Languages of Africa

Africa has the greatest diversity of living languages in the world. Estimates vary widely, but commonly cited figures place African languages in the thousands, ranging between 1,000 and 2,000, though the boundary between "language" and "dialect" often shifts depending on the research framework.

Many Africans are bilingual or multilingual. They use a home language, a market or regional lingua franca, and sometimes an official language inherited from colonial rule, such as English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish. The distribution of languages across states affects education, courts, and media.

Major language families

Most scholars divide African languages into four major families. Niger-Congo, which includes the Bantu branch, is the largest, covering south and central Africa and encompassing Swahili, Yoruba, Igbo, and Zulu. Afroasiatic comprises the north and Horn of Africa, including Arabic, Amharic, Somali, Hausa, and Berber (Amazigh). Nilo-Saharan is found across the Sahel and East Africa, including Luo, Dinka, and Kanuri. Khoisan, a term applied to several groups, is found in southern Africa and is known for click consonants.

Widely spoken languages

Some languages have become regional lingua francas spoken by large populations. Swahili is used in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and eastern Congo and is one of the working languages of the African Union. Hausa is a major trade language in northern Nigeria and Niger. Arabic is spoken across North Africa and Sudan in various dialects, with Modern Standard Arabic used in writing. Amharic is the working language of the federal government of Ethiopia, while Somali is widespread across the Horn of Africa.

Writing systems and language policy

The Latin script is the most widely used for writing African languages today. The Arabic script was used and continues to be used for many languages (ajami), notably Hausa and historical Swahili. Ethiopia and Eritrea use the Ge'ez script. Tifinagh is used for Amazigh languages. Some states have policies to begin primary education in local languages, though former colonial languages still dominate secondary and higher education and administration.

Many minority languages face declining use as speakers shift to larger languages. Language documentation efforts, dictionaries, and regional media are among the conservation initiatives, with outcomes varying from country to country.