Nijar – Kongo Dangin yare ne da aka zayyana kuma ake magana a kan yawancin yankin kudu da hamadar Sahara.^[2] Yana haɗe da harsunan Mande, harsunan Atlantika-Congo (waɗanda ke raba tsarin ajin suna), da yuwuwar ƙananan ƙungiyoyin harsuna da yawa waɗanda ke da wahalar rarrabawa. Idan har Niger-Congo ta yi aiki, za ta kasance kasa mafi girma a duniya ta fuskar harsunan mambobi, kasa ta uku a fannin masu magana, kuma mafi girma a Afirka ta fuskar yanki. ^[3] Gaba ɗaya ana la'akari da shi a matsayin dangin harshe mafi girma a duniya dangane da adadin harsuna daban-daban,,^[4][5] gaba da yaren Austronesian, kodayake wannan yana da rikitarwa ta rashin fahimta game da abin da ya ƙunshi harshe na musamman ; Yawan harsunan Niger-Congo mai suna da Ethnologue ya lissafa ya kai 1,540. ^[6]

Idan yana aiki, zai zama harshe na uku mafi girma a duniya a cikin yawan masu magana da yaren, wanda ya ƙunshi kusan mutane miliyan 700 a shekarar 2015. A Kasar Nijar-Congo, harsunan Bantu kadai ke da mutane miliyan 350 (2015), wato rabin jimlar yawan jama'ar Nijar-Congo. Harsunan Nijar–Congo da aka fi amfani da su ta yawan masu jin yaren su ne Yarbawa, Igbo, Fula, Ga-Adamgbe, Shona, Sesotho, Zulu, Akan, da Mooré . Mafi yawan masu magana da su shine Swahili, wanda ake amfani da shi azaman yare a sassan gabashi da kudu maso gabashin Afirka. ^[3]

Yayin da ƙayyadaddun halitta na tsakiyar Nijar-Congo (wanda ake kira Atlantika-Congo ) ya sami karbuwa sosai, tsarin cikin gida bai yi kyau ba. Sauran rassa na farko na iya haɗawa da Dogon, Mande, Ijo, Katla da Rashad . Ba a taɓa nuna alaƙar harsunan Mande musamman ba, kuma idan ba tare da su ba, ba a tabbatar da sahihancin dangin Nijar da Kongo gaba ɗaya ba (saɓanin Atlantika-Congo ko makamancinsa).

  Jimillar harshen ya fi yiwuwa sun samo asali a cikin ko kusa da yankin da ake magana da waɗannan harsuna kafin fadada Bantu (watau Afirka ta Yamma ko Afirka ta Tsakiya ). Fadada ta na iya kasancewa yana da alaƙa da faɗaɗa aikin noma na Sahel a cikin zamanin Neolithic na Afirka, bayan ƙazantar sahara a c. 3500 KZ . ^[7]

A cewar Roger baki daya (2004), duk kwararru a yaren Nijar-congo sun yi imani da yaruka na yau da kullun, saboda dalilai na gama gari, saboda abubuwan da suka raba su kuma sun raba na asali Lexicon. Tun daga Diedrich Westermann a shekarar 1922 an yi irin wannan rabe-rabe ga Nijar-Congo ^[8] Joseph Greenberg ya ci gaba da wannan al'adar, inda ya mai da ita mafarin rarrabuwar harsuna na zamani a Afirka, tare da wasu fitattun littattafansa da za su buga tun daga shekarun 1960. ^[9] Duk da haka, an yi ta muhawara mai ƙarfi tsawon shekaru da yawa game da rabe-raben harsunan da suka dace a cikin wannan dangin harshe, wanda shine babban kayan aiki da ake amfani da shi wajen gano wurin asalin harshe. Ba a samar da takamaiman ƙamus ko nahawu na " Proto-Niger-Congo " ga dangin harshe gaba ɗaya.

Wani muhimmin al’amari da ba a warware shi ba wajen tantance lokaci da wurin da harsunan Nijar – Kongo suka samo asali da kuma kewayon su kafin tarihin da aka rubuta shi ne dangantakar dangin wannan harshe da harsunan Kordofanian, waɗanda yanzu ake magana da su a tsaunukan Nuba na Sudan, wanda ba shi da alaƙa da sauran yarukka, na yankin masu magana da yaren Niger-Congo kuma yana arewa maso gabashin yankin da ake magana da harshen Niger-Congo a halin yanzu. Ra'ayin yare da ake yi a yanzu shi ne cewa harsunan mutanen Kordofa na cikin dangin yaren Nijar da Kongo kuma wannan na iya kasancewa na farko daga cikin harsunan da ake magana da su a yankin da ake magana da su a yankin. ^[10] Shaida ba ta isa ta tantance ko wannan rukunin masu magana da yaren Niger-Congo na wakiltar wani yanki na yanki na harshen Nijar da Kongo wanda tun daga lokacin ya yi yarjejeniya kamar yadda wasu harsuna suka yi kutse, ko kuma a maimakon haka, wannan yana wakiltar rukunin yaren Niger-Congo. masu magana da suka yi ƙaura zuwa yankin a wani lokaci a tarihin tarihi inda suka kasance keɓaɓɓen al'ummar harshe tun daga farko.

Akwai ƙarin yarjejeniya game da wurin da kuma asalin Benue-Congo, mafi girman dangi na ƙungiyar. A cikin Benue-Congo, wurin da aka samo asalin harsunan Bantu da kuma lokacin da ya fara faɗaɗa an san shi sosai. Blench (2004), ya dogara musamman kan aikin da Kay Williamson da P. De Wolf suka yi, ya yi iƙirarin cewa Benue-Congo ta samo asali ne daga mahadar kogin Benue da Neja a tsakiyar Najeriya . ^{[11] [12] [13] [14] [15]} Wadannan kididdigar da aka yi na wurin da dangin yaren Benue-Congo suka fito, ba su sanya ranar da za a fara wannan fadada ba, sai dai cewa ya kamata kafin fadada Bantu don ba da damar rarraba harsunan cikin wannan harshe. dangin da suka hada da Bantu.

An yi ta cece-ku-ce game da rarrabuwar kawuna na dangin harsunan Ubangian, wanda ke tsakiyar Jamhuriyar Afirka ta Tsakiya, a matsayin wani bangare na dangin harshen Nijar-Congo. Ubangian ya kasance tare da Niger-Congo ta Greenberg (1963), kuma daga baya hukumomi sun amince, amma Dimmendaal ya yi tambaya (2008). ^[16]

Mai zuwa shine taƙaitaccen rukunin harsunan da aka saba haɗawa a cikin Nijar-Congo. Dangantakar kwayoyin halittar wasu rassa ba a yarda da ita a duk duniya ba, kuma dangantakar da ke tsakanin wadanda aka yarda da su na iya zama ba a sani ba.

Jigon phylum na ƙungiyar Niger-Congo sune harsunan Atlantic-Congo. Harsunan da ba na Atlantic-Congo a cikin Nijar-Congo an haɗa su kamar Dogon, Mande, Ijo (wani lokaci tare da Defaka a matsayin Ijoid ), Katla da Rashad .

Atlantic-Congo ya haɗu da harsunan Atlantic, waɗanda ba su da reshe ɗaya, da Volta-Congo . Ya ƙunshi fiye da kashi 80% na al'ummar Niger-Congo, ko kuma kusan mutane miliyan 600 (2015).

Kungiyar Savannas ta hada Adamawa da Ubangian da Gur . A wajen ƙungiyar Savannas, Volta-Congo ta ƙunshi Kru, Kwa (ko "West Kwa"), Volta-Niger (kuma "Gabas Kwa" ko "West Benue-Congo") da Benue-Congo (ko "Gabas Benue-Congo" ). Volta-Niger ya ƙunshi manyan harsuna biyu na Najeriya, Yarbanci da Igbo . Benue-Congo ya hada da kungiyar Bantoid ta Kudu, wacce harsunan Bantu suka mamaye, wanda ke da yawan mutane miliyan 350 (2015), ko kuma rabin yawan jama'ar Nijar-Congo.

Tsananin haɗin kai na kwayoyin halitta na kowane ɗayan waɗannan ƙananan ƙungiyoyin na iya fuskantar jayayya. Misali, Roger Blench (2012) ya bayar da hujjar cewa Adamawa, Ubangian, Kwa, Bantoid, da Bantu ba kungiyoyi ba ne.

Ko da yake an haɗa reshen Kordofania a cikin harsunan Nijar-Congo, wasu masu bincike ba su yarda da haɗa shi ba. Glottolog 3.4 (2019) bai yarda cewa rassan Kordofanian ( Lafofa, Talodi da Heiban ) ko kuma yaren Laal mai wahala da aka nuna ya zama harsunan Atlantic-Congo ba. In ba haka ba yana yarda da dangi amma ba haɗa shi a cikin babban yankin Niger-Congo ba. Glottolog kuma yana ɗaukar Ijoid, Mande, da Dogon a matsayin phyla masu zaman kansu waɗanda ba a nuna suna da alaƙa da juna ba.

Ƙungiyar Atlantic-Congo tana da tsarin tsarin ajin suna na harsunanta. Atlantic-Congo ya yi daidai da phylum na Mukarovsky na "Western Nigritic". ^[17]

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  Taswira dake Nuni da Yarukan Najeriya Benin da Cameroon

1. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/nige1235 |chapterurl= missing title (help). Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
2. ↑ Good, Jeff (2020). "Niger-Congo, with a special focus on Benue-Congo". In Vossen, Rainer; Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 139–160. ISBN 9780191007378. The term [Niger–Congo], as presently used, however, is not without its difficulties. On the one hand, it is employed as a referential label for a group of over 1,500 languages, putting it among the largest commonly cited language groups in the world. On the other hand, the term is also intended to embody a hypothesis of genealogical relationship between the referential NC languages that has not been proven (p.139)
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Irene Thompson, "Niger-Congo Language Family", "aboutworldlanguages", March 2015
4. ↑ Heine, Bernd; Nurse, Derek (2000-08-03). African Languages: An Introduction (in Turanci). Cambridge University Press. p. 11. ISBN 9780521666299.
5. ↑ Ammon, Ulrich (2006). Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society (in Turanci). Walter de Gruyter. p. 2036. ISBN 9783110184181.
6. ↑ Simons, Gary F. and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2018. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Twenty-first edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
7. ↑ Empty citation (help)
8. ↑ Westermann, D. 1922a. Die Sprache der Guang. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
9. ↑ Greenberg, J.H. 1964. Historical inferences from linguistic research in sub-Saharan Africa. Boston University Papers in African History, 1:1–15.
10. ↑ Herman Bell. 1995. The Nuba Mountains: Who Spoke What in 1976?. (The published results from a major project of the Institute of African and Asian Studies: the Language Survey of the Nuba Mountains.)
11. ↑ Williamson, K. 1971. The Benue–Congo languages and Ijo. Current Trends in Linguistics, 7. ed. T. Sebeok 245–306. The Hague: Mouton.
12. ↑ Williamson, K. 1988. Linguistic evidence for the prehistory of the Niger Delta. The early history of the Niger Delta, edited by E.J. Alagoa, F.N. Anozie and N. Nzewunwa. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
13. ↑ Williamson, K. 1989. Benue–Congo Overview. In The Niger–Congo Languages. J. Bendor-Samuel ed. Lanham: University Press of America.
14. ↑ De Wolf, P. 1971. The noun class system of Proto-Benue–Congo. The Hague: Mouton.
15. ↑ Blench, R.M. 1989. A proposed new classification of Benue–Congo languages. Afrikanische Arbeitspapiere, Köln, 17:115–147.
16. ↑ Gerrit Dimmendaal (2008) "Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent", Language and Linguistics Compass 2/5:841.
17. ↑ Hans G. Mukarovsky, A Study of Western Nigritic, 2 vols. (1976–1977). Blench (2004): "Almost simultaneously [with Greenberg (1963)], Mukarovsky (1976-7) published his analysis of 'Western Nigritic'. Mukarovsky's basic theme was the relationship between the reconstructions of Bantu of Guthrie and other writers and the languages of West Africa. Mukarovsky excluded Kordofanian, Mande, Ijo, Dogon, Adamawa-Ubangian and most Bantoid languages for unknown reasons, thus reconstructing an idiosyncratic grouping. Nonetheless, he buttressed his argument with an extremely valuable compilation of data, establishing the case for Bantu/Niger-Congo genetic link beyond reasonable doubt."