Languages of Africa

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/languages-of-africa

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the estimated number of languages?Between 1,250 and over 3,000 languages
2. What is the highest concentration of linguistic diversity?Nigeria, with over 500 languages
3. How many languages are spoken in Africa?Africa has between 1,250 and over 3,000 native languages, making it the most diverse continent in this way.
4. Which language family is the biggest in Africa?The Niger‑Congo family is the largest, covering many languages in West, Central, Southeast, and Southern Africa.

Linguistic Diversity: The existence of a wide variety of languages spoken within a particular geographic area or society.
Language Family: A group of languages that are related through descent from a common ancestral language.
Lingua Franca: A common language adopted for communication between speakers whose native languages are different.
Language Isolate: A natural language with no demonstrable genealogical relationship with any other language.