Research topic: African languages

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African languages

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
African languages geographic rather than linguistic classification of languages spoken on the African continent. Historically the term refers to the languages of sub-Saharan Africa, which do not belong to a single family, but are divided among several distinct linguistic stocks. It is estimated that more than 800 languages are spoken in Africa; however, they belong to comparatively few language families. Some 50 African languages have more than half a million speakers each, but many others are spoken by relatively few people. Tonality is a common feature of indigenous African languages. There... Read more
African languages
...most polyglot continent; estimates of the number of African languages range from 1,000 to more than 1,500. Many have numerous...languages ), and Arabic across much of the Sahel . African languages African languages African languages Read more
African literature
...English). See also African languages ; South African literature . Oral literature...the slave trade. As Africans became literate in their own languages, they often reacted...al., Literature in African Languages (1985); S. Gikandi... Read more

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Free Article African languages in the information age/Les langues Africaines dans l'age de l'information.
Free Article African language: commonalities are an asset.(THIS MONTH'S PRIZE LETTER)(Letter to the editor)
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