Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic–Congo languages, and possibly several smaller groups of languages that are difficult to classify. If valid, Niger–Congo would be the world's largest in terms of member languages, the third-largest in terms of speakers, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area. Austronesian has almost as many member languages, although this is complicated by the ambiguity about what constitutes a distinct language; the number of named Niger–Congo languages listed by Ethnologue is 1,540.
Yoruba is a language that is spoken in West Africa, primarily in Southwestern and Central Nigeria. It is spoken by the Yoruba people. Yoruba speakers number roughly 47 million, including about 2 million second-language speakers. As a pluricentric language, it is primarily spoken in a dialectal area spanning Nigeria, Benin, and Togo with smaller migrated communities in Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
Benue–Congo is a major branch of the Volta-Congo languages which covers most of Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Itsekiri are an ethnic group who mainly inhabit Nigeria's Niger Delta area. They speak a Yoruboid language and can be found in Ondo, Edo and Delta State. The Itsekiris presently transcends a population of over 1 million people and live mainly in parts of Ondo, Edo and majorly in the Warri South, Warri North and Warri South West local government districts of Delta State on the Atlantic coast of Nigeria.
Igala is a Yoruboid language, spoken by the Igala ethnic group of Nigeria. In 1989 an estimated 800,000 spoke Igala, primarily in Kogi State, though current estimates place the number of Igala speakers at upwards of 1.6 million. Dialects include Ibaji, Idah, Dekina, Ogugu, Ankpa, Ebu, and the Olumbanasaa group ; it is believed that these languages share some similarities with the Yoruba and Itsekiri languages.
There are over 525 native languages spoken in Nigeria. The official language and most widely spoken lingua franca is English, which was the language of Colonial Nigeria. Nigerian Pidgin – an English-based creole – is spoken by over 60 million people.
Nupe is a Volta–Niger language of the Nupoid branch primarily spoken by the Nupe people of the North Central region of Nigeria. Its geographical distribution stretches and maintains preeminence in Niger State as well as Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory. Nupe is closely related to Kakanda in structure and vocabulary. There are at least two markedly different dialects of Nupe: Nupe central and Nupe Tako.
The Volta–Niger family of languages, also known as West Benue–Congo or East Kwa, is one of the branches of the Niger–Congo language family, with perhaps 70 million speakers. Among these are the most important languages of southern Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and southeast Ghana: Yoruba, Igbo, Bini, and Gbe.
Cicipu is a Kainji language spoken by about 20,000 people in northwest Nigeria. The people call themselves Acipu, and are called Acipawa in Hausa.
The Jukunoid languages are a branch of the Benue-Congo languages spoken by the Jukun and related peoples of Nigeria and Cameroon. They are distributed mostly throughout Taraba State, Nigeria and surrounding regions.
Ukaan is a poorly described Niger–Congo language or dialect cluster of uncertain affiliation. Roger Blench suspects, based on wordlists, that it might be closest to the (East) Benue–Congo languages. Blench (2012) states that "noun-classes and concord make it look Benue-Congo, but evidence is weak."
Akpes (Àbèsàbèsì) is an endangered language of Nigeria. It is spoken by approximately 7,000 speakers in the North of Ondo State. The language is surrounded by several other languages of the Akoko area, where Yoruba is the lingua franca. Yoruba replaces Akpes in more and more informal domains and thus forwards a gradual shift from Akpes towards Yoruba. Akpes is generally attributed to the Volta-Congo Branch of the Niger-Congo phylum.
North Akoko, usually abbreviated as Akoko and also known as Arigidi, is a dialect cluster spoken in Nigeria. It appears to form a branch of the "Yoruba–Edo–Akoko–Igbo" group of Niger–Congo languages. It is spoken in the LGAs of Akoko North East, Akoko North West, Ekiti East, and Ijumu (Ethnologue).
Oko (ɔ̀kɔ́), also known as Ogori-Magongo and Oko-Eni-Osayin, is a dialect cluster spoken in Nigeria. It appears to form a branch of the "Nupe–Oko–Idoma" group of Niger–Congo languages. Most Oko speakers also speak Yoruba as a second language. The language is spoken in and around the towns of Ogori and Magongo in southwestern Kogi State, close to the Ondo and Edo state borders.
The Dakoid languages are a branch of the Northern Bantoid languages spoken in Taraba and Adamawa states of eastern Nigeria.
The Itsekiri language is a major branch of the Yoruboid group of languages, which as a group, is a key member of the Volta–Niger sub-family of the Niger–Congo family of African languages. Itsekiri is spoken by nearly 1,000,000 people in Nigeria as a first language and by many others as an additional language notably in the Niger Delta and in parts of Edo and Ondo states of Nigeria. The other key members of the Yoruboid group are Yoruba and Igala along with the various Yoruba dialects spoken in Benin and Togo.
The Basa language, disambiguated as Basa-Benue, and also called Abacha, Abatsa, ru-Basa, Rubassa, is a Kainji language spoken in central Nigeria, in the vicinity of Bassa, Ankpa, Nasarawa, Gurara, Kwali and Makurdi. Blench (2008) notes that Basa-Makurdi, Basa-Gurara and Basa-Kwali are separate varieties from Basa-Kwomu or Basa-Komo of Bassa, Ankpa and Nasarawa Local Government Areas and other Bassa speakers are Bassa Nge (also known as Bassa Nupe.
Daka is one of two languages spoken by the Chamba people in Nigeria, the other being Chamba Leko.
Ulukwumi, also known as Olùkùmi, is a Yoruboid language spoken by the Olukumi people of Aniocha North LGA, Delta State, Nigeria.
Proto-Yoruboid is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Yoruboid languages, a subgroup of the Volta-Niger languages. It was likely spoken in what is now Nigeria and the confluence of the Niger River and Benue River. The ancestors of the Proto-Yoruboid speakers lived in the southern part of the Niger River Valley region for over three millennia. It split off from its neighbors in Volta-Niger about 3,000 years ago during a time of westward migration.
