Mel languages

Mel
Southern (West) Atlantic [reduced]
Geographic distribution:	Guinea-Bissau through Liberia
Linguistic classification:	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Mel
Subdivisions:	Temne Sua–Kissi
Glottolog:	mela1257  (Mel + Gola)[1]

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.

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, Gola and Limba.

Mel	Temne Temne Baga languages Sua (Mansoanka)  Bullom–Kissi  Bullom languages Kissi

Glottolog retains Golla but removes Sua, classifying the latter with Mboteni and Mbulungish.

Footnotes

1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Mel + Gola". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.

References

• Guillaume Segerer & Florian Lionnet 2010. "'Isolates' in 'Atlantic'". Language Isolates in Africa workshop, Lyon, Dec. 4