Editing Gur languages (section)

==History of study==
[[Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle]] first mentions twelve Gur languages in his 1854 ''[[Polyglotta Africana]]'', which represent ten languages in modern classification. Notably, he correctly identified these languages as being related to one another; his 'North-Eastern High Sudan' corresponds to Gur in modern classification.<mapframe latitude="10.271681" longitude="-1.351318" zoom="7" width="526" height="460" text="Map showing the Mabia Languages that are currently under study." align="right">

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The Gur family was previously called '''Voltaic''', following the French name ''(langues) Voltaïques'' (named after the [[Volta River]]). It was once considered to be more extensive than it is often regarded today, including the [[Senufo languages]] and a number of small language isolates. The inclusion of Senufo within Gur has been rejected by many linguists, including [[Tony Naden]].<ref>Naden, Tony. 1989:143</ref> Williamson and Blench<ref>Williamson and Blench. 2000:18,25-6</ref> place Senufo as a separate branch of [[Atlantic–Congo]], while other non-Central Gur languages are placed somewhat closer as separate branches within the [[Savannas languages|Savannas]] [[language continuum|continuum]].

Kleinewillinghöfer (2014) notes that the closest relatives of Gur appear to be several branches of the obsolete [[Adamawa languages|Adamawa]] family, since many "Adamawa" languages in fact share more similarities with various (Central) Gur languages than with other Adamawa languages. He proposes that early Gur-Adamawa speakers had cultivated [[guinea corn]] and millet in a wooded savanna environment.<ref>Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich. 2014. [https://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb07-adamawa/files/2018/06/ADAMAWA-Kleinewillinghoefer_04_02_2014.pdf Adamawa]. ‘Linguistisches Kolloquium’, Seminar für Afrikawissenschaften, 04 Februar 2014. Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.</ref>