Editing Sub-Saharan Africa (section)

==== Afroasiatic ====
With the exception of the extinct [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] (a [[language isolate]]) of [[Mesopotamia]], Afroasiatic has the oldest documented history of any language family in the world. Egyptian was recorded as early as 3200&nbsp;BCE. The [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] branch was recorded as early as 2900&nbsp;BCE in the form of the [[Akkadian language]] of Mesopotamia ([[Assyria]] and [[Babylonia]]) and circa 2500&nbsp;BCE in the form of the [[Eblaite language]] of northeastern [[Syria]].<ref>Brown, Keith and Ogilvie, Sarah(2008). Concise encyclopedia of languages of the world ''Concise Encyclopedias of Language and Linguistics Series''. Elsevier, p. 12, {{ISBN|978-0-08-087774-7}}.</ref>

The distribution of the [[Afroasiatic languages]] within Africa is principally concentrated in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. Languages belonging to the family's [[Berber languages|Berber]] branch are mainly spoken in the north, with its speech area extending into the Sahel (northern Mauritania, northern Mali, northern Niger).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hcp.ma/Recensement-general-de-la-population-et-de-l-habitat-2004_a633.html |title=Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat 2004 |first=Youssef |last=Maaroufi |access-date=26 July 2017 |archive-date=6 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170906063343/http://www.hcp.ma/Recensement-general-de-la-population-et-de-l-habitat-2004_a633.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Lafkioui |first1=Mena B. |title=Berber Languages and Linguistics |url=https://hal.science/hal-01914346/file/Lafkioui%20Mena%20B_Berber_languages_and_linguistics_-_linguistics_-_oxford_bibliographies_2018.pdf |publisher=Oxford Bibliographies |access-date=25 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203010052/https://hal.science/hal-01914346/file/Lafkioui%20Mena%20B_Berber_languages_and_linguistics_-_linguistics_-_oxford_bibliographies_2018.pdf |archive-date=3 February 2023 |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780199772810-0219 |date=24 May 2018 }}</ref> The [[Cushitic languages|Cushitic]] branch of Afroasiatic is centered in the Horn, and is also spoken in the Nile Valley and parts of the African Great Lakes region. Additionally, the Semitic branch of the family, in the form of [[Arabic]], is widely spoken in the parts of Africa that are within the Arab world. [[South Semitic languages]] are also spoken in parts of the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea). The [[Chadic languages|Chadic]] branch is distributed in Central and West Africa.<ref>Peek, Philip M. and Yankah, Kwesi (2004). African folklore: an encyclopedia. London: (Routledge) Taylor & Francis, p. 205, {{ISBN|0-415-93933-X}}, 9780415939331</ref> [[Hausa language|Hausa]], its most widely spoken language, serves as a [[lingua franca]] in West Africa (Niger, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Cameroon, and Chad).<ref>Schneider, Edgar Werner and Kortmann, Bernd(2004). A handbook of varieties of English: a multimedia reference tool, Volume 1. Berlin: [[Walter de Gruyter]], pp. 867–68, {{ISBN|978-3-11-017532-5}}.</ref>