Edekiri languages

The Edekiri is a group of languages in the Volta-Niger branch of the Niger-Congo family. The Niger-Congo language family, and by extension the Edekiri languages, formed a cohesive linguistic unit as far back as the end of the Upper Paleolithic 11,000 years ago.

The group includes:

• the Ede dialect cluster, including Ife
• Itsekiri
• Lucumi language, which is spoken in Cuba
• the Nago languages
• the Yoruboid languages Ulukwumi and Mokole
• Yoruba, with approximately 40 million speakers in Nigeria and several million more in the diaspora.

See also

• Yoruboid languages

References