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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Paul Sullivan: MLB won’t have to say why it suspended Tim Anderson, but we all ...

Sacramento Bee 21 Apr 2019

CHICAGO ... "You can't suspend someone for language. That's ridiculous ... At issue is whether Anderson, an African-American, was out of line for allegedly directing the word at Keller, who is white ... Diamondbacks outfielder Adam Jones said Saturday that he agreed that the "slang" is not uncommon language in baseball ... "One hundred percent ... And I respect that ... ....

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Paul Sullivan: MLB won't have to say why it suspended Tim Anderson, but we all ...

Finger Lakes Times 21 Apr 2019

But I wish he had appealed, if only to make MLB explain its actions ... "You can't suspend someone for language ... At issue is whether Anderson, an African-American, was out of line for allegedly directing the word at Keller, who is white ... Diamondbacks outfielder Adam Jones said Saturday that he agreed that the "slang" is not uncommon language in baseball....

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UN family marks Chinese Language Day in Ethiopian capital

Xinhua 19 Apr 2019

The Chinese Language Day event, which was organized by the UN-ECA in collaboration with the Chinese Mission to the African Union (AU), featured presentations on Chinese culture, exhibition, Kung Fu performance, traditional Chinese musical instrument performance and Chinese tea ceremony, among other activities....

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Roundup: UN family marks Chinese Language Day in Ethiopian capital

China.dot.org 19 Apr 2019

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Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo delivers inaugural lecture

Joy Online 19 Apr 2019

Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, Dean, School of Languages has delivered an inaugural lecture on the topic Beyond Babel ... She also indicated that language is inextricably linked to culture and thought ... Amfo noted that pragmatics is the science of language use based on an interdisciplinary sense as a functional perspective on language and communication....

photo: Creative Commons / Markus Schweiss

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Physicists devise technique which ‘could turn boiling water into ice without any energy’

The Independent 19 Apr 2019

In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" ... 16/20 A 3D reconstruction of an African grey parrot post euthanasia ... In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn"....

photo: Creative Commons

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Fabella: Bone thought to be lost to evolution mysteriously returning to human body

The Independent 19 Apr 2019

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Councilman criticized over 'Black child' label for Luzerne County

The Philadelphia Tribune 18 Apr 2019

He said he wanted to draw a comparison between African Americans, who face discrimination in their daily lives, and Luzerne County, which faces discrimination when it comes to state funding ... He stressed that he meant no disrespect to the African-American community....

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Bilingual nation offers China way in

Taipei Times 18 Apr 2019

Some countries, Switzerland being the shining example, have managed with more than two official languages, but it is not for the faint-hearted ... Many other terms in both government and commerce differ between the two types of English, and might also have different meanings in South African, India, Australia and other places where the language varies....

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Chinese innovation driving Africa's growth

China Daily 18 Apr 2019

Innovation is the newest frontier in China's continued engagement with Africa, which is part of a wider pattern of increasing Chinese investment in African markets, infrastructure and natural resources ... The most remarkable Chinese contribution, perhaps, has been the construction of modern railways that crisscross the African continent....

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Daughter of South African Poet Laureate Ingrid Jonker Shares Her Childhood Trauma After Mother’s Suicide

The Marshall News Messenger 18 Apr 2019

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 18, 2019--Simone Jonker (born 1957), daughter of the famous South African poet (1933-1965), shares her life journey with the global storytelling platform, ... Often referred to as the South African Sylvia Plath, Ingrid was an iconic poet of her time. Her works have been widely translated into other languages....

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