Niger–Congo
Let an agent handle Niger-Congo by branches, member languages, classification debates, speaker figures and resources, with attributed views and self-designations.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify
Researched by: Claude
Purpose and description
Let an agent handle Niger-Congo by branches, member languages, classification debates, speaker figures and resources, with attributed views and self-designations.
A proposed language family of sub-Saharan Africa, the largest in the world by number of languages, with well over a thousand languages including the Bantu languages such as Swahili and Zulu, and languages such as Yoruba, Igbo, Fula and Wolof; the inclusion of some branches such as Mande, Dogon, Ijoid and Kordofanian remains debated.
What it is for: Linguistics, education and language resources for African languages.
It can be identify the branch of a language; summarise classification debates with sources; find resources and speaker figures; explain shared features such as noun classes.
Distinguishing features
Very many languages
Widespread noun classes
Mostly tonal
Some branches disputed
What it looks like
Not physical; shown in family trees, maps and grammars.
How it is recognised
Noun class systems in many branches
Tone in most languages
Afroasiatic and Nilo-Saharan are other proposed families
Related models
is a kind of - category
includes - branch
is spoken in - region
is classified by - references
In practice
Families and kinds
Atlantic-Congo
Benue-Congo including Bantu
Volta-Niger
Kwa and Gur
disputed branches such as Mande, Dogon and Kordofanian
Identifiers
ISO 639-5 nic Niger-Kordofanian languages (collective code)
Standards and regulation
National language policies
African Union language charters
Failure modes and hazards
Presenting a debated grouping as settled
Unsourced speaker numbers
Exonyms instead of self-designations
Also called
+392
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.
Classification Family tree.
Classification is debated.
Branch
Which branch.
Branch
Branch.
- Which branch does this language belong to, according to Glottolog or other references? provenance
- Do references disagree? boundary
Debate
Contested groupings.
Debate
Classification debate.
- Why do linguists debate the inclusion of Mande or Kordofanian? provenance
- Who holds which view? provenance
Features Shared traits.
Features recur.
Noun classes
Noun class systems.
Noun classes
Noun classes.
- How do noun class systems work in this language? definition
- How many classes are there? measurement
Tone
Tonal systems.
Tone
Tone.
- How is tone used in this language? definition
- How is it written? provenance
Speakers Communities.
Figures need sources.
Numbers
Speaker figures.
Numbers
Speaker numbers.
- How many speakers does this language have, according to recent sources? provenance
- First or second language? boundary
Names
Self-designations.
Names
Self-designations.
- What do speakers call their language? provenance
- Which names are exonyms? provenance
Resources Learning and technology.
Resources support languages.
Learning
Courses.
Learning
Learning resources.
- Which grammars, dictionaries or courses exist? provenance
- Who publishes them? provenance
Technology
Language technology.
Technology
Language technology.
- Which keyboards, fonts or translation tools support this language? provenance
- How good is their quality? boundary
What the second pass must settle
- Should branches be separate entries?
- How should classification debates be recorded?
- How should resources for each language be linked?