What are the three families of African language?

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What are the three families of African language?

Most languages spoken in Africa belong to one of three large language families: Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan and Niger–Congo.

What is Africa language called?

Swahili language, also called kiSwahili, or Kiswahili, Bantu language spoken either as a mother tongue or as a fluent second language on the east coast of Africa in an area extending from Lamu Island, Kenya, in the north to the southern border of Tanzania in the south.

What are the names of four African languages?

Most languages spoken in Africa belong to one of four language families: Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, and Khoisan.

What words came from Africa?

English words of African origin

  • azawakh – probably from Fula or Tuareg.
  • banana – adopted from Wolof via Spanish or Portuguese.
  • banjo – from Mandinka bangoe, which refers to the Akonting.
  • basenji – breed of dog from Central Africa – Congo, Central African Republic etc.
  • boma – from Swahili.
  • bongo – West African boungu.
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What is the first language in Africa?

1. Arabic: Arabic Language is the first most spoken language in Africa with a number of speakers that is equivalent to 150 million people (out of 420 million World Wide). It’s a bidirectional language that is related to the Afroasiatic language family but originated from Asia.

How many languages does Africa speak?

With more than 2,000 distinct languages, Africa has a third of the world’s languages with less than a seventh of the world’s population. By comparison, Europe, which has about an eighth of the world’s population, has only about 300 languages. Africa’s linguistic diversity can even be found among individual Africans.

How many language do we have in Africa?

With anywhere between 1000 and 2000 languages, Africa is home to approximately one-third of the world’s languages. The diversity of Africa’s languages is evidenced by their populations. In total, there are at least 75 languages in Africa which have more than one million speakers.

How many words are there in Swahili language?

25 million words
The applications include a spelling checker, part-of-speech tagging, a language learning software, an analysed Swahili text corpus of 25 million words, an electronic dictionary, and machine translation between Swahili and English.

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Where is the Bantu language spoken?

Africa
Bantu languages, a group of some 500 languages belonging to the Bantoid subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Bantu languages are spoken in a very large area, including most of Africa from southern Cameroon eastward to Kenya and southward to the southernmost tip of the continent.

What word entered the English language due to colonization in Africa?

The word “gumbo” comes from the word “ki ngombo” in Mbundu, a language of Angola. The original meaning was simply “okra.”

What is the best language in Africa?

Below are top 5 African languages to know when doing business on the continent or enjoying tourist destinations and experiencing diverse cultures on the continent:

  • #1 SWAHILI. Swahili is the most spoken language in Africa, with over 100 million speakers.
  • #2 AMHARIC.
  • #3 YORUBA.
  • #4 OROMO.
  • #5 HAUSA.

How many African languages are there?

What are words of African origin used in English?

Most words of African origin used in English are nouns describing animals, plants, or cultural practices that have their origins in Africa. The following list includes some examples. azawakh – probably from Fula or Tuareg.

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What is the most ancient written language in Africa?

African holds the world’s most ancient written languages. Examples of ancient writing in Africa are the Ge’ez script of Ethiopia, the most ancient African script still in use, the Nsibidi of Nigeria, Adrinka of the Akan people of Ghana, the Tifnagh of the Tuareg people, and Val and Mende of Liberia and Sierra Leone,( evidence…

What are the official languages of South Africa?

Official Languages: Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, Venda, Swati, Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tsonga, and Tswana. Many South Africans are bilingual and can speak at least two of the country’s 11 official languages. Zulu and Xhosa are the most common mother tongues, although English is understood by the most people.

What are some African words and phrases that have gone global?

African words and phrases that have gone global. 1. Hakuna Matata. Meaning: There are no problems : don’t worry about it. 2. Kwashiorkor. Meaning: Severe malnutrition in infants and children especially of impoverished regions caused by a diet low in protein. 3. Buckra. Meaning: Chiefly South, often