Mel languages
| Mel | |
|---|---|
| Southern (West) Atlantic [reduced] | |
| Geographic distribution: |
Guinea-Bissau through Liberia |
| Linguistic classification: | Niger–Congo
|
| Subdivisions: |
|
| Glottolog: | mela1257 (Mel + Gola)[1] |
The Mel languages are a branch of Niger–Congo languages spoken in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The most populous is Temne, with about two million speakers; Kissi is next, with half a million.
Languages
Mel has traditionally been classified as the bulk of a southern branch of a West Atlantic branch of Niger–Congo. However, these are geographic and typological rather than genealogical groups; Segerer (2010) shows that there is no exclusive relationship between Mel and the other southern languages, Gola and Limba.
| Mel |
|
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Glottolog retains Golla but removes Sua, classifying the latter with Mboteni and Mbulungish.
Footnotes
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- Guillaume Segerer & Florian Lionnet 2010. "'Isolates' in 'Atlantic'". Language Isolates in Africa workshop, Lyon, Dec. 4
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