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African Linguistic Classification1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

Diedrich Westermann
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Extract

Professor Greenberg, in his series of linguistic studies, writes: ‘From the present series there will emerge a complete genetic reclassification of the languages of Africa. These results are so at variance from the commonly accepted scheme that a brief methodological foreword seems in order.’ This is a clear and frank statement and a great promise. Until now, in spite of several attempts, no satisfactory classification of African languages has existed. Though it may seem natural not to be satisfied with an analysis of individual languages but to aim at a synthesis, to see the whole and its interrelations, there was in many quarters a definite aversion from a holistic approach; it was even said to be more important to stress the differences than to try to find relationships. It is certainly necessary to study each single language in all its peculiarities, but it is wrong to maintain that a comparative investigation should not be undertaken until every African language has been analysed; that would defer the matter ad kalendas graecas. It is not necessary to analyse every Bantu language in order to show the characteristic features of Bantu languages and their relation to other languages. We are grateful to Professor Greenberg for his attempt, which reveals a familiarity with the problem and a sound and extensive knowledge of many African languages. Though not every point he makes is new, yet he indicates new roads and provides food for reflection and discussion.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , July 1952 , pp. 250 - 256
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1952

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References

page 253 note 1 ‘The great mass of languages in the western Sudan were demonstrated by Westermann to be genetically related and to this group he applied the name West Sudanic…. Westermann, who, it is worth remarking, is an eminently cautious investigator, pointed out many resemblances in fundamental vocabulary between the Proto-West Sudanic forms he had reconstructed and the Proto-Bantu forms postulated by Meinhof’ (‘The position of Bantu’, p. 1).

page 253 note 2 It is thus classified in the forthcoming volume West African Languages in the Handbook of African Languages (International African Institute).

page 253 note 3 ‘The position of the Semi-Bantu languages has always been a paradoxical one. They have been considered, with every right, as a subdivision of West Sudanic yet they show a resemblance to Bantu which is so close as to earn them the name Semi-Bantu’ (‘The position of Bantu’, p. 3).

page 256 note 1 In the Central Ivory Coast Lagoon—a sub-family of Niger-Congo ‘Niger-Congo Family’, p. 6)—Greenberg groups under No. 8 Adyukru with Ari and Abe. Although there is some vocabulary relationship between these three, it should be noted that Adyukru has noun classes, e.g. l-etεn, pl. m-etεn, canoe; l-αb, pl. m-αb, knife; li-κγερ, pl. mi-kyερ, wether; li-kin, pl. e-kin, twenty; l-igbilep, pl. i-gbilep, yam; ε-gη, pl. a-gŋ, man; id, pl. se-id, cow. Adyukru has relations with Gola and belongs to the West Atlantic group. See Delafosse, M., Vocabulaires comparatifs …, p. 51.Google Scholar