Roger Blench:
East Benue-Congo subgroups
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The name Benue-Congo has had a rather chequered history. Originating
with Westermann’s Benue Cross-Fluss, it became the usual term to refer
to the noun-class languages of east-central Nigeria, reified in the Benue-Congo
Comparative Wordlist. During the 1980s, the evidence for remnant noun classes in
former Eastern Kwa, Yoruboid etc., seemed persuasive enough to merge the two
into an enlarged Benue-Congo. This framework still appears in many reference
texts. However, the linguistic, as opposed to typological evidence for this was
always slight. I now consider that we should revert to the original definition,
which I have called ‘East Benue-Congo’ provisonally. The languages west of the Niger, with
none or fragmentary noun-classes, I now group together in a branch called ‘Volta-Niger’ which includes these languages plus Gbe.
Bantu and Bantoid languages wold also constitute
a branch of Benue-Congo, but these are given their own pages.
Overviews or general materials
Subgroups of East Benue-Congo
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