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What is the main language of West Africa?
English. In West Africa, English is the primary language of many countries. Nations like Nigeria, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ghana speak it officially.
Why are different languages spoken in most West African countries?
Many believe that modern humans are descended from Africans, so the fact that Africa has been home to humans for longer than any other continent is one influential factor in terms of language evolution. The influence of European languages on Africa is another reason behind the continent’s vast linguistic diversity.
Why are African languages so different?
One of the reasons for the continent’s rich linguistic diversity is simply down to time – people in Africa have had more time to develop languages than peoples elsewhere in the world. But the development of Africa’s languages is also due to cultural and political factors.
What is the most popular African language?
While Arabic is the most spoken language in Africa, there’s plenty more – other popular languages include Amharic, Berber, Portuguese, Oromo, Igbo, Yoruba, Zulu and Shona.
Which African country has the most languages?
Nigeria
Nigeria: And the African country with the most languages is… Nigeria. The official language is English, while 24 million people speak Igbo.
What languages do West Africans speak?
About 10 percent speak Swahili, the lingua franca of Southeast Africa ; about 5 percent speak a Berber dialect; and about 5 percent speak Hausa, which serves as a lingua franca in much of the Sahel . Other important West African languages are Yoruba, Igbo and Fula.
How many languages are spoken in West Africa?
The six traditional families are: Afroasiatic languages , spoken from North Africa to the Horn of Africa and Southwest Asia . Niger-Congo languages, spoken in West, Central, and Southeast Africa . Nilo-Saharan languages, spoken in Sudan and Chad. Khoe languages , spoken in the deserts of Namibia and Botswana .
What is the official language of West Africa?
Yoruba is one of West Africa’s most spoken languages, accounting for over 30 million speakers in Nigeria, Benin and Togo , and it is one of Nigeria’s official languages. It is also widely spoken by West African expats in the US and UK.
What countries in West Africa speak English?
Ghana. Ghana,like most other countries in West Africa,is a country with its official language as English.