Areal Diffusion versus Genetic Inheritance: An African Perspective

Abstract The genetic classification of African languages has a long and partially turbulent history. Whereas our understanding of specific linguistic areas on the continent has improved considerably over the past decades, the increased knowledge in most cases has resulted in comfirmation of hypotheses on their genetic links as formulated by Greenberg (1963). The four major language families according to this classification are Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Saharan. Only a few groups have been subject to genetic reclassification over time, as a result of improved documentation.1 The internal classification, on the other hand, and the integrity of larger subgroups as proposed by Greenberg and others, have been subject to extensive debates. In at least one case (discussed below), that of the Kwa and Benue-Congo languages, investigators came to realize that at an earlier stage of their scientific investigation areal diffusion had come to be mixed up with genetic inheritance.