The Niger-Congo language family is the largest language phylum in Africa and one of the largest in the world. It predominates in sub-Saharan Africa, extending geographically from Senegal in the west to Kenya in the east, and southward to South Africa.

Although its internal classification is still debated, most linguists agree that Niger-Congo consists of nine major families (or sub-families), with Dogon often treated separately due to its uncertain status.

Major Niger-Congo Families

1. Atlantic
   The westernmost branch, spoken along the Atlantic coast. Major languages include Wolof and Fula (Fulani). Fula extends far inland into the savanna regions as far as Sudan.
2. Mande
   Spoken mainly in western Africa. Well-known Mande languages include Bambara, Dyula, Malinke, Mandinka, and West and East Maninkakan.
3. Kru
   Found in the forest regions of southern Liberia and southwestern Ivory Coast.
4. Gur (Voltaic)
   Spoken mainly in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The largest Gur language is Moore.
5. Kwa
   Located in the southern regions of Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Important languages include Akan, Baule, and Ewe.
6. Adamawa-Ubangi
   Spoken in Cameroon, southern Chad, and the Central African Republic. Major languages include Gbaya, Banda, and Zande.
7. Benue-Congo
   By far the largest Niger-Congo family. It is divided into:
   • Non-Bantoid languages, such as Yoruba and Igbo (mainly in Nigeria)
   • Bantoid languages, which include the Bantu languages
   The Bantu languages spread across most of central, eastern, and southern Africa. Major Bantu languages include Swahili, Rwanda (Kinyarwanda), Shona, and Zulu.
8. Ijoid
   Spoken in the Niger Delta, including Defaka and the Ijo language cluster.
9. Kordofanian
   Geographically isolated from the rest of Niger-Congo, spoken in the mountains of central Sudan.
10. Dogon
    Spoken in Mali. Its classification within Niger-Congo remains controversial.

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Number of Speakers

More than 600 million people speak a Niger-Congo language. Approximately 330 million of these speak a Bantu language.

Approximate number of speakers (in millions):

Family	Speakers (millions)
Benue-Congo	500.0
Atlantic	30.0
Kwa	25.0
Mande	25.0
Gur	24.0
Adamawa-Ubangi	12.0
Kru	3.0
Ijoid	2.5
Dogon	0.6
Kordofanian	0.5

Note: About two-thirds of Benue-Congo speakers speak a Bantu language.
Swahili, counting both first- and second-language speakers, has an estimated 50–100 million speakers.

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Oldest Written Records

• The earliest attestations of Niger-Congo words appear in Portuguese documents from the 16th century and in a work by an Italian mathematician from the same period.
• The first book in a Niger-Congo language was a Kongo catechism, published in 1624.
• The first grammar of a Niger-Congo language was also written on Kongo, in 1659.

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Shared Linguistic Features of Niger-Congo Languages

1. Phonology

a. Vowel Harmony

Many Niger-Congo languages, especially:

• the northern Atlantic languages, and
• non-Bantu Benue-Congo languages,

exhibit ATR (Advanced Tongue Root) vowel harmony.
Vowels are divided into:

• +ATR vowels, and
• –ATR vowels

Only vowels from the same set may occur within a single morpheme.

b. Tonal Systems

Most Niger-Congo languages are tonal, although some major languages (e.g. Swahili and Fula) are not.

• Typically, languages have two or three tones, though some have four or five.
• Tone distinguishes both lexical meaning and grammatical functions.

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2. Morphology

a. Noun Class Systems

The noun class system is one of the most characteristic features of Niger-Congo languages (with Mande as a notable exception).

• Nouns are grouped into classes, marked by prefixes, suffixes, or both.
• All nouns in a class share the same class marker.

b. Concord (Agreement)

Most noun class systems involve concord, where:

• determiners, adjectives, quantifiers, and often verbs
  agree with the noun’s class through affixes.

c. Number of Classes

The number of noun classes varies:

• Proto-Bantu: about 19 classes
• Atlantic languages: 3–25 classes
• Gur languages: usually 11 classes

Some classes have semantic motivation (humans, animals, plants), others are grammatical (locatives, infinitives, diminutives), while many are mixed.

d. Serial Verb Constructions

Serial verb constructions are common.
They consist of two or more verbs:

• sharing the same subject, tense, and mood
• occurring without conjunctions
  to express complex actions or events.

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