Language and the Study of Africa
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 October 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 October 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846733-0030
- LAST REVIEWED: 25 October 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 25 October 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199846733-0030
Introduction
Africa is home to a substantial portion of the world’s linguistic diversity. Estimating the total number of different languages is difficult, given that much of Africa is in dialect continuum-like situations, new languages continue to be discovered, and others die out, but the commonly cited estimate of Ethnologue is about two thousand. Multilingualism prevails, and Nigeria alone has more than 450 languages. The study of African languages has motivated many contributions to the theory of language, notably by revolutionizing the understanding of tonal phonology (e.g., using the autosegmental approach) and informing lexicalist approaches to syntax. It has also proved to be a crucial tool for documenting and understanding contact-induced language change and social change in Africa; as anywhere else in the world, to study a society one must study its language. The dearth of reliable early documentation for much of the continent makes comparative-historical linguistics an even more important key to the history of Africa than it is for many other regions. Nonetheless, one of the earliest writing systems of the world originated on the African continent among speakers of the Afroasiatic language Ancient Egyptian, and a number of different scripts remain in use there, posing interesting challenges for educational policy and information technology. The languages of Africa fall into four major families, as proposed by Greenberg 1966 (cited under Language, Society, and History): Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, and Khoisan (Malagasy belongs to Austronesian). The preexisting languages spoken by indigenous Pygmies are presumed to have been replaced. In practice, however, this classification probably underestimates the linguistic diversity of Africa. The more cautious list in Dimmendaal 2011 (cited under Language, Society, and History), for example, gives eleven language families plus eight isolates. Of these, the most widely used serve as transnational lingua francas—for example, Manding, Hausa, and Fula(ni) in the Sahel; Yoruba in Nigeria and Benin; Lingala in the Congo basin; Swahili in East and central Africa; and Arabic varieties in North Africa, Chad, and Sudan. Ex-colonial (European) languages also play an important role in modern-day Africa, notably as official languages, while pidgins and creoles based on European and major indigenous languages have emerged as tools of communication in multiethnic situations. Sign languages are used in Africa as in other parts of the world, often independently of formal deaf education systems; most remain inadequately documented or entirely undocumented.
General Overviews
Childs 2003 and Heine and Nurse 2000 are both good introductions to the study of African languages for a nonspecialist audience, although, in both cases, a basic background in linguistics is helpful. Among older overviews, Welmers 1973 and Gregersen 1977 can still be recommended.
Childs, George Tucker. An Introduction to African Languages. Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2003.
This book offers a balanced overview of issues relating to the study of African languages, focusing on features particularly conspicuous in Africa and on issues where the study of African languages has made a major contribution to views of linguistics and taking a moderately skeptical line on macrofamilies. The author often draws on his specialist field, the Atlantic languages of West Africa, for examples.
Gregersen, Edgar A. Language in Africa: An Introductory Survey. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1977.
A general survey of language in Africa somewhat outdated even at the time of publication but still useful.
Heine, Bernd, and Derek Nurse, eds. African Languages: An Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
This selection of edited chapters, mainly by well-known Africanists, is weighted toward a historical-comparative perspective on African languages with a broad overview chapter for each of Joseph H. Greenberg’s four families, another on comparative linguistics, and another on language and history, taking a generally optimistic line on large-scale genetic groupings. It also devotes significant space to theoretical linguistics along with some discussion of language and society.
Welmers, William E. African Language Structures. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973.
Examines phonology, morphology, and syntax across the continent with a focus on specific case studies.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Achebe, Chinua
- Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi
- Africa in the Cold War
- African Masculinities
- African Political Parties
- African Refugees
- African Socialism
- Africans in the Atlantic World
- Agricultural History
- Aid and Economic Development
- Alcohol
- Algeria
- Angola
- Arab Spring
- Arabic Language and Literature
- Archaeology and the Study of Africa
- Archaeology of Central Africa
- Archaeology of Eastern Africa
- Archaeology of Southern Africa
- Archaeology of West Africa
- Architecture
- Art, Art History, and the Study of Africa
- Arts of Central Africa
- Arts of Western Africa
- Asante and the Akan and Mossi States
- Bantu Expansion
- Benin (Dahomey)
- Boer War
- Botswana (Bechuanaland)
- Brink, André
- British Colonial Rule in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)
- Burundi
- Business History
- Cameroon
- Cape Verde
- Central African Republic
- Children and Childhood
- China in Africa
- Christianity, African
- Cinema and Television
- Citizenship
- Cocoa
- Coetzee, J.M.
- Colonial Rule, Belgian
- Colonial Rule, French
- Colonial Rule, German
- Colonial Rule, Italian
- Colonial Rule, Portuguese
- Communism, Marxist-Leninism, and Socialism in Africa
- Comoro Islands
- Conflict in the Sahel
- Conflict Management and Resolution
- Congo, Republic of (Congo Brazzaville)
- Congo River Basin States
- Congo Wars
- Conservation and Wildlife
- Coups in Africa
- Crime and the Law in Colonial Africa
- Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire)
- Development of Early Farming and Pastoralism
- Diaspora, Kongo Atlantic
- Disease and African Society
- Djibouti
- Dyula
- Early States And State Formation In Africa
- Early States of the Western Sudan
- Eastern Africa and the South Asian Diaspora
- Economic Anthropology
- Economic History
- Economy, Informal
- Education
- Education and the Study of Africa
- Egypt
- Egypt, Ancient
- Electricity
- Environment
- Environmental History
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Ethnicity and Politics
- Europe and Africa, Medieval
- Family Planning
- Famine
- Farah, Nuruddin
- Feminism
- Food and Food Production
- Fugard, Athol
- Fulani
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Genocide in Rwanda
- Geography and the Study of Africa
- Ghana
- Gikuyu (Kikuyu) People of Kenya
- Globalization
- Gordimer, Nadine
- Great Lakes States of Eastern Africa, The
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Hausa
- Hausa Language and Literature
- Health, Medicine, and the Study of Africa
- Historiography and Methods of African History
- History and the Study of Africa
- Horn of Africa and South Asia
- Igbo
- Ijo/Niger Delta
- Image of Africa, The
- Indian Ocean and Middle Eastern Slave Trades
- Indian Ocean Trade
- Invention of Tradition
- Iron Working and the Iron Age in Africa
- Islam in Africa
- Islamic Politics
- Kenya
- Kongo and the Coastal States of West Central Africa
- Language and the Study of Africa
- Law and the Study of Sub-Saharan Africa
- Law, Islamic
- Lesotho
- LGBTI Minorities and Queer Politics in Eastern and Souther...
- Liberia
- Libya
- Literature and the Study of Africa
- Lord's Resistance Army
- Maasai and Maa-Speaking Peoples of East Africa, The
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mande
- Mau Mau
- Mauritania
- Media and Journalism
- Military History
- Mining
- Modern African Literature in European Languages
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Music, Dance, and the Study of Africa
- Music, Traditional
- Nairobi
- Namibia
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Nollywood
- North Africa from 600 to 1800
- North Africa to 600
- Northeastern African States, c. 1000 BCE-1800 CE
- Obama and Kenya
- Oman, the Gulf, and East Africa
- Oral and Written Traditions, African
- Oromo
- Ousmane Sembène
- Pastoralism
- Police and Policing
- Political Science and the Study of Africa
- Political Systems, Precolonial
- Popular Culture and the Study of Africa
- Popular Music
- Population and Demography
- Postcolonial Sub-Saharan African Politics
- Religion and Politics in Contemporary Africa
- Rwanda
- Senegal
- Sexualities in Africa
- Seychelles, The
- Siwa Oasis
- Slave Trade, Atlantic
- Slavery in Africa
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Social and Cultural Anthropology and the Study of Africa
- Somalia
- South Africa Post c. 1850
- Southern Africa to c. 1850
- Soyinka, Wole
- Spanish Colonial Rule
- Sport
- States of the Zimbabwe Plateau and Zambezi Valley
- Sudan and South Sudan
- Swahili City-States of the East African Coast
- Swahili Language and Literature
- Tanzania (Tanganyika and Zanzibar)
- Togo
- Tourism
- Trade
- Trade Unions
- Traditional Authorities
- Traditional Religion, African
- Transportation
- Trans-Saharan Trade
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Urbanism and Urbanization
- Wars and Warlords
- Western Sahara
- White Settlers in East Africa
- Women and African History
- Women and Colonialism
- Women and Politics
- Women and Slavery
- Women and the Economy
- Women, Gender and the Study of Africa
- Women in 19th-Century West Africa
- Yoruba Diaspora
- Yoruba Language and Literature
- Yoruba States, Benin, and Dahomey
- Youth
- Zambia