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Mel languages

Branch of Niger–Congo spoken in Guinea-Bissau through Liberia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Mel languages are a branch of Niger–Congo languages spoken in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The most populous is Temne, with about two million speakers; Kissi is next, with half a million.

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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.[1]

Fields (2004) splits Mel into a Highlands group originating in Guinea, and also a Bullom-Kisi-Gola group.[2]

Fields (2008:83) proposes that the homeland of Proto-Mel is located in the north-central highlands of Sierra Leone 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 (Fields 2008:85).[3]

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Comparative vocabulary

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Comparison of basic vocabulary words in the Mel languages from Fields (2004):[2]

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Comparison of basic vocabulary words in the Mel languages, and also Sua and Gola, from Wilson (2007):[4] Limba has also been added from Clarke (1922).[5]

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See also

References

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