Page "Niger–Congo languages" Paragraph 8

Over the years, several linguists have suggested a link between Niger – Congo and Nilo-Saharan, probably starting with Westermann's comparative work on the ' Sudanic ' family in which ' Eastern Sudanic ' ( now classified as Nilo-Saharan ) and ' Western Sudanic ' ( now classified as Niger – Congo ) were united.

Gregersen ( 1972 ) proposed that Niger – Congo and Nilo-Saharan be united into a larger phylum which he termed Kongo – Saharan.

His evidence was mainly based on the uncertainty in the classification of Songhay, morphological resemblances, and lexical similarities.

A more recent proponent was Roger Blench ( 1995 ), who puts forward phonological, morphological and lexical evidence for uniting Niger – Congo and Nilo-Saharan in a Niger – Saharan phylum, with special affinity between Niger – Congo and Central Sudanic.

However, fifteen years later his views had changed, with Blench ( 2011 ) proposing instead that the noun-classifier system of Central Sudanic, commonly reflected in a tripartite general – singulative – plurative number system, triggered the development or elaboration of the noun-class system of the Atlantic – Congo languages, with tripartite number marking surviving in the Plateau and Gur languages of Niger – Congo, and the lexical similarities being due to loans.