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Map of
Africa
Linguistic
Families of Africa
This map of Africa illustrates the approximate distribution of each of the
six African language groups, the Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo A, Niger-Congo B
(Bantu), Nilo-Saharan, Khoi-San, and Austronesian. Interestingly, the
Austronesian languages spoken on Madagascar are not related to the language
families spoken on the African continent. Rather, the Austronesian family
has its origins in the geographic area of Polynesia rather than the African
Continent. Khoi-San languages are spoken by some of the most ancient African
tribes such as the Bushmen tribes and are distinctive due to their use of
"click consonants." However, in the last millennia, the "Bantu expansion" by
speakers of the Niger-Congo B group has reduced the number of speakers of
Khoi-San languages to less than a million people, with many of these
languages in danger of becoming extinct. Interestingly, some of the
Bantu-speaking African tribes have incorporated some of the "click
consonants" that are characteristic of the ancient Bushmen tribes. Despite
the small area shown on this map of Africa, at one time the Khoi-San
speakers are thought to have dominated virtually all the African Continent
south of the Sahara Desert. Physical Anthropologists have made studies on
the physical characteristics of the Khoi-San speakers and have found that
not only is their language distinctive, but many physical characteristics
such as their blood type, is different from other African tribes as well.
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