Central Sudanic
Geographic distribution	CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Cameroon
Native speakers	ca. 15 million[1]
Linguistic classification	Nilo-Saharan? Central Sudanic
Proto-language	Proto-Central Sudanic
Subdivisions	Bongo–Bagirmi Mangbetu–Asoa Mangbutu–Lese Lendu Moru–Madi ? Birri–Kresh
ISO 639-5	csu
Glottolog	cent2225
Central Sudanic languages in Africa

Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Cameroon. They include the pygmy languages Efé and Asoa.

Blench (2011) suggests that Central Sudanic influenced the development of the noun-class system characteristic of the Atlantic–Congo languages.^{[citation needed]}

Classification

Half a dozen groups of Central Sudanic languages are generally accepted as valid. They are customarily divided into East and West branches.

Blench (2023)

Blench cites the following classification:^[2]

Sinyar–Formona is sparsely documented and its placement in the western branch is "provisional".

Starostin (2016)

Starostin (2016)^[3] finds support for Eastern Central Sudanic (Lendu, Mangbetu, Lugbara, etc., concentrated in the northeast corner of DR Congo) but not for the western division, which would include Bongo–Bagirmi and Kresh scattered across Chad, the CAR, and South Sudan.

Starostin (2011) notes that the poorly attested language Mimi of Decorse is suggestive of Central Sudanic, though he provisionally treats it as an isolate. Boyeldieu (2010) states that the inclusion of Kresh has yet to be demonstrated, but Starostin (2016) finds good support, with Birri being its closest relative.

Bender (1992)

Lionel Bender (1992) classifies the Central Sudanic languages as follows, with Central Sudanic bifurcating into a Peripheral branch and a Central branch.^[4]

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:^[5]