Editing Nilo-Saharan languages (section)

==Internal relationships==
Dimmendaal (2008) notes that Greenberg (1963) based his conclusion on strong evidence and that the proposal as a whole has become more convincing in the decades since. Mikkola (1999) reviewed Greenberg's evidence and found it convincing. [[Roger Blench]] notes morphological similarities in all putative branches, which leads him to believe that the family is likely to be valid.

[[Koman languages|Koman]] and [[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]] are poorly known and have been difficult to evaluate until recently.{{vague|date=September 2019}} Songhay is markedly divergent, in part due to massive influence from the [[Mande languages]].<ref name="BlenchSouag"/> Also problematic are the [[Kuliak languages]], which are spoken by hunter-gatherers and appear to retain a non-Nilo-Saharan core; Blench believes they might have been similar to [[Hadza language|Hadza]] or [[Dahalo language|Dahalo]] and shifted incompletely to Nilo-Saharan.

Anbessa Tefera and Peter Unseth consider the poorly attested [[Shabo language]] to be Nilo-Saharan, though unclassified within the family due to lack of data; Dimmendaal and Blench, based on a more complete description, consider it to be a language isolate on current evidence. Proposals have sometimes been made to add Mande (usually included in [[Niger–Congo languages|Niger–Congo]]), largely due to its many noteworthy similarities with Songhay rather than with Nilo-Saharan as a whole, however this relationship is more likely due to a close relationship between Songhay and Mande many thousands of years ago in the early days of Nilo-Saharan, so the relationship is probably more one of ancient contact than a genetic link.<ref name="BlenchSouag"/>

The extinct [[Meroitic language]] of ancient [[Kingdom of Kush|Kush]] has been accepted by linguists such as Rille, Dimmendaal, and Blench as Nilo-Saharan, though others argue for an [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]] affiliation. It is poorly attested.

There is little doubt that the constituent families of Nilo-Saharan—of which only [[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]] and [[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]] show much internal diversity—are valid groups. However, there have been several conflicting classifications in grouping them together. Each of the proposed higher-order groups has been rejected by other researchers: Greenberg's Chari–Nile by Bender and Blench, and Bender's Core Nilo-Saharan by Dimmendaal and Blench. What remains are eight (Dimmendaal) to twelve (Bender) constituent families of no consensus arrangement.

===Greenberg 1963===
[[File:Lenguas nilo-saharianas.PNG|thumb|upright=2|The branches of the Nilo-Saharan languages]]
[[Joseph Greenberg]], in ''[[The Languages of Africa]]'', set up the family with the following branches. The Chari–Nile core are the connections that had been suggested by previous researchers.

{{clear}}

{{clade
|label1=Nilo-Saharan
|1={{clade
|1=[[Koman languages|Koman]] (including Gumuz)
|3=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|4=[[Songhay languages|Songhay]]
|5=[[Fur languages|Fur]]
|6=[[Maban languages|Maban]]
|label7=Chari–Nile
|7={{clade
|1=[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
|2=[[Kunama languages|Kunama]]
|3=[[Berta languages|Berta]]
|4=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]] (including [[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]], [[Nubian languages|Nubian]] and [[Nilotic languages|Nilotic]])
}}
}}
}}
[[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]] was not recognized as distinct from neighbouring Koman; it was separated out (forming "Komuz") by Bender (1989).

===Bender 1989, 1991===
[[Lionel Bender]] came up with a classification which expanded upon and revised that of Greenberg. He considered Fur and Maban to constitute a [[Fur–Maban languages|Fur–Maban]] branch, added [[Kadu languages|Kadu]] to Nilo-Saharan, removed Kuliak from Eastern Sudanic, removed Gumuz from Koman (but left it as a sister node), and chose to posit [[Kunama languages|Kunama]] as an independent branch of the family. By 1991 he had added more detail to the tree, dividing Chari–Nile into nested clades, including a Core group in which [[Berta languages|Berta]] was considered divergent, and coordinating Fur–Maban as a sister clade to Chari–Nile.<ref>[[Lionel Bender|Bender, M. Lionel]] (1991) "Subclassification of Nilo-Saharan". In Bender, M. Lionel, ed. (1991) ''Proceedings of the Fourth Nilo-Saharan Conference'', Bayreuth, Aug. 30–Sep. 2, 1989. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. NISA 7, 1–36</ref><ref name="Niger-Saharan">{{cite book|author=Roger Blench|author-link=Roger Blench|year=2006|title=The Niger-Saharan Macrophylum|location=Cambridge|publisher=Mallam Dendo|page=5|url=http://rogerblench.info/Language/Nilo-Saharan/General/Niger-Saharan%20book.pdf|access-date=2018-11-30|archive-date=2021-01-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124101347/http://rogerblench.info/Language/Nilo-Saharan/General/Niger-Saharan%20book.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{clade
|label1=Nilo-Saharan
|1={{clade
|1=[[Songhay languages|Songhay]]
|2=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|3=[[Kunama languages|Kunama–Ilit]]
|4=[[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]]
|5={{clade
|label1=Fur–Maban
|1={{clade
|1=[[Fur languages|Fur]]
|2=[[Maban languages|Maban]]
}}
|label2=Chari–Nile
|2={{clade
|label1=[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
|1={{clade
|1=[[Eastern Central Sudanic languages|Moru–Mangbetu]]
|2=[[Bongo–Bagirmi languages|Sara–Bongo]]
}}
|label2=Core
|2={{clade
|1=[[Berta languages|Berta]]
|2={{clade
|label1=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|East Sudanic]]
|1={{clade
|1=[[Surmic languages|Surmic]]–[[Nilotic languages|Nilotic]]
|2=[[Nubian languages|Nubian]], [[Nara language|Nara]], [[Taman languages|Taman]]
}}
|label2=[[Komuz languages|Komuz]]
|2={{clade
|1=[[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]]
|2=[[Koman languages|Koman]] (including Shabo)
}}
|3=[[Kadu languages|Kadugli–Krongo]]
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}

Bender revised his model of Nilo-Saharan again in 1996, at which point he split Koman and Gumuz into completely separate branches of Core Nilo-Saharan.<ref name="Bender (1996)">{{cite book |author-link=Lionel Bender (linguist) |first=Lionel |last=Bender |year=1996 |title=The Nilo-Saharan languages: a comparative essay |location=Munich |publisher=Lincom Europa }}</ref>

===Ehret 1989===
[[Christopher Ehret]] came up with a novel classification of Nilo-Saharan as a preliminary part of his then-ongoing research into the macrofamily. His evidence for the classification was not fully published until much later (see [[#Ehret 2001|Ehret 2001]] below), and so it did not attain the same level of acclaim as competing proposals, namely those of Bender and Blench.<ref name="Niger-Saharan" />

===Bender 2000===
By 2000 Bender had entirely abandoned the Chari–Nile and Komuz branches. He also added Kunama back to the "Satellite–Core" group and simplified the subdivisions therein. He retracted the inclusion of [[Shabo language|Shabo]], stating that it could not yet be adequately classified but might prove to be Nilo-Saharan once sufficient research has been done. This tentative and somewhat conservative classification held as a sort of standard for the next decade.<ref name="Bender (2000)">{{cite book |author-link=Lionel Bender (linguist) |first=Lionel |last=Bender |year=2000 |chapter=Nilo-Saharan |editor-first=Bernd |editor-last=Heine |editor2-first=Derek |editor2-last=Nurse |title=African Languages: An Introduction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-66178-1 }}</ref>

{{clade
|label1=Nilo-Saharan
|1={{clade
|1=[[Songhay languages|Songhay]]
|2=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|3=[[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]]
|label4=Satellite–Core
|4={{clade
|1=[[Maban languages|Maban]]
|2=[[Fur languages|Fur]]
|3=[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
|4=[[Berta languages|Berta]]
|5=[[Kunama languages|Kunama]]
|label6=Core
|6={{clade
|1=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]]
|2=[[Koman languages|Koman]]
|3=[[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]]
|4=[[Kadu languages|Kadu]]
}}
}}
}}
}}

===Ehret 2001===
Ehret's updated classification was published in his book ''A Historical–Comparative Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan'' (2001).<ref name="Ehret 2001">Ehret (2001)</ref> This model is notable in that it consists of two primary branches: Gumuz–Koman, and a ''Sudanic'' group containing the rest of the families (see ''[[Sudanic languages#Nilo-Saharan|Sudanic languages § Nilo-Saharan]]'' for more detail). Also, unusually, Songhay is well-nested within a core group and coordinate with Maban in a "Western Sahelian" clade, and Kadu is not included in Nilo-Saharan. Note that "Koman" in this classification is equivalent to [[Komuz languages|Komuz]], i.e. a family with Gumuz and Koman as primary branches, and Ehret renames the traditional Koman group as "Western Koman".

{{clade
|label1=Nilo-Saharan
|1={{clade
|label1=[[Komuz languages|Koman]]
|1={{clade
|1=[[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]]
|2=[[Koman languages|Western Koman]]
}}
|label2=[[Sudanic languages#Nilo-Saharan|Sudanic]]
|2={{clade
|1=[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
|label2=Northern Sudanic
|2={{clade
|1=[[Kunama languages|Kunama]]
|label2=[[Saharo-Sahelian languages|Saharo-Sahelian]]
|2={{clade
|1=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|label2=Sahelian
|2={{clade
|1=[[Fur languages|Fur]]
|2={{clade
|label1=Trans-Sahel
|1={{clade
|label1=Western Sahelian
|1={{clade
|1=[[Songhay languages|Songhay]]
|2=[[Maban languages|Maban]]
}}
|2=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sahelian]] (Eastern Sudanic)
(including [[Berta languages|Berta]])
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}

===Blench 2006===
{{See also|Niger–Congo languages#Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan}}
'''Niger-Saharan''', a language macrofamily linking the Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan phyla, was proposed by [[w:Roger Blench|Blench]] (2006).<ref>Blench, Roger. 2006. [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Nilo-Saharan/General/Niger-Saharan%20book.pdf ''The Niger-Saharan Macrophylum''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131126121641/http://rogerblench.info/Language/Nilo-Saharan/General/Niger-Saharan%20book.pdf |date=2013-11-26 }}.</ref> It was not accepted by other linguists. Blench's (2006) internal classification of the Niger-Saharan macrophylum is as follows:

{{tree list}}
*Proto-Niger-Saharan
**[[Songhay languages|Songhay]], [[Saharan languages|Saharan]], [[Maban languages|Maba]], [[Fur languages|Fur]], [[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]], [[Berta language|Berta]], [[Kunama language|Kunama]], [[Komuz languages|Komuz]], [[Shabo language|Shabo]]
**Kado-Sudanic
***[[Kadu languages|Kado]] (Kadugli-Krongo)
***Niger-Sudanic
****[[East Sudanic languages|East Sudanic]]
****Niger-Central Sudanic
*****[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
*****[[Niger-Congo languages|Niger-Congo]]
{{tree list/end}}

According to Blench (2006), typological features common to both Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan include:
*Phonology: ATR vowel harmony and the labial-velars /kp/ and /gb/
*Noun-class affixes: e.g., ''ma''- affix for mass nouns in Nilo-Saharan
*Verbal extensions and plural verbs

===Blench 2010===
With a better understanding of Nilo-Saharan classifiers, and the affixes or number marking they have developed into in various branches, Blench believes that all of the families postulated as Nilo-Saharan belong together. He proposes the following tentative internal classification, with Songhai closest to Saharan, a relationship that had not previously been suggested:

{{clade
|1=[[Kunama languages|Kunama]]
|2=[[Berta languages|Berta]]
|4={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Koman languages|Koman]]
|2=[[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]]
}}
|3={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|2=[[Songhay languages|Songhay]]
}}
|2=[[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]]
|3={{clade
|1=[[Maban languages|Maban]]
|2=[[Fur languages|Fur]]
|3=[[Kadu languages|Kadu]]
|4=[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
|5=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]]
}}
}}
}}
}}

? [[Mimi of Decorse]]

===Blench 2015===
By 2015,<ref>Blench, Roger. 2015. [https://www.academia.edu/15754234/Was_there_a_now-vanished_branch_of_Nilo-Saharan_on_the_Dogon_Plateau_Evidence_from_substrate_vocabulary_in_Bangime_and_Dogon Was there a now-vanished branch of Nilo-Saharan on the Dogon Plateau? Evidence from substrate vocabulary in Bangime and Dogon] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190703200527/https://www.academia.edu/15754234/Was_there_a_now-vanished_branch_of_Nilo-Saharan_on_the_Dogon_Plateau_Evidence_from_substrate_vocabulary_in_Bangime_and_Dogon |date=2019-07-03 }}.

Available in: http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Isolates/MT%20XX%20Blench%20off%20print.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703170928/http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Isolates/MT%20XX%20Blench%20off%20print.pdf |date=2020-07-03 }}</ref> and again in 2017,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.academia.edu/28768228| title = Africa over the last 12,000 years| last1 = Blench| first1 = Roger| access-date = 2017-10-21| archive-date = 2022-04-09| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220409051204/https://www.academia.edu/28768228| url-status = live}}</ref> Blench had refined the subclassification of this model, linking Maban with Fur, Kadu with Eastern Sudanic, and Kuliak with the node that contained them, and added a tentative, extinct branch he names "Plateau" as to explain a possible Nilo-Saharan substrate in the Malian [[Dogon languages|Dogon]] and [[Bangime language|Bangime]] languages, for the following structure:

{{clade
|1=[[Berta languages|Berta]]
|3={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Koman languages|Koman]]
|2=[[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]]
}}
|2={{clade
|1=[[Kunama languages|Kunama]]
|2={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|2=[[Songhay languages|Songhay]]
}}
|2={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=Plateau †
}}
|label2=Central African
|2={{clade
|1=[[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]]
|2={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Maban languages|Maban]]
|2=[[Fur languages|Fur]]
}}
|2=[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
|3={{clade
|1=[[Kadu languages|Kadu]]
|2=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]]
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}

Blench (2021) concludes that Maban may be close to Eastern Sudanic.

===Starostin (2016)===
[[File:NiloSaharanStarostin.png|thumb|upright=2|Starostin's "Macro-Sudanic" in purple, surrounding language families shown as well]]
[[Georgiy Starostin]] (2016),<ref>George Starostin (2016) [https://www.academia.edu/21582071 ''The Nilo-Saharan hypothesis tested through lexicostatistics: current state of affairs''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405211555/https://www.academia.edu/21582071 |date=2023-04-05 }}</ref> using [[lexicostatistics]] based on Swadesh lists, is more inclusive than ''Glottolog'', and in addition finds probable and possible links between the families that will require reconstruction of the proto-languages for confirmation. Starostin also does not consider Greenberg's Nilo-Saharan to be a valid, coherent clade.

In addition to the families listed in ''Glottolog'' (previous section), Starostin considers the following to be established:

*[[Northern Eastern Sudanic languages|Northern "K" Eastern Sudanic]] or "NNT" (Nubian, Nara, and Tama; see below for Nyima)
*[[Southern Eastern Sudanic languages|Southern "N" Eastern Sudanic]] (Surmic, Temein, Jebel, Daju, Nilotic), though their exact relationships to each other remain obscure
*[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]] (including [[Birri language|Birri]] and [[Kresh languages|Kresh–Aja]], which may prove to be closest to each other)
*[[Koman languages|Koman]] (including Gule)

A relationship of [[Nyima languages|Nyima]] with Nubian, Nara, and Tama (NNT) is considered "highly likely" and close enough that proper comparative work should be able to demonstrate the connection if it's valid, though it would fall outside NNT proper (see [[Eastern Sudanic languages]]).

Other units that are "highly likely" to eventually prove to be valid families are:
*[[East Sudanic languages|East Sudanic]] as a whole
*Central Sudanic – Kadu (Central Sudanic + [[Kadu languages|Kadugli–Krongo]])
*Maba–Kunama ([[Maban languages|Maban]] + [[Kunama languages|Kunama]])
*[[Komuz languages|Komuz]] (Koman + Gumuz)

In summary, at this level of certainty, "Nilo-Saharan" constitutes ten distinct and separate language families: Eastern Sudanic, Central Sudanic – Kadu, Maba–Kunama, Komuz, Saharan, Songhai, Kuliak, Fur, Berta, and Shabo.

Possible further "deep" connections, which cannot be evaluated until the proper comparative work on the constituent branches has been completed, are:

*Eastern Sudanic + Fur + Berta
*Central Sudanic – Kadu + Maba–Kunama

There are faint suggestions that Eastern and Central Sudanic may be related (essentially the old Chari–Nile clade), though that possibility is "unexplorable under current conditions" and could be complicated if Niger–Congo were added to the comparison. Starostin finds no evidence that the Komuz, Kuliak, Saharan, Songhai, or Shabo languages are related to any of the other Nilo-Saharan languages. [[Mimi-D]] and [[Meroitic language|Meroitic]] were not considered, though Starostin had previously proposed that Mimi-D was also an isolate despite its slight similarity to Central Sudanic.

In a follow-up study published in 2017, Starostin reiterated his previous points as well as explicitly accepting a genetic relationship between Macro-East Sudanic and Macro-Central Sudanic. Starostin names this proposal "Macro-Sudanic". The classification is as follows.<ref>Starostin, Georgiy C. 2017. [https://www.academia.edu/40139133/%D0%AF%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%90%D1%84%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%9E%D0%BF%D1%8B%D1%82_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BC_III_%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE_%D1%81%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B8_Languages_of_Africa_A_New_Lexicostatistical_Classification_Vol_III_Nilo_Saharan_Languages_ Языки Африки. Опыт построения лексикостатистической классификации. Т. 3. Нило-сахарские языки] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806153431/https://www.academia.edu/40139133/%D0%AF%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%90%D1%84%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8_%D0%9E%D0%BF%D1%8B%D1%82_%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8_%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BC_III_%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE_%D1%81%D0%B0%D1%85%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B8_Languages_of_Africa_A_New_Lexicostatistical_Classification_Vol_III_Nilo_Saharan_Languages_ |date=2021-08-06 }} / Languages of Africa: an attempt at a lexicostatistical classification. Volume 3: Nilo-Saharan languages. Moscow: Издательский Дом ЯСК / LRC Press. 840 p. {{ISBN|978-5-9909114-9-9}}</ref>

{{tree list}}
* Macro-Sudanic
** Macro-Sudanic macrofamily
*** Macro-Central Sudanic family
**** [[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]] family
***** [[Sara-Bongo-Bagirmi]] (West-Central Sudanic branch)
***** [[Kresh languages|Kresh]]-[[Aja language (Nilo-Saharan)|Aja]]-[[Birri language|Birri]]
***** East-Central Sudanic branch
****** [[Mangbutu-Efe]]
****** [[Mangbetu-Asoa]]
****** [[Lendu-Ngiti]]
****** [[Moru-Madi]]
**** [[Krongo-Kadugli]] (Kadu) group
**** [[Maban languages|Maba]] group
*** Macro-Eastern Sudanic family
**** [[Eastern Sudanic]] family
***** [[Northeast Sudanic languages|Northeast Sudanic]] family
****** [[Nubian languages|Nubian]] group
****** [[Taman languages|Tama]] group
****** [[Nara language]]
****** Nyimang-Afitti Group
***** [[Southeast Sudanic languages|Southeast Sudanic]] family
****** [[Surmic languages]] (Southern Surmic + Northern Surmic / [[Majang language|Majang]] branches)
****** [[Nilotic languages]] (Western, Eastern, Southern branches)
****** [[Eastern Jebel languages|Jebel]] group
****** [[Temein languages|Temein]] group
****** [[Daju languages|Daju]] group
**** [[Berta language|Berta]] group
**** [[Fur languages|Fur-Amdang]] group
*** [[Kunama languages|Kunama-Ilit]] group
** Koman-Gumuz ("[[Komuz languages|Komuz]]") family
*** [[Koman languages|Koman]] family
**** "Narrow Koman" group
**** [[Gule language|Gule]] (Anej) language
*** [[Gumuz languages]] (group)
** [[Saharan languages|Saharan]] family
*** Western Saharan group (Kanuri-Kanembu + Teda-Dazaga)
*** Eastern Saharan group (Zaghawa + Berti)
** [[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]] group
** [[Songhay languages|Songhay]] group
** [[Shabo language]] (Mikeyir)
{{tree list/end}}

Starostin (2017) finds significant lexical similarities between Kadu and Central Sudanic, while some lexical similarities also shared by Central Sudanic with Fur-Amdang, Berta, and Eastern Sudanic to a lesser extent.

===Dimmendaal 2016, 2019===
[[Gerrit J. Dimmendaal]]<ref name=Dimmendaal2016>{{cite journal|first=Gerrit J.|last=Dimmendaal|title=On stable and unstable features in Nilo-Saharan|year=2016|journal=The University of Nairobi Journal of Language and Linguistics|url=https://www.academia.edu/28046112|access-date=2018-11-16|archive-date=2023-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620122059/https://www.academia.edu/28046112|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Gerrit Dimmendaal, Colleen Ahland, Angelika Jakobi & Constance Kutsch-Lojenga (2019) "Linguistic features and typologies in languages commonly referred to as 'Nilo-Saharan'", in Wolff, Ekkehard (ed.) ''Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics'', p.326-381.</ref> suggests the following subclassification of Nilo-Saharan:

{{clade
|label1=Nilo-Saharan
|1={{clade
|label1=Northeastern
|1={{clade
|1=[[Maban languages|Maban]]
|2={{clade
|1=[[Kunama languages|Kunama]]
|2=[[Fur languages|Fur]]
}}
|3={{clade
|1=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|2=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]] (including [[Berta languages|Berta]])
}}
|4=[[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]]
}}
|2=[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
}}
}}

Dimmendaal et al. consider the evidence for the inclusion of [[Kadu languages|Kadu]] and [[Songhay languages|Songhay]] too weak to draw any conclusions at present, whereas there is some evidence that [[Koman languages|Koman]] and [[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]] belong together and may be Nilo-Saharan.<ref>{{cite book|first=Gerrit J.|last=Dimmendaal|title=Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages|year=2011|publisher=John Benjamins|isbn=978-90-272-8722-9|page=313}}</ref>

The large Northeastern division is based on several typological markers:
* tolerance of complex [[syllable structure]]
* higher amount of both inflectional and derivational morphology, including the presence of [[case (linguistics)|cases]]
* verb-final (SOV or OSV) word order
* [[coverb]] + [[light verb]] constructions
* [[converb]]s

===Blench 2023===
By 2023,<ref>Blench, Roger. 2023. [https://www.academia.edu/104666399/In_defence_of_Nilo_Saharan_Saharan In defence of Nilo-Saharan].</ref> Blench had slightly revised the model for a deep primary split between Koman–Gumuz and the rest. Kunama and Berta are "provisionally" placed as the next to branch off, because they only partially share the features that unite the rest of the family. However, it is not clear if this is because they actually diverged early, or if they might have lost those features at a later date. For example, Berta shares plausible lexical cognates with the [[Eastern Jebel languages]] (East Sudanic) and its system of grammatical number "closely resembles" those of the [[East Sudanic languages]]; Kunama could be divergent "due to long-term interaction with [[Afroasiatic languages]]." Saharan–Songhay (especially Songhay) have seen substantial erosion of key characteristics, but this appears to be a secondary development and not evidence of early branching. "Core" Nilo-Saharan ("Central African" in Blench 2015) thus appears to be a typological rather than genetic grouping, though Maban is treated as a divergent branch of Eastern Sudanic; Kadu also seems to be quite close. The resulting structure is as follows:

{{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Koman languages|Koman]]
|2=[[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]]
}}
|2={{clade
|3=? [[Kunama languages|Kunama]]
|2=? [[Berta languages|Berta]]
|1={{clade
|1={{clade
|1=[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
|2=[[Songhay languages|Songhay]]
}}
|2=[[Fur languages|Fur]]
|3=[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]]
|4={{clade
|1=[[Kadu languages|Kadu]]
|2=[[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]]
|3={{clade
|1=[[Maban languages|Maban]]
|2=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]]
}}
}}
}}
}}
}}

Beyond the work of Colleen Ahland, Blench notes that the inclusion of Koman is buttressed by the work of Manuel Otero.<ref name=Otero/> The argument for Songhay is mostly lexical, especially the pronouns. Blench gives Greenberg credit for both East and Central Sudanic. Saharan and Songhay have some "striking" similarities in their lexicon, which Blench argues is genetic, though the absence of reliable proto-Sarahan and proto-Songhay reconstructions makes evaluation difficult.

===''Glottolog'' 4.0 (2019)===
In summarizing the literature to date, Hammarström et al. in ''[[Glottolog]]'' do not accept that the following families are demonstrably related with current research:

*[[Berta language|Berta]]
*[[Central Sudanic languages|Central Sudanic]] (excluding [[Kresh-Aja languages|Kresh–Aja]]; [[Birri language|Birri]] is also questionable as Central Sudanic)
*[[Daju languages|Daju]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')
*[[Eastern Jebel languages|Eastern Jebel]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')
*[[Fur languages|Furan]]
*[[Gule language|Gule]]
*[[Gumuz languages|Gumuz]]
*[[Kadugli-Krongo languages|Kadugli–Krongo]]
*[[Koman languages|Koman]] (excluding [[Gule language|Gule]])
*[[Kresh-Aja languages|Kresh–Aja]] (putatively ''Central Sudanic'')
*[[Kuliak languages|Kuliak]]
*[[Kunama language|Kunama]]
*[[Maban languages|Maban]] (including Mimi-N)
*[[Mimi-Gaudefroy language|Mimi-Gaudefroy]] (Mimi-D)
*[[Nara language|Nara]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')
*[[Nilotic languages|Nilotic]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')
*[[Nubian languages|Nubian]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')
*[[Nyima languages|Nyimang]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')
*[[Saharan languages|Saharan]]
*[[Songhai languages|Songhai]] 
*[[Surmic languages|Surmic]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')
*[[Taman languages|Tama]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')
*[[Temein languages|Temein]] (putatively ''East Sudanic'')