Niger-Congo, with approximately 1,350 – 1,650 languages is the largest of the four; it is also the largest language family in the world. The Niger-Congo languages inhabit Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa.
What is the largest language family in Africa?
The Niger-Congo language family is the largest group of Africa (and probably of the world) in terms of the number of languages.
Which language family has the most languages?
Language families by languages
| Language family | # of languages | % of all languages |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Niger-Congo | 1495 | 21.36% |
| 2. Austronesian | 1246 | 18.03% |
| 3. Trans-New Guinea | 561 | 8.12% |
| 4. Indo-European | 430 | 6.22% |
Which language is largest in Africa?
1. SWAHILI. The most spoken language in Africa is Swahili which is said to have between 100 and 150 million speakers.
What are the 3 largest language families?
Language families by speakers
| Language family | Approx. # of speakers | % of world population |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Indo-European | 2.562 billion | 44.78% |
| 2. Sino-Tibetan | 1.276 billion | 22.28% |
| 3. Niger-Congo | 358 million | 6.26% |
| 4. Afro-Asiatic | 340 million | 5.93% |
What is the oldest African language?
Afrikaans is one of the official languages of South Africa. It belongs to the West Germanic branch of the Indo-European family. It evolved from the variety of Dutch which was spoken by Dutch settlers in South Africa.
What are the 11 official languages?
Generally considered to be among the most multilingual countries in the world and among the most multiethnic in Africa, post-apartheid South Africa has 11 official languages recognized in its democratic constitution: English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Ndebele, Zulu, Tswana, Swati, Sotho, Southern Sotho, Venda and Tsonga.
What is the 1st language?
As far as written languages go, Sumerian and Egyptian seem to have the earliest writing systems and are among the earliest recorded languages, dating back to around 3200BC. But the oldest written language that is still in actual use would probably be Chinese, which first appeared around 1500BC…
Which is the most spoken language in the world as a first language?
Which Languages Have the Most Speakers?
| Rank | Language | Native Speakers |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mandarin Chinese | 918 million |
| 2 | Spanish | 460 million |
| 3 | English | 379 million |
| 4 | Hindi | 341 million |
Which language has the most speakers?
If you count only native speakers, Mandarin Chinese is the largest.
- Mandarin Chinese is the largest language in the world when counting only first language (native) speakers. …
- When factoring in second-, third-, and higher language speakers, English is the largest language in the world.
Who speaks the best English in Africa?
A report by the World Linguistic Society has named Uganda as the best English speaking country in Africa. The study names Uganda at the top, followed by Zambia, South Africa and Kenya respectively.
Which country in Africa speaks Spanish?
English is the official language of the British overseas territory on the Iberian Peninsula. Most locals are bilingual and also speak Spanish. Equatorial Guinea is the only country in Africa with a Spanish speaking majority (68%). Standard Arabic, Moroccan Arabic, and Tamazight (Berber) are the national languages.
Which language is used in Africa?
Around a hundred languages are widely used for inter-ethnic communication. Arabic, Somali, Berber, Amharic, Oromo, Igbo, Swahili, Hausa, Manding, Fulani and Yoruba are spoken by tens of millions of people.
…
Official languages.
| Language | Family | Official status per country |
|---|---|---|
| Zulu | Niger-Congo | South Africa |
What family is English in?
English belongs to the Indo-European family of languages and is therefore related to most other languages spoken in Europe and western Asia from Iceland to India.
What are the 14 main language families?
Major language families
- Niger–Congo (1,542 languages) (21.7%)
- Austronesian (1,257 languages) (17.7%)
- Trans–New Guinea (482 languages) (6.8%)
- Sino-Tibetan (455 languages) (6.4%)
- Indo-European (448 languages) (6.3%)
- Australian [dubious] (381 languages) (5.4%)
- Afro-Asiatic (377 languages) (5.3%)
Which language is not a Romance language?
Which of these languages is not a Romance language? The right answer is Swiss, because it is not actually a language. Three of the national languages in Switzerland are Romance languages: French (spoken by 22.9% of the population in 2016), Italian (8.2%) and Romansh (0.5%).