Igboid languages

The igboid languages (or Igboid for short ) form a subunit of the West Benue Congo , a branch of the Benue Congo languages , which in turn belong to the Niger-Congo .

All igboid languages ​​with the exception of Ekpeye are closely related to Igbo and form several dialect clusters ; they are spoken by nearly 20 million people in southeast Nigeria .

Position of the Igboid within the Niger-Congo

• Niger-Congo
  • Volta Congo
    • South Volta Congo
      • Benue Congo
        • West Benue Congo
          • Igboid

Internal classification

• Igboid
  • Igbo
    • Igbo (Ibo) (18 million)
    • Ogbah ( 170k )
    • Ikwere (200 thousand)
    • Izi-Ezaa-Ikwo-Mgbo (600 thousand)
    • Ukwuani-aboh-ndoni ( 150k )
    • Ikah
  • Ekpeye
    • Ekpeye (30 thousand)

See also

• West Benue Congo

literature

• Bernd Heine and Derek Nurse (eds.): African Languages. An Introduction. Cambridge University Press 2000.
  In it: Kay Williamson and Roger Blench: Niger-Congo.
• John Bendor-Samuel (Ed.): The Niger-Congo Languages: A Classification and Description of Africa's Largest Language Family. University Press of America, Lanham, New York, London 1989.
  Therein: Victor Manfredi: Igboid.

Web links

• Ernst Kausen, The Classification of the Benue-Congo Languages ​​within the Niger-Congo. (DOC; 232 kB)