Editing Adamawa–Ubangi languages

{{Short description|Language family}}
{{see|Savannas languages}}
{{Infobox language family
| name          = Adamawa–Ubangi
| acceptance    = obsolete
| region        = West and Central Africa
| familycolor   = Niger-Congo
| fam2          = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| child1        = [[Adamawa languages|Adamawa]]
| child2        = [[Ubangian languages|Ubangian]]
| glotto        = adam1258
| glottorefname = Adamawa–Ubangi
| speakers      = 12 million
| date          = no date
}}

The '''Adamawa–Ubangi languages''' are a geographic grouping and formerly postulated family of languages spoken in [[Nigeria]], [[Chad]], the [[Central African Republic]], [[Cameroon]], [[Gabon]], the [[Republic of the Congo]], the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] and [[South Sudan]], by a total of about 12 million people.

==History of classification==
The family was proposed by [[Joseph Greenberg]] in ''[[The Languages of Africa]]'' under the name '''Adamawa–Eastern''' as a primary branch of the [[Niger–Congo languages|Niger–Congo]] family, which is in turn divided in two branches, [[Adamawa languages|Adamawa]] (e.g. [[Niellim language|Niellim]]) and [[Ubangian languages|Ubangian]] (e.g. [[Azande]] ([[Zande language]]), [[Ngbandi language|Ngbandi]], on which the [[Creole language|creole]] [[Sango language|Sango]] is based).<ref>{{cite book|last=Greenberg|first=Joseph H.|year=1963|ref=africa|title=[[The Languages of Africa]]|location=Bloomington|publisher=Indiana University Press}} (Heavily revised version of Greenberg 1955. From the same publisher: second, revised edition, 1966; third edition, 1970. All three editions simultaneously published at The Hague by Mouton & Co.)</ref> Kleinewillinghöfer (2014) believes that the Adamawa languages are most closely related to the [[Gur languages]], although the unity of both the Gur and the Adamawa branch is frequently questioned.<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> [[Roger Blench]] replaced Adamawa–Ubangi with a [[Savanna languages|Savannas]] family, which includes Gur, Ubangian and the various branches of Adamawa as primary nodes. Dimmendaal (2008) doubts that Ubangian is a subfamily of Niger–Congo at all, preferring to classify it as an independent family until proven otherwise.<ref>[[Gerrit Dimmendaal]] (2008) "Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent", Language and Linguistics Compass 2/5:841.</ref>

==Demographics==
The Adamawa languages are among the least studied in Africa, and include many endangered languages; by far the largest of the nearly one hundred small Adamawa languages is [[Mumuye language|Mumuye]], at 400,000 speakers. A couple of [[unclassified languages]]—notably [[Laal language|Laal]] and [[Jalaa language|Jalaa]]—are found along their fringes. Ubangian languages, while nearly as numerous, are somewhat better studied; one in particular, [[Sango language|Sango]], a [[Ngbandi language|Ngbandi]]-based [[Creole language|creole]], has become a major trade language of Central Africa.

==Linguistic features==
Adamawa–Ubangi languages often have partial [[vowel harmony]], involving restrictions on the co-occurrence of vowels in a word.

As in most branches of the Niger–Congo family, [[noun class]] systems are widespread. Adamawa–Ubangi languages are notable for having noun class [[Affix|suffixes]] rather than [[Affix|prefixes]]. The noun class system is no longer fully productive in all languages.

Adamawa subject pronouns (Boyd 1989<ref>Boyd, Raymond. 1989. Adamawa-Ubangi. In Bendor-Samuel, John (ed.), ''The Niger-Congo Languages: A Classification and Description of Africa's Largest Language Family'', 178-215. Lanham MD, New York & London: University Press of America.</ref>) were originally approximately:
*"I": *''mi'' or *''ma''
*"you (sg.)": *''mo''
*"you (pl.): *''u'', *''ui'', *''i'' (+''n''?)

The third person pronouns vary widely.

In possessive constructions, the possessed typically precedes the possessor, and sentence order is usually [[subject–verb–object]].

== Classification ==
In Williamson and Blench (2000), since abandoned, the internal classification was:<ref name="Williamson2000">{{cite book|last1=Williamson|first=Kay|last2=Blench|first2=Roger|chapter=Niger-Congo|title=African Languages: An Introduction|editor=Bernd Heine|editor2=Derek Nurse|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2000|pages=11–12}}</ref>
{{clade
  |label1=Proto-Adamawa-Ubangi
  |1={{clade
       |label1=Adamawa
       |1={{clade
            |1={{clade
                 |1=Leko
                 |2=Duru
                 |3=Mumuye/Yendang
                 |4=Nimbari
               }}
             |2={{clade
                 |1=Mbum
                 |2=Bua
                 |3=Kim
                 |4=Day
               }}
            |3={{clade
                 |1=Waja
                 |2=Longuda
                 |3=Jen
                 |4=Bikwin
                 |5=Yungur
               }}
            |4=Ba (=Kwa)
            |5=Kam
            |label6=?
            |6=Fali
          }}
       |label2=Ubangi
       |2={{clade
            |1=Gbaya
            |2={{clade
                 |1=Banda
                 |2=Ngbandi
                 |3={{clade
                      |1=Sere
                      |2={{clade
                           |1=Ngabaka
                           |2=Mba
                         }}
                    }}
               }}
            |3=Zande
          }}
     }}
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* Blench, Roger (2004). ''[http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/AU/Adamawa%20language%20list.pdf List of Adamawa languages]''.

{{Adamawa languages}}
{{Ubangian languages}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamawa-Ubangi languages}}
[[Category:Volta–Congo languages]]