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.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 shows that there is no exclusive relationship between Mel and the other southern languages, Sua, Gola and Limba.
Fields splits Mel into a Highlands group originating in Guinea, and also a Bullom-Kisi-Gola group.
- Mel
- *Bullom-Kisi-Gola
- **Gola
- **Bullom-Kisi
- ***Bullom
- ***Kisi
- *Highlands
- **Temne
- **Landuma
- **Sitem
Fields 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.Footnotes
