Cross River languages

Cross River
Delta–Cross
Geographic
distribution
Southeastern Nigeria, southwestern Cameroon
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
Subdivisions
Language codes
Glottologdelt1251
The Cross River languages shown within Nigeria and Cameroon:
  Ogoni

Lower Cross:

  Obolo
  Lower Cross proper

Upper Cross:

  Upper Cross besides Central
Central Upper Cross:
  North–South
  East–West

The Cross River or Delta–Cross languages are a branch of the Benue–Congo language family spoken in south-easternmost Nigeria, with some speakers in south-westernmost Cameroon. The branch was first formulated by Joseph Greenberg; it is one of the few of his branches of Niger–Congo that has withstood the test of time.

Greenberg's Cross River family originally included the Bendi languages. The Bendi languages were soon seen to be very different and thus were made a separate branch of Cross River, while the other languages were united under the branch Delta–Cross. However, the inclusion of Bendi in Cross River at all is doubtful, and it has been tentatively reassigned to the Southern Bantoid family, making the terms Cross River and Delta–Cross now synonymous.