Kru languages
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kru | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Burkina Faso |
| Genetic classification: |
Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Kru |
| Subdivisions: | |
| ISO 639-2 and 639-5: | kro |
The Kru languages belong to the Niger-Congo language family and are spoken in the area ranging from the south-east of Liberia to the east of Côte d'Ivoire. The name Kru is of unknown origin and is according to Westermann (1952) 'used by Europeans to denote a number of tribes speaking related dialects, and the dialects as a whole'; Marchese (1989) notes that the term might be derived from the fact that many of these peoples were recruited as 'crew' by European seafarers.
The Kru languages are known for some of the most complex tone systems in Africa, rivaled perhaps only by the Omotic languages.
The Marchese (1989) classification of Kru languages is as follows. Many of these languages are dialect clusters and are sometimes considered more than a single language.
| Kru |
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[edit] References
- Westerman, Diedrich Hermann (1952) Languages of West Africa (Part II). London/New York/Toronto: Oxford University Press.
[edit] External links
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