Mel languages

The Mel languages are a branch of Niger–Congo languages spoken in Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The most populous is Temne, with about two million speakers; Kissi is next, with half a million.

Mel
Southern (West) Atlantic [reduced]
Geographic distribution	Guinea-Bissau through Liberia
Linguistic classification	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Mel
Subdivisions	Temne Bullom–Kissi
Glottolog	mela1257

Languages

Mel has traditionally been classified as the bulk of a southern branch of a West Atlantic branch of Niger–Congo. However, these are geographic and typological rather than genealogical groups; Segerer (2010) shows that there is no exclusive relationship between Mel and the other southern languages, Sua (Mansoanka), Gola and Limba.[1]

Mel	Temne   Temne     Baga languages      Bullom–Kissi    Bullom languages     Kissi

Fields (2004) splits Mel into a Highlands group originating in Guinea, and also a Bullom-Kisi-Gola group.[2]

• Mel
  • Bullom-Kisi-Gola
    • Gola
    • Bullom-Kisi
      • Bullom
      • Kisi
  • Highlands
    • Temne
    • Landuma
    • Sitem

Fields (2008:83) proposes that the homeland of Proto-Mel is located in the north-central highlands of Sierra Leone just to the south of the Lesser Scarcies River, rather than on the coast. The homeland of Proto-Highlands is located along the middle stretches of the Konkoure River in Guinea, just to the northeast of Conakry (Fields 2008:85).[3]

Comparative vocabulary

Comparison of basic vocabulary words (Fields 2004):[2]

Language	eye	ear	nose	tooth	tongue	mouth	blood	bone	tree	water	eat	name
Sitemu	dɔ-fɔr	lʊŋʊs	a-lolYm	de-sek	te-mera	ku-su	me-tyir	kʊ-bɛnt	kʊ-tɔk	dɔ-mun	ki-di	te-we / me-we
Landuma	da-fɔr	a-lʊnʊs, a-rʊns	ta-soth, ta-suth	da-sek	da-mera	kʊ-suŋ	ma-tsir, ma-cir	kʊ-bʊnt	ke-tog, kʊ-tɔɔk	da-mun, m-anc	ki-di	tayif
Temne	for	a-lʊns, a-lʊs	a-suth, a-sot	sek	ra-mer	saŋ	tsir	bant, kʊ-bonth	n-anʈ	m-ant	di; som	bonʈ; n-es
Bullom	foll	nui	min	ɛ-chang	mulliŋ, li-mɛliŋ	ɲɛn	nkong	pah	rum	men	dyo	ilillɛ
Kisi	hɔlten	nileŋ	miŋndo	ciŋnde	diɔ-muleŋ	sondoo	koowaŋ	paa	yɔmndo	mɛŋndaŋ	dio	diolaŋ
Gola	e-fe	nu	e-mia	sia	me-miel, o-mie, meer-o	o-na, ɲa	sa, ma-sei, ma-sen	ke-kpa	ke-kul, kulu	mai, mande, mandi	dze, dzɛ	e-del

See also

• Rio Nunez languages

References

1. Guillaume Segerer & Florian Lionnet 2010. "'Isolates' in 'Atlantic'". Language Isolates in Africa workshop, Lyon, Dec. 4.
2. Fields, Edda L. Before "Baga": Settlement Chronologies of the Coastal Rio Nunez Region, Earliest Times to c.1000 CE. In: The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 37, No. 2 (2004), pp. 229-253. Boston University African Studies Center.
3. Fields-Black, Edda L. 2008. Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora. (Blacks in the Diaspora.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.