saysRamaphosa

Independent online (SA) 21 Mar 2019

"A language rule book is being finalised by the Pan South African Language Board ... "As part of our commitment to empower and foster respect for the rights of people with disabilities, a proposal has been submitted to Parliament to elevate South African Sign Language to the status of an official language."....

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PICS: Ramaphosa flaunts language skills in #HumanRightsDay speech at Sharpeville

Independent online (SA) 21 Mar 2019

Speaking in at least four different native languages, Ramaphosa asserted that "language was a fundamental part in building human rights" ... "The Nama language of the Khoisan people is now being taught in primary schools in the Northern Cape, and a language rule book is being finalised by the Pan South African Language Board," he said....

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Top news items in major S. African media outlets

China.dot.org 21 Mar 2019

... in South African major news outlets on Thursday ... This year, the government has appealed to South Africans to preserve indigenous languages ... (South African Broadcasting Corporation) Enditem....

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Facebook Forum 3-16-19

Tahlequah Daily Press 21 Mar 2019

Jim Inhofe's perennial proposal to make English America's "official" language ... Once you begin accommodating numerous languages it has the potential to become costly, convoluted and confusing ... What we speak is NOT English! Close, but we already have many words from other languages that are in our common vocabulary ... Now add African languages....

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Israel Exports Violence and Human Rights Rhetoric to Africa

The Palestine Chronicle 21 Mar 2019

Israel’s military attaché to Africa, Colonel Aviezer Segal, has said that the Israelis treat African leaders. “with respect and appreciation and deal with them as equals, in a language of true camaraderie, personal friendship and professionalism.”....

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Ethiopia: Media Reforms? There Are Better Ways, Mr. Prime Minister

All Africa 21 Mar 2019

The first newspaper ever published in Amharic, also the first ever in an African language, was issued in Addis Abeba. Although a progressive move at that time, it was not far removed from what defines the character of the nation's media landscape today ... .......

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‘Huckleberry Finn’ controversy resurfaces and becomes target of N.J. lawmakers

The Grio 21 Mar 2019

The resolution by Reynolds-Jackson and Holley says the inclusion of the book in school curricula “in effect requires adolescents to read and discuss a book containing hurtful, oppressive, and highly offensive language directed towards African-Americans.”....