Sere languages

Proposed Ubangian language family of Central Africa


title: "Sere languages" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["sere-languages", "ubangian-languages"] description: "Proposed Ubangian language family of Central Africa" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sere_languages" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Proposed Ubangian language family of Central Africa ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language family"]

FieldValue
nameSere
altnameSereic, Ndogoic, Sere–Ndogo
regionSouth Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo
familycolorNiger-Congo
fam1Ubangian
fam2Seri–Mba
child1FerogeMangaya
child2IndriTogoyo
child3Sere–Bviri
glottosere1262
glottorefnameSereic
::

|name=Sere |altname=Sereic, Ndogoic, Sere–Ndogo |region=South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam1=Ubangian |fam2=Seri–Mba |child1=FerogeMangaya |child2=IndriTogoyo |child3=Sere–Bviri |glotto=sere1262 |glottorefname=Sereic

The Sere languages (also called the Ndogoic or Sere–Ndogo languages) are a proposed family of Ubangian languages spoken in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Several are endangered or extinct. The most populous Sere language is Ndogo of South Sudan, with about 30,000 speakers.

Traditionally classified as part of the Sere languages, FerogeMangayat and IndriTogoyo could be separate groups that may not belong within Sere.

Languages

Per Ethnologue 26, the structure of the family is as follows:

|label1=Sere |1={{clade |label1=Feroge–Mangaya |1={{clade |1=Feroge |2=Mangayat |label2=Indri–Togoyo |2={{clade |1=Indri |2=Togoyo |label3=Sere–Bviri |3={{clade |label1=Bai–Viri |1={{clade |1=Bai |2=Belanda Viri |label2=Ndogo–Sere |2={{clade |1=Ndogo |2=Sere |3=Tagbu

Per Glottolog v4.8, the structure of the family is as follows:

|label1=Sereic |1={{clade |label1=Feroge–Mangaya |1={{clade |1=Feroge |2=Mangayat |label2=Sere–Indri |2={{clade |label1=Indri–Togoyo |1={{clade |1=Indri |2=Togoyo |label2=Sere–Bviri |2={{clade |label1=Bai–Viri |1={{clade |1=Bai |2=Belanda Viri |label2=Ndogo–Sere |2={{clade |1=Ndogo |label2=Tagbu–Sere |2={{clade |1=Sere |2=Tagbu

Although the Sere–Bviri languages are clearly related to each other, it is not clear if they are related to FerogeMangayat and IndriTogoyo. The recently extinct Indri–Togoyo languages have pronouns that look Niger–Congo, and are not similar to those of the other languages.

References

References

  1. Hammarström, Harald. (2023-07-10). "Glottolog 4.8 - Sereic". [[Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology]].
  2. Güldemann, Tom. (2018). "The Languages and Linguistics of Africa". De Gruyter Mouton.

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sere-languagesubangian-languages