List of extinct languages of Africa
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This is a list of extinct languages of Africa, languages which have undergone language death, have no native speakers and no spoken descendant. There are 58 languages listed.
List
[edit]Notes
[edit]- L These languages can still be spoken today, but are only used liturgically.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Mesthrie, Rajend (2002). Language in South Africa. p. 42.
In 1975 I interviewed Jopi Mabinda, the last //Xegwi speaker. He was able to reproduce perfectly the linguistic material he had given to Lanham and Hallowes and he was fluent in Zulu. He told me he was the only speaker of the language and that he spoke it to his sister and brother-in-law, who only had a passive knowledge of it. He was murdered at Lothair, in the eastern Transvaal, in 1988
- ^ Loporcaro, Michele (2015). Vowel Length from Latin to Romance. Oxford University Press. p. 47.
...as well as by the evidence for a spoken Romance variety which developed locally out of Latin and persisted, in rural areas of Tunisia, as late as the last two decades of the 15th century
- ^ "Ajawa". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
Became extinct between 1920 and 1940.
- ^ "Aasáx". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2008-09-27. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
Reported in 1999 to still be spoken in the central Massai Steppe.
- ^ "Sudan - The Muslim Peoples". Retrieved 7 June 2024.
- ^ P. Allen, James (25 November 2020). CCoptic: A Grammar of Its Six Major Dialects. p. 1.
Coptic is the name of the final stage of the ancient Egyptian language, spoken and written from the fourth century AD until perhaps sometime in the seventeenth century.
- ^ "Esuma". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 4 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
Until c. 1800 AD.
- ^ "Hieroglyphics Cracked 1,000 Years Earlier Than Thought". ScienceDaily. 2004-10-07. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
Following the Roman invasion of Egypt in 30 BC the use of hieroglyphics began to die out with the last known writing in the fifth century AD.
- ^ Lipiński, Rajend (2001). Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Edward. p. 89.
Gafat was a Semitic language spoken in the region of the Blue Nile, in western Ethiopia. At present, the language disappeared completely in favour of Amharic. Its study is based mainly on a translation of the Song of Songs made from Amharic into Gafat in 1769-72 at the request of James Bruce and on the ample documentation collected in 1947 by W. Leslau from four native speakers.
- ^ "One Hundred Years Old Language Documentation: Preliminary Notes on the Gbin Language" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
The now-dead language Gbin belonged to the South branch of the Mande linguistic family; as recently as one hundred years ago Gbin speakers lived in the city of Bondoukou and its surroundings.
- ^ O'Leary, De Lacy (1923). Comparative grammar of the Semitic languages. p. 23.
...Ge'ez or Ethiopic. It ceased to be a spoken tongue in the fourteenth century A.D.
- ^ "Guanche". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2008-09-27. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
Extinct in the 16th century.
- ^ "Homa". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2008-10-05. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
Extinct in 1975.
- ^ Crystal, David (2002). Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa. p. 1.
On 4 November 1995, Kasabe existed; on 5 November, it did not.
- ^ Brenzinger, Matthias (1992). Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa.
- ^ "Kubi". Endangered Languages Project. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
- ^ "Kwadi". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
J. C. Winter (1981) says it is extinct. There were 3 speakers in 1971 who used it regularly (E. O. J. Westphal).
- ^ Gulnar Nadirova Logo. "STATUS OF THE KYPCHAK LANGUAGE IN MAMLUK EGYPT: LANGUAGE - BARRIER OR LANGUAGE - CONTACT?". Retrieved 25 April 2024.
Even towards the end of the Mamluk period, during the reign of the last sultan al-Ghawri (1501-1516), the Mamluk, called Asanbay min Sudun, copied the religious Hanbali tract of Abu al-Layth in Kypchak language for the royal library.
- ^ "Meroitic". Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
200 BC - 4th century AD.
- ^ Ahland, Michael Bryan (2010). Language death in Mesmes: A sociolinguistic and historical-comparative examination of a disappearing language.
- ^ "Mozarabic". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
Extinct c 1400 AD..
- ^ "Muskum". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
There was 1 speaker in 1976.
- ^ "Nagumi". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 9 June 2024.
- ^ "Ngasa". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 21 August 2007. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
Use began to diminish in the 1950s.
- ^ "Kw'adza". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 27 September 2008. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
C. Ehret was reported to be working with the last speaker (M. L. Bender 1976:280). Confirmed by R. Kiessling (1999).
- ^ "Berbère". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
c. 200 BC.
- ^ "Old Nubian". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
8th - 15th centuries AD.
- ^ "THE ARABIC WORDS IN PALMYRENE INSCRIPTIONS". ResearchGate. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
The earliest dated Palmyrene inscription is from the year 44 BC and the latest discovery has been dated to the year 274 AD.
- ^ "Punic". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 2024-06-06.
1st Millennium BC - 600 AD.
- ^ "Sabaic". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 24 January 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
100 BC - 600 AD.
- ^ The Lingua Franca. Natalie Operstein. 2021.
- ^ "Vandalic". LINGUIST List. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
5th century AD.
- ^ Blench, Roger; Dendo, Mallam (14 November 2006). "The Afro-Asiatic Languages" (PDF). Retrieved 7 July 2024.