Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 20, 2026

Kele languages

The Kele or Sheke languages are a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone B.20 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), apart possibly from Seki (Sheke) (B.21) itself, the languages form a valid node. They are:Lengue, Ndasa, Sigu (Sighu), Kele (Dikele), Ngom, Mbangwe, Wumbvu, Kota, Shake (Sake), Mahongwe, ?Seki (Sheke)

Last revised
Jul 20, 2026
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≈ 1 min
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Wikipedia ↗
Kele
Sheke
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
Language codes
GlottologNone
grea1288  Ndasaic
kele1262  Ngomic

The Kele or Sheke languages are a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone B.20 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), apart possibly from Seki (Sheke) (B.21) itself, the languages form a valid node. They are:

Lengue, Ndasa, Sigu (Sighu), Kele (Dikele), Ngom, Mbangwe, Wumbvu, Kota, Shake (Sake), Mahongwe, ?Seki (Sheke)

Maho (2009) adds B203 Sama, B204 Ndambomo, B205 Metombola.

Footnotes

Footnotes

References

References

  • Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard, eds. (2003). The Bantu languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 9780700711345.