Sudanic languages

Westermann, pupil of Carl Meinhof, carried out comparative linguistic research on the then Sudanic languages during the first half of the twentieth century.

French linguists like Delafosse and Homburger, not hindered by such concerns, were quite explicit about the unity of West Sudanic and Bantu, mainly on the basis of synchronic lexicostatistical data.

[1] In his 1935 "Character und Einteilung der Sudansprachen", Westermann conclusively established the relationship between Bantu and West Sudanic.

This marked the beginning of the establishment of the Niger–Congo family, though it was not until 1963 that Greenberg's classification of African languages solidified and popularized the concept of Niger–Congo.

Gumuz Western Koman Central Sudanic Kunama Berti Zaghawa Kanuri–Kanembu Tibu For Songay Maba, Masalit Runga Mimi (Eastern Sudanic) Nara Astaboran Nubian Taman Bertha West Jebel Kir Ik Soo Nyangʼi Ehret's subclassification of Nilo-Saharan (2001)