Tivoid languages

Tivoid
Geographic
distribution
Southeastern Nigeria, southwestern Cameroon
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
Proto-languageProto-Tivoid
Language codes
Glottologtivo1239
The Tivoid languages shown within Nigeria and Cameroon:

Uncertain affiliation:

  Buru
  Furu
  Esimbi

Isolates:

  Mesaka

other Tivoid:

  North Tivoid
  Central Tivoid

The Tivoid languages are a branch of the Southern Bantoid languages spoken in parts of Nigeria and Cameroon. The subfamily takes its name after Tiv, the most spoken language in the group.

The majority are threatened with extinction. The largest of these languages by far is the Tiv language for which the group is named; it had 2 million speakers in 1991. The second largest is the Bitare language; it had 110,000 speakers in 2000. Most apart from Tiv are extremely poorly known, and the next best, Esimbi, has not even been demonstrated to be Tivoid.