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Benue-Congo languages
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Benue-Congo languages Article

Benue-Congo languages summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Benue-Congo languages.

Benue-Congo languages, Largest branch of the Niger-Congo language family, both in numbers of languages (900) and speakers (at least 500 million). Its major divisions are Defoid, including Yoruba, with more than 20 million speakers; Edoid, including Edo (see kingdom of Benin); Nupoid, including Nupe, Ebira, and Gbagyi; Idomoid, including Idoma; Igboid, including the many dialects of the approximately 19 million Igbo people; Kainji, with 40 languages; Platoid, a congeries of 50 languages; Cross River, a group of more than 55 languages; and Bantoid. The largest branch, Bantoid, comprises a Northern and a Southern group and includes more than 500 languages, 47 of which are spoken by more than 1 million people. The Bantu languages make up the largest subgroup of Southern Bantoid.