WThe languages of Africa are divided into several major language families:Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern Africa. Afroasiatic languages are spread throughout Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and parts of the Sahel. Indo-European languages are spoken in South Africa and Namibia and are used as lingua francas in the former colonies of Britain and Liberia that was part of American Colonization Society (English), former colonies of France and of Belgium (French), former colonies of Portugal (Portuguese), former colonies of Italy (Italian), former colonies of Spain (Spanish) and the current Spanish territories of Ceuta, Melilla and the Canary Islands (Spanish) and the current French territories of Mayotte and La Réunion. Various families of Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken from Tanzania to Eritrea and Sudan and from Chad to Mali. Austronesian languages are spoken in Madagascar. Khoe–Kwadi languages are spoken principally in Namibia and Botswana.
WCoptic is a family of closely-related dialects descended from the Ancient Egyptian language and historically spoken by the Copts of Egypt. Coptic was supplanted by Egyptian Arabic as the primary spoken language of Egypt following the Muslim conquest of Egypt, although it remains in use today as the liturgical language of the Coptic Church. Innovations in grammar, phonology, and the influx of Greek loanwords distinguish Coptic from earlier periods of the Egyptian language. It is written with the Coptic alphabet, a modified form of the Greek alphabet with several additional letters borrowed from the Demotic Egyptian script.
WEgyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian, or simply Masri (مَصرى), is the spoken vernacular Arabic dialect of Egypt.
WThe Languages of Africa is a 1963 book of essays by the linguist Joseph Greenberg, in which the author sets forth a genetic classification of African languages that, with some changes, continues to be the most commonly used one today. It is an expanded and extensively revised version of his 1955 work Studies in African Linguistic Classification, which was itself a compilation of eight articles which Greenberg had published in the Southwestern Journal of Anthropology between 1949 and 1954. It was first published in 1963 as Part II of the International Journal of American Linguistics, Vol. 29, No. 1; however, its second edition of 1966, in which it was published as an independent work, is more commonly cited.
WThe languages of the African Union are languages used by citizens within the member states of the African Union (AU). For languages of the institution, see African Union: Languages.
WLibyan Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken mainly in Libya, and neighboring countries. It can be divided into two major dialect areas; the eastern centred in Benghazi and Bayda, and the western centred in Tripoli and Misrata. The Eastern variety extends beyond the borders to the east and share the same dialect with far Western Egypt. A distinctive southern variety, centered on Sabha, also exists and is more akin to the western variety. Another Southern dialect is also shared along the borders with Niger.
WṢaʽīdi Arabic, also known as Upper Egyptian Arabic, is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Ṣaʽīdi people in Upper Egypt, a strip of land on both sides of the Nile river that extends between Nubia and downriver (northwards) to Lower Egypt. It shares linguistic features with both Egyptian Arabic and the Quran's Classical Arabic. Dialects include Middle and Upper Egyptian Arabic.