book chapter

Studies in African linguistic classification: 1. the Niger-Congo family

Southwestern journal of anthropology • 5 • Published In 1949 • Pages: 79-100 [incomplete]

By: Greenberg, Joseph H..

Abstract

This monograph, by a foremost linguist, is the first in a series which attempts to systematically reclassify genetically the languages of Africa. In it, he defines a new language group: the Niger-Congo linguistic family, thus departing from Meinhof's standard classification, because the latter 'does not lead to genitic classification.' The basis for Greenberg's redefinition of linguistic relationships has been lexical comparison rather than linguistic structural criteria, because of the absence of extensive grammatical analysis. Because so few linguists have been interested in the entire gamut of African languages, this work automatically achieves significance. However, except for demonstrating certain linguistic affiliations of Zande, and suggesting the direction of its drift, this work is necessarily of limited value to the Zande specialist; the student interested in internal systems of the Zande language, and dialectical differentiation, or phonetic structure must look elsewhere.

HRAF PubDate

1999

Region

Africa

Sub Region

Central Africa

Document Type

book chapter

Evaluation

Creator Type

Linguist

Document Rating

4: Excellent Secondary Data

Analyst

CT, FML ; 1951

Field Date

no date

Coverage Date

not specified

Coverage Place

Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Central African Republic; Africa

Notes

Joseph H. Greenberg

This document consists of excerpts

LCCN

47005758

LCSH

Zande (African people)