The Mel languages are a branch of
Niger–Congo languages
Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic–Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly several smaller groups ...
spoken in
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...
,
Guinea
Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...
,
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
, and
Liberia
Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
. The most populous is
Temne, with about two million speakers;
Kissi is next, with half a million.
Languages
Mel has traditionally been classified as the bulk of a southern branch of a
West Atlantic branch of Niger–Congo. However, these are geographic and typological rather than genealogical groups;
Segerer (2010) shows that there is no exclusive relationship between Mel and the other southern languages,
Sua (Mansoanka) and
Gola.
*Mel
**Temne
***
Temne
***
Baga languages
**Bullom–Kissi
***
Bullom languages
***
Kissi
Fields (2004) splits Mel into a ''Highlands'' group originating in Guinea, and also a ''Bullom-Kisi-Gola'' group.
[Fields, Edda L]
Before "Baga": Settlement Chronologies of the Coastal Rio Nunez Region, Earliest Times to c.1000 CE
In: ''The International Journal of African Historical Studies'', Vol. 37, No. 2 (2004), pp. 229–253. Boston University African Studies Center.
*Mel
**Bullom-Kisi-Gola
***
Gola
***Bullom-Kisi
****
Bullom
****
Kisi
**Highlands
***
Temne
***
Landuma
***
Sitem
Fields (2008:83) proposes that the homeland of Proto-Mel is located in the north-central highlands of
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
just to the south of the Lesser
Scarcies River, rather than on the coast. The homeland of Proto-Highlands is located along the middle stretches of the
Konkoure River in Guinea, just to the northeast of
Conakry
Conakry ( , ; ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its population as of the 2014 Guinea census was 1,660,973.
The current population of C ...
(Fields 2008:85).
[Fields-Black, Edda L. 2008. ''Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora''. (Blacks in the Diaspora.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.]
Comparative vocabulary
Comparison of basic vocabulary words in the Mel languages from Fields (2004):
Comparison of basic vocabulary words in the Mel languages, and also
Sua and
Gola, from Wilson (2007):
[Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. ''Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification''. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.] Limba has also been added from Clarke (1922).
[Clarke, Mary Lane. 1922 971 ''A Limba-English Dictionary or Tampeṅ Ta Ka Taluṅ Ta Ka Hulimba Ha In Huiṅkilisi Ha''. Westmead, Farnborough: Gregg International Publishers Limited. (1971 reprint of 1922 book published by Houghton.)]
See also
*
Rio Nunez languages
References
{{Niger-Congo branches
Atlantic languages