West Atlantic languages

The Atlantic family was first identified by Sigismund Koelle in 1854. In the early 20th century, Carl Meinhof claimed that Fula was a Hamitic language, but August von Klingenhaben and Joseph Greenberg's work conclusively established Fula's close relationship with Wolof and Serer. W. A. A. Wilson notes that the validity of the family as a whole rests on much weaker evidence, though it is clear that the languages are part of the Niger–Congo family, based on evidence such as a shared noun-class system. However, comparative work on Niger–Congo is in its infancy. Classifications of Niger–Congo, usually based on lexicostatistics, generally propose that the various Atlantic languages are rather divergent, but less so than Mande and other languages that lack noun classes.

David Sapir (1971) proposed a classification of Atlantic into three branches, a northern group, a southern group, and the divergent Bijago language of the Bissagos Islands off the coast of Guinea-Bissau:[2]

• Northern
  • Sénégal languages: Fula–Serer; Wolof
  • Cangin languages
  • Bak languages (not including Bijago)
  • Eastern Sénégal–Portuguese Guinea languages
    • Tenda languages
    • Biafada–Pajade
    • Kobiana–Kasanga–Banhum
    • Nalu–Mbulungish–Baga Mboteni
• Bijago
• Southern
  • Sua
  • Mel languages (including Gola)
  • Limba

Sapir's classification is widely cited in handbooks on African linguistics (e.g. Bender 1989, Williamson & Blench 2000), and is also used in the Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019).

The unity of the Atlantic languages—as traditionally defined—has long been questioned, e.g. Dalby (1965), who argued for the Mel languages as a primary branch of Niger–Congo. At the current state of research, the wide concept of Atlantic (i.e. including the Southern languages) within the Niger–Congo family is no longer held up.[3]

Segerer (2010, 2016[4]) and Pozdniakov & Segerer (2017) propose a narrowed-down version of the Atlantic languages by excluding all languages of the southern branch, which they treat as four primary branches (viz. Sua, Limba, Gola, and the Mel languages) within the Niger–Congo family. The Bak languages are split from the northern languages as a coordinate subbranch within Atlantic (in the narrow sense). Bijago is assigned to the Bak languages.

Güldemann (2018) goes even further, and also treats Nalu and Mbulungish–Baga Mboteni ("Rio Nunez") as unclassified first-order branches of Niger–Congo.[5]

Revised classification of the Atlantic languages (Vossen & Dimmendaal 2020:166,[6] from Pozdniakov & Segerer[7]):

Atlantic

• North
  • Wolof: Wolof, Lebu
  • Nyun-Buy
    • Nyun (Gunyaamolo, Gujaher, Gubëeher, etc.)
    • Buy (Kasanga, Kobiana)
  • Tenda-Jaad
    • Tenda: Basari, Tanda, Bedik, Bapen; Konyagi
    • Jaad: Biafada; Badiaranke
  • Fula-Sereer
    • Fula (Pular, Pulaar, Fulfulde, etc.)
    • Sereer
  • Cangin
    • Palor, Ndut
    • Noon, Laala, Saafi
  • Nalu
    • Nalu
    • Bage Fore
    • Baga Mboteni
• Bak
  • Balant: Ganja, Kentohe, Fraase
  • Joola-Manjaku
    • Joola: Fogny, Banjal, Kasa, Kwaatay, Karon, Ejamat, Keeraak, etc.; Bayot ?
    • Manjaku
    • Bok, Cur, Bassarel
    • Pepel
    • Mankanya
  • Bijogo: Kamona, Kagbaaga, Kajoko

Merrill (2021) proposes that Atlantic (or North Atlantic) is not a valid subgroup of Niger-Congo, but rather considers each of the established Atlantic "branches" to all be primary branches of Niger-Congo. Furthermore, Merrill suggests that due to the divergence of the Atlantic languages, the homeland of Niger-Congo may lie in the northwest of sub-Saharan Africa.[1]

North Atlantic geographical area

• Fula-Sereer (branch)
  • Fula
  • Sereer
• Cangin
• Wolof
• Bainunk-Kobiana-Kasanga (branch)
  • Kobiana
  • Gujaher
  • Gubëeher
  • Guñaamolo
• Biafada-Pajade (branch)
  • Pajade
  • Biafada
• Tenda (branch)
  • Konyagi
  • Bassari
  • Bedik
• Bak (branch)
  • Joola
  • Manjak
  • Balanta
• Bijogo (branch)

Merrill (2021) also notes that Tenda and Biafada-Pajade share similarities with each other, and may possibly form a linkage.