Major Languages Table
(This table of summary information on the "Major Languages" of Africa is under construction. Notes on headings are given following the table, below.)
| Language headings & names | ISO 639 -1 | ISO 639 -2 | ISO 639 -3 | Languages or dialects | Total # speakers | Main countries where spoken | Dwyer 1994 | L1 % literate | W. | St. | tau mu pi |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | af | afr | afr | >15 million | South Africa, Namibia, Botswana | - | (high) | tau? mu? | |||
| Akan | ak, tw | aka, twi, fat | aka, twi, fat | Twi, Fante | 8-9 million | Ghana | A | 30-60% | pi | ||
| Amharic, Amharique, አማርኛ | am | amh | amh | >20 million | Ethiopia | A | 28.1% | pi? | |||
| Anyi, Baule, Agni, Baoulé | - | - | any, bci | ~3 million | Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana | B | A 1-5%, B 25-50% | pi | |||
| Arabic, Arabe, عربية | ar | ara | - | tau | |||||||
| Bamileke, Bamiléké | bai | fmp, bbj, bko, byv, xmg, nnz, nnh, jgo, nla, nwe, ybb | Fe'fe', Ghomálá', Kwa', Medumba, Mengaka, Nda'nda', Ngiemboon, Ngomba, Ngombale, Ngwe, Yemba | >1 million | Cameroon | B | ? | pi | |||
| Bedawi, Beja, Bedja, بداوي | bej | bej | ~1 million | Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea | - | ? | pi | ||||
| Bemba, Chibemba | bem | bem, bmy | >3.5 million | Zambia, RepDemCongo? | B | ? | pi | ||||
| Beti, Béti | ewo, fan | btb, ewo, fan, bum, beb, bxp, eto, mct | Ewondo, Fang, Bulu ... | >2 million | Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea | - | ? | pi | |||
| Berber, Berbère | ber, kab, tmh | auj, cnu, gha, kab, jbn, swn, shy, shi, oua, thv, ttq, thz, tmh, taq, tzm, tjo, tia, rif, grr, mzb, zen | Awjilah, Chenoua, Ghadamès, Kabyle, Nafusi / Shilha, Sawknah, Tachawit, Tachelhit, Tagargrent, Tamahaq, Tamajaq, Tamajeq, Tamashek, Tamasheq, Tamazight, Tarifit, Taznatit, Tumzabt, Zenaga | ~15 million | Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad | B | pi? | ||||
| Chewa, Nyanja, Chichewa, Chinyanja | A | pi | |||||||||
| Chokwe, Ruund | B | pi | |||||||||
| Dagaare | - | pi | |||||||||
| Dinka, Thuɔŋjäŋ | C | pi | |||||||||
| Ebira, Igbera | C | pi | |||||||||
| Edo, Bini | C | pi | |||||||||
| Efik, Ibibio, Anaang | B | pi | |||||||||
| Fula, Peul, Fulfulde, Pulaar, Pular | B | pi | |||||||||
| Ganda, Luganda, oluGanda | B | pi | |||||||||
| Gbaya | B | pi | |||||||||
| Gbe | Ewe, Mina, Fon | B | pi | ||||||||
| Gikuyu | B | pi | |||||||||
| Gogo | C | pi | |||||||||
| Gurage | C | pi | |||||||||
| Hausa, Haoussa, هوس | A | pi | |||||||||
| Hehe | C | pi | |||||||||
| Idoma | C | pi | |||||||||
| Igbo | A | pi | |||||||||
| Ijo | C | pi | |||||||||
| Isle de France Creole | C | pi | |||||||||
| Kalenjin | Nandi, Kipsigis | B | pi | ||||||||
| Kamba, Kikamba | B | pi | |||||||||
| Kanuri | B | pi | |||||||||
| Kimbundu | B | pi | |||||||||
| Kongo | Kikongo, Kituba | A | pi | ||||||||
| Kpelle, Guerzé, Kpelewoo | C | pi | |||||||||
| Krio, Pidgin | B | pi | |||||||||
| Kru, Bassa | C | pi | |||||||||
| Lingala | A | pi | |||||||||
| Lozi, Silozi | C | pi | |||||||||
| Luba, Chiluba | B | pi | |||||||||
| Luo, Acholi, Lango | B | pi | |||||||||
| Luyia | B | pi | |||||||||
| Maasai | C | pi | |||||||||
| Makua, Lomwe | B | pi | |||||||||
| Malagasy | A | pi | |||||||||
| Manding, Mandingue | Bamanan, Jula, Mandinka, Maninka | A | pi | ||||||||
| Mende, Bandi, Loko | B | pi | |||||||||
| Meru, Kimeru | C | pi | |||||||||
| Mongo, Nkundo | B | pi | |||||||||
| Moore, Mooré, Mòoré | B | pi | |||||||||
| Nama | C | pi | |||||||||
| Ndebele, N.? | A* | pi | |||||||||
| Ndebele, S.? | A* | pi | |||||||||
| Nubian | B | pi | |||||||||
| Nuer | C | pi | |||||||||
| Nupe | C | pi | |||||||||
| Nyakusa | C | pi | |||||||||
| Oromo | A | pi | |||||||||
| Oshiwambo | - | pi? | |||||||||
| Runyakitara | pi | ||||||||||
| Rwanda, Rundi, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi | pi | ||||||||||
| Sango, Sängö, Sahngo | pi? | ||||||||||
| Sara | pi | ||||||||||
| Senufo, Senoufo, Senari | pi | ||||||||||
| Serer, Serère | pi | ||||||||||
| Shona, Chishona | pi | ||||||||||
| Sidamo | pi | ||||||||||
| Somali, af-Soomaali | pi | ||||||||||
| Songhai, Zarma | pi | ||||||||||
| Soninke | pi | ||||||||||
| Sotho, Northern, Sesotho sa Leboa, Sepedi | pi? | ||||||||||
| Sotho, Southern, Sesotho | pi? | ||||||||||
| Sukuma, Nyamwezi | pi | ||||||||||
| Suppire, Minianka | pi | ||||||||||
| Susu (& Yalunka), Soussou, Djalonké, Sosokui | pi | ||||||||||
| Swahili, Kiswahili | mu? | ||||||||||
| Swazi, Siswati | pi? | ||||||||||
| Temne | pi | ||||||||||
| Teso, Turkana | pi | ||||||||||
| Tigrinya, Tigrigna, ትግርኛ | pi | ||||||||||
| Tiv | pi | ||||||||||
| Tsonga, Xitsonga | pi? | ||||||||||
| Tswana, Setswana | pi | ||||||||||
| Tumbuka | pi | ||||||||||
| Umbundu | pi | ||||||||||
| Venda, Tshivenda | pi? | ||||||||||
| Wolof | pi | ||||||||||
| Xhosa, isiXhosa | pi? | ||||||||||
| Yao, Makonde, Ciyao | pi | ||||||||||
| Yoruba, Yórùbá | pi | ||||||||||
| Zande | pi | ||||||||||
| Zulu, isiZulu | pi? |
Notes on headings in this table:
- Language headings & names: Language names used in the Major Languages list. Indiginous and other common names. Names in French or Portuguese are given in italics when different from the language heading or indigenous names.
- ISO 639: language codes, where they exist, in ISO-639-1, -2, and -3
- Language or dialects: Usually these are the Ethnologue language categories, when there are several corresponding to the language heading; for example, in Beti, Gbe, Runyakitara, the tongues that are grouped under this language heading
- Total # speakers: rough figure - see the language page in question for more details
- Main countries where spoken: Countries where indigenous or widely spoken as a first language or LWC
- Dwyer 1994: classification of the language based on usage - for prioritisation in language instruction in the U.S.; this may or may not be appropriate here, but is one additional way of grouping and perhaps prioritizing languages for attention in localisation
- L1 % literate: figures for literacy in the first language from Ethnologue, where given
- W. & St.: these are classifications suggested by Ferguson (1962) for categorising languages by level of use of writing (W.) and standardisation (St.) [more]
- tau mu pi: classification of level of technical resources