Editing Gbe languages (section)

{{Short description|Niger–Congo language cluster}}
{{Infobox language family
|name = Gbe
|region = [[West Africa]]<br />(parts of [[Ghana]], [[Togo]], [[Benin]], [[Nigeria]])
|familycolor = Niger-Congo
|fam2 = [[Atlantic-Congo languages|Atlantic-Congo]]
|fam3=[[Volta–Congo languages|Volta–Congo]]
|fam4 = [[Volta–Niger languages|Volta–Niger]]
|child1 = [[Ewe language|Ewe]]
|child2 = [[Gen language|Gen]]
|child3 = [[Fon language|Fon]]
|child4 = [[Adja language|Adja]]
|child5 = [[Phla–Pherá languages|Phla–Pherá]]
|protoname=[[Wiktionary:Appendix:Proto-Gbe reconstructions|Proto-Gbe]]
|glotto=gbee1241
|glottorefname= Gbe
|map = Gbe languages.png
|mapcaption = Map showing the distribution of the major Gbe dialect areas (after Capo 1988, 1991).
}}

The '''Gbe languages''' (pronounced {{IPA|ee|ɡ͡bè|}})<ref>The {{angbr|gb}} is a [[voiced labial–velar stop]], common in many West African languages.</ref> form a cluster of about twenty related [[language]]s stretching across the area between eastern [[Ghana]] and western [[Nigeria]]. The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is [[Ewe language|Ewe]] (10.3 million speakers in Ghana and [[Togo]]), followed by [[Fon language|Fon]] (5 million, mainly in [[Benin]]). The Gbe languages were traditionally placed in the [[Kwa languages|Kwa]] branch of the [[Niger–Congo languages]], but more recently have been classified as [[Volta–Niger languages]]. They include five major dialect clusters: [[Ewe language|Ewe]], [[Fon language|Fon]], [[Adja language|Aja]], [[Gen language|Gen]] (Mina), and [[Phla–Pherá languages|Phla–Pherá]].

Most of the Gbe peoples came from the east to their present dwelling-places in several migrations between the tenth and the fifteenth century. Some of the [[Phla–Pherá languages|Phla–Pherá]] peoples however are thought to be the original inhabitants of the area who have intermingled with the Gbe immigrants, and the Gen people probably originate from the [[Ga-Adangbe people]] in [[Ghana]]. In the late eighteenth century, many speakers of Gbe were enslaved and transported to the [[New World]]: it is believed that Gbe languages played some role in the genesis of several [[Caribbean]] [[creole language]]s, especially [[Haitian Creole]] and [[Sranan Tongo|Sranantongo]] (Surinamese Creole).

Around 1840, German missionaries started linguistic research into the Gbe languages. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Africanist [[Diedrich Hermann Westermann]] was one of the most prolific contributors to the study of Gbe. The first internal classification of the Gbe languages was published in 1988 by [[Hounkpati B Christophe Capo|H.B. Capo]], followed by a comparative [[phonology]] in 1991. The Gbe languages are [[tonal language|tonal]], [[isolating language]]s and the basic word order is [[subject–verb–object]].