Language Family

Kainji languages

African Language Families

The Kainji languages are a group of about 60 related languages spoken in west-central Nigeria. They may be an independent branch of Benue-Congo.

Facts

Partially Attested

Speaker Count

1,000,000 2

Estimate of about one million speakers dating from the 1990s, not a current count.

Region

West-central Nigeria 2

Proto-Language Status

Proto-Kainji reconstructed; estimated 3,000 to 4,000 years old (Blench 2012) 2

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Classification Confidence

Established 1

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Number of Languages

53 1

In the Other Atlases

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Wikipedia: Kainji languagesLead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article

Quote, Lead paragraph of the cited Wikipedia article

The Kainji languages are a group of about 60 related languages spoken in west-central Nigeria.

Sources

1. Glottolog: Kainji (languoid record)

Glottolog

Languoid record: child_language_count
"child_language_count": 53
Languoid record: level and category
"level": "family", "bookkeeping": false, "category": "Family"

2. Wikipedia: Kainji languages

Lead paragraph
The Kainji languages are a group of about 60 related languages spoken in west-central Nigeria.
Speakers paragraph
In total, there were about one million speakers of Kainji languages (1990s estimate) in Nigeria.
Proto-Kainji paragraph
Proto-Kainji is estimated by Blench (2012) to be 3,000 to 4,000 years old.

Wikidata: Kainji languages

Wikidata Q681495, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)

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