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Language Family

Ijoid

African Language Families

Ijoid is a proposed but undemonstrated group of languages in Nigeria linking the Ijaw languages with the endangered Defaka language; the similarities may instead be due to Ijaw influence on Defaka.

Facts
Disputed
Proto-Language Status
Proposed to form a divergent branch of the hypothetical Niger-Congo family on the strength of its subject-object-verb word order and its lack of the Niger-Congo noun-class system; linguists Gerrit Dimmendaal and Tom Guldemann doubt its inclusion in Niger-Congo altogether and consider Ijaw/Ijoid an independent family. 1
Region
Nigeria. 1
Connections

Descends From

Ijoid is generally treated as an early-branching primary division of Niger-Congo, coordinate with Atlantic-Congo and Mande.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Ijoid Languages
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Introduction, first sentence
    Ijoid is a proposed but undemonstrated group of languages in Nigeria linking the Ijaw languages
  • Introduction, first sentence, region clause
    a proposed but undemonstrated group of languages in Nigeria
  • Introduction, second paragraph, final sentence
    Linguists Gerrit Dimmendaal and Tom Güldemann doubt its inclusion in Niger-Congo altogether and consider the Ijaw/Ijoid languages to be an independent family.
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