| Savannas | |
|---|---|
| (postulated) | |
| Geographic distribution: |
West Africa, around Burkina Faso in the west to CAR in the east |
| Linguistic classification: | Niger–Congo
|
| Subdivisions: |
(Central) Gur
Tusya (Win)
? Baa (Kwa)
? Oblo
? Ubangian
|
The Savannas family of languages is a postulated branch of the Niger–Congo languages that includes Greenberg's Gur and Adamawa–Ubangui families. The change was motivated by the recognition that the Adamawa languages do not form a coherent group, and that they are not necessarily more closely related to each other than they are to Gur. The Gur languages also turned out to be a poorly supported group, and only the core of that proposal (Central Gur) has been retained, though it is possible that some of the 'peripheral' languages may turn out to be related to each other. The Senufo languages, however, are excluded, as they appear to be one of the more divergent branches of Niger–Congo.
Dimmendaal (2008) excludes the Ubangian family from Niger–Congo altogether, stating that it "probably constitutes an independent language family that cannot or can no longer be shown to be related to Niger–Congo (or any other family)."[1]
Fali (not the same language as Fali of Baissa) was originally included in Adamawa, but was excluded by Boyd (1989), though retained in Niger–Congo.
The moribund Oblo language was unclassified within Adamawa, and was not addressed in Savannas.
The Savannas languages, with an agnostic approach to internal classification, are as follows:
| Savannas |
|
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