Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Mambiloid languages

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Geographic distribution:
  
Nigeria and Cameroon

Glottolog:
  
mamb1309

Subdivisions:
  
Ndoro Mambiloid proper

Linguistic classification:
  
Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Mambiloid

The dozen Mambiloid languages are a branch of Niger–Congo languages spoken by the Mambila and related people in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Languages

The following classification follows Blench (2011). Languages with (?) are not listed in that source, but close to other languages according to Ethnologue. Ndoro–Fam may be a separate branch of Benue–Congo.

  • Ndoola (Ndoro)
  • Mambiloid proper
  • Suga (Nizaa)
  • Mambila–Konja
  • Konja: Kwanja, ?Twendi
  • Mambila–Vute
  • Mambila–Kamkam
  • Magu–Kamkam–Kila: Mbongno, Mvanip (Mvano), ?Somyev, ?Ndunda
  • Mambila
  • Tep–Vute
  • Tep
  • Vute: Vute, Wawa

    • Ethnologue also lists Njerep, which most likely lies somewhere in the Mambila–Kamkam branch. The extinct Yeni, Luo, and Kasabe languages were apparently Mambiloid, the first two close to Njerep.

    Fam is sometimes classified with Ndoro, but appears to be more divergent.

    References

    Mambiloid languages Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA