Despite this sonorous and rather solemn title, it turned out to be a very lively affair and a very exciting and useful experience for many of us. May 31, 2012 afroasiatic languages are spoken by some 300 million people in northern, central and eastern africa and the middle east. Afroasiatic afroasiatic, also known as afrasian and in older sources as hamitosemitic or semitohamitic, is a large language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in west asia, north africa, the horn of africa and parts of the sahel. Other languages spoken in south africa not mentioned in the constitution, include many of those already mentioned above, such as khelobedu, sinrebele, siphuthi, as well as mixed languages like fanakalo a pidgin language used as a lingua franca in the mining industry, and tsotsitaal or scamtho, an argot that has found wider usage as an informal.
African language publishing for children in south africa core. Learn from languages of africa experts like jelani berko and hesbon r. Into africa tells the story of the events leading up to the famous meeting of stanley and livingstone in africa in 1871. World ebook librarys millennium collection offers millions of works by the greatest thinkers of the last 1,000 years, works from america, asia, africa, and europe, in over 300 different languages. Over 300 languages are spoken in africa, yet most africans are able to communicate with each other. Another hundred belong to smaller families such as ubangian sometimes grouped within nigercongo and the various families called khoisan, or the indoeuropean and austronesian language families mainly spoken outside africa. The book is wellwritten and conveys a good sense into what life was like on the african expeditions undertaken by explorers during the victorian era. Connect with friends, family and other people you know. The 300 languages project will accept submissions of any document in any language. Hosted by smithsonian institution research information system siris. They take the time to learn all the tribal languages in their region, as well as their own. Discover languages of africa books free 30day trial scribd. It covers the four major language groupings nigercongo, nilosaharan, afroasiatic and khoisan, the core areas of modern theoretical linguistics phonology, morphology, syntax, typology, sociolinguistics, comparative linguistics, and language, history and society. By comparison, the continent of europe has only about 300 languages.
The rest are spoken by populations ranging from a few hundred to several hundred thousand speakers. Top languages to learn for travel vagabond journey. A conference of african writers of english expression. French in 1943, and has since been translated into 300 languages most recently into hassanya, which is a north african variant of arabic. Language in contemporary african cultures and societies. But i argue that the actual number of languages that are in trouble. The essays in languages in africa explore the layers of african multilingualism as they affect language policy and education. Collections are any number of storybooks grouped together with a common purpose, theme or language. South african journal of african languages national inquiry. Sep 27, 2016 in most classical texts they are referred to as libyans. Yoruba is one of west africa s most spoken languages, accounting for over 30 million speakers in nigeria, benin and togo, and it is one of nigerias official languages.
Publishers, linguists and educators offer their experiences of language publishing in the three regions of sub saharan africa. Africa is home to the highest linguistic diversity in the world, with over 2000 different languages. Nigeria is said to have nearly 500, cameroon nearly 300, and three other countries over 100. Through case studies ranging across the continent, the contributors consider multilingualism in the classroom as well as in domains ranging from music and film to politics and figurative language. This book explores the trends, challenges, and opportunities of publishing in african languages from national, regional, and international perspectives. Spoken languages of african countries nations online project. But up to 300 languages have less than 10,000 speakers, which puts them on the uns endangered list, and 37 are in danger of completely dying out in the next few years. In total, there are at least 75 languages in africa which have more than one million speakers. So, if people stop speaking the old languages, what, if anything, will be. There are over 200 artificial languages in books, movies, and tv shows, such as klingon. Though arabic, english and french are the principal languages on the continent, knowledge of nine top african languages may be required to do business successfully on the continent. Apr 21, 2015 with more than 2,000 distinct languages, africa has a third of the worlds languages with less than a seventh of the worlds population. The social and political history of southern africas. These items are shipped from and sold by different sellers.
Discover languages of africa books free 30day trial. Typical of west african languages, and rarely found outside of africa, are logophoric pronouns, used in embedded clauses to mark that the subject is identical to that of the main clause. English, arabic, french, swahili and hausa are the most widespread languages in africa. African languages an introduction semantic scholar. They speak in european languages, such as english or french. Half of a yellow sun is by nigerian author chimamanda ngozi adichie and. Unfortunately, ive found that, in online language learning communities, african languages are widely overlooked when someone is choosing a second or third language. Jan 06, 2006 new languages such as kenyas sheng, a mixture of english, swahili and mothertongues, are emerging. Multilingualism, language policy, and education georgetown university round table on languages and linguistics 9781626161528. The diversity of africa s languages is evidenced by their populations.
This book is the first typological study of these languages, which are comprised of around 375 living and extinct varieties. Africa is a veritable buffet for the language learner. Childrens storybooks in african languages africa focus. Jun 03, 2014 there are almost exactly one billion people living in africa, and they speak more than 2,000 languages. In fact, its estimated that there may be over 3,000 languages spoken in africa. Jul 09, 2018 more than 500 languages are spoken in the african nation of nigeriaone of the highest instances of language diversity in any country on earth. Our collection of scholarly and academic articles have been curated from every field of study, with a extra focus on education, science, sociology. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers.
This book is the first general introduction to african languages and linguistics to be published in english. The book surveys the most important language groupings in the region in terms of precolonial and colonial history. This book is the first general introduction to african languages and linguistics to be published in. South african journal of african languages national. By comparison, europe, which has about an eighth of the. The principle languages on the continent of africa. English is the official language of nigeria, and it is taught in schools throughout the country. Languages of africa over 3,000 languages are spoken across the continent four major language types 1. This could be a full and enormousranging 2002 info to language and society in south africa. Apr 07, 2016 there are about 2,000 languages in africa and of those, everybody agrees that about 300 are seriously endangered, sands said.
The 300 languages project is collecting materials in every variety of the 300 most widelyspoken languages and macrolanguages in the world. Why we create storybooks in african languages dorcas wepukhulu. Introduction to african languages the african language. In africa, people speak more languages than any other continent. Oct 17, 2002 this is a comprehensive and wideranging guide to language and society in south africa. Read languages of africa books like successfully learning afrikaans and learn kiswahili fast for free with a free 30day trial. Share photos and videos, send messages and get updates. Lizzy added that zulu, xhosa, afrikaans and english currently dominate the big eleven languages of south africa. The papuan language of rotokas only has 11 letters, making it the smallest alphabet. Top 11 most spoken languages in africa africa facts. It is an expanded and extensively revised version of his 1955 work studies in african linguistic classification, which was itself a compilation of eight articles. It evolved from the dutch vernacular of holland hollandic dialect spoken by the largely dutch settlers and then by the native africans who associated with them in the southwest of what is now south africa, where it. Over 300 languages are spoken in africa, yet most africans. Revitalizing endangered languages for future generations.
A widelydistributed and diverse ethnic group, the ancient berbers spoke a subset of the afroasiatic languages, linguistically related to that of the egyptians, kushites, arabs, syrians, levantine tribes, and somalis. Sitting in the audience, at the newlyrefurbished kenya national theatre, storymoja founder muthoni garland said that there are some things in language, like the clicking sounds of xhosa, that cannot be captured in translation. Over 300 languages are spoken in africa, yet most africans are able to communicate with each other because they know either french, english, or their tribes have the same language. Boubacar boris diop is one of the giants of francophone african literature, and though hes never been a very prolific writer, its taken some time for the anglophone world to get around to translating him thank you, indiana university press. The african writer and the english language chinua achebe in june 1962, there was a writers gathering at makerere, impressively styled. As a result of the authors exhibit, the south african context provides a treasure trove of data and examples for linguistic and sociolinguistic analysis. View notes languages of africa from afamast 1121 at ohio state university. Portugues cokwe dictionary cokweportugues portuguescokwe author. The little prince is now the mosttranslated book in the world. The languages of africa is a 1963 book of essays by the linguist joseph greenberg, in which the author sets forth a genetic classification of african languages that, with some changes, continues to be the most commonly used one today. Languages of africa languages of africa over 3,000. Most languages spoken in africa belong to one of three large language families.
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