There is something wrong with african languages

We all know that some languages are ''weird'' to us. In my opinion English is a strange language. One of the reasons why I think this is because of the way English people use ''do''. You may say, ''don't do that.'' But you just said ''do'' twice. Why could you not just say ''do not that'', or ''don't that''? Other than that English is fine. Conclusion: other people's languages are weird to us because we didn't grow up with it.

But now look at African languages. When compared with the rest of the world they are uniform and possess a ''sameness'' which strikes me as robotic and stagnant. Let me demonstrate by showing you what Non-African looks like compared to African:

We will start with Asian languages. They are highly phonetically diverse. Some have CV syllable type only (Japanese), which means that for the most part they only allow syllables to end in a vowel, no consonant clusters. Others like Tibetan have lots and lots of consonants clusters and endings. See here:

Tibetan chants:

'GANG GI THUG JE DE WA CHHEN PÖI YING'

'KU SUM GO PHANG CHHOG KYANG KÄ CHIG LA'

'TSÖL DZÄ LA MA RIN CHHEN TA BÜI KU'

'DOR JE CHÄN ZHAB PÄ MOR CHHAG TSHÄL LO'

Notice ''DOR'', ''ZHAB'', ''TSHÄL'', ''CHIG'', and ''TSÖL''.

Tibetan words/phrases: Khedrand ming Gangyin? (What is your name), khye-rang yin-ji-kay gyab thub gi yo pe? (Can you speak English?), gyur-tog (change), thug-je (compassion), tson-pa (diligence), dru (boat), khor-sum (tricycle).

As you can see, Tibetan allows many types of syllables, just like English. It has many vowels, 8 to be exact (Standard Tibetan - Wikipedia).

Now let's take a look at the Mongolian language:

Modern Khalkha mongolian has 14 vowels. Here are a few mongolian sentences-

'bid-nij uulz-san ter sajhan zaluu-gaas c'

'Dorž bagš maan'

'ter hel-eh-güj-geer üün-ijg bic-sen šüü'

Mongolian allows words to end in the r sound and is syllabically diverse, like Tibetan. Korean, Khmer, and Cantonese are all the same way-

Khmer:

'mnoussa teangoasa kaetamk mean seripheap ning pheap smae knea knong setthi ning sechakdeithlaithnaur. mnoussa krobroub sotthote mean vichearonanhnhean ning satesambochonhnh haey trauv br pru td champoh knea towvinhtowmk knong smartei reaban knea chea bangobaaun.'

Korean (read Korean phonology - Wikipedia

'Modeun Ingan-eun Tae-eonal ttaebuteo Jayuroumyeo Geu Jon-eomgwa Gwonrie Iss-eo Dongdeunghada. Ingan-eun Cheonbujeog-euro Iseong-gwa Yangsim-eul Bu-yeobad-ass-eumyeo Seoro Hyungje-ae-ui Jeongsin-euro Haengdongha-yeo-yahanda.'

Cantonese:

'Yan6yan6 saang1cheut1 lai4 jau6hai6 ji6yau4 ge3, hai2 joon1yim4 toong4 koon4lei5 seuhng6 yat1leuht6 ping4dang2. Keuhi5dei6 geuhi6yau5 lei5sing3 toong4 leuhng4sam1, yi4che3 ying1goi1 yoong6 hing1dai6gaan1 ge3 gwaan1hai6 lai6 woo6seuhng1 deuhi3doi6.'

Now finally we can move on to African languages-

Virtually EVERY SINGLE african language has a 5-7 ''Italian'' vowel system of i, e, u, o, and a, with generally no consonant clusters allowed, and no closed syllables. Here is Zulu:

''Thina, bantu baseNingizimu Afrika,''
''Siyakukhumbula ukucekelwa phansi kwamalungelo okwenzeka eminyakeni eyadlula; ''
''Sibungaza labo abahluphekela ubulungiswa nenkululeko kulo mhlaba wethu; ''
''Sihlonipha labo abasebenzela ukwakha nokuthuthukisa izwe lethu; futhi ''
''Sikholelwa ekutheni iNingizimu Afrika ingeyabo bonke abahlala kuyo, sibumbene nakuba singafani.''

Notes: dl is not a consonant cluster, and nt is not considered one.

Swahili:

'Watu wote wamezaliwa huru, hadhi na haki zao ni sawa. Wote wamejaliwa akili na dhamiri, hivyo yapasa watendeane kindugu.'

Xhosa:

'Nkosi, sikelel' iAfrika;'
'Maluphakamis' uphondo lwayo;'
'Yiva imithandazo yethu'
'Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.'

Translation:

Lord, bless Africa;
May her horn rise high up;
Hear Thou our prayers
Lord, bless us, your family.

Kongo:

'Bantu nyonso, na mbutukulu kevwandaka na kimpwanza ya bawu, ngenda mpe baluve ya mutindu mosi. Mayela na mbanzulu je na bawu, ni yawu yina bafwana kusalasana na bumpangi.'

Tsonga:

'Vanhu hinkwavo va tswariwa va tshunxekile naswona va ringanile eka tifanelo na xindzhuti. Va havaxerile miehleketo na tshiriti kumbe ku tiva xo biha ni xta kahle nakambe va fanele va kombana moya wa vukwavo.'

Tswana:

'Batho botlhe ba tsetswe ba gololosegile le go lekalekana ka seriti le ditshwanelo. Ba abetswe go akanya le maikutlo, mme ba tshwanetse go direlana ka mowa wa bokaulengwe.'

Lingala:

'Bato nyonso na mbotama bazali nzomi pe bakokani na limemya pe makoki. Bazali na mayele pe base, geli kofanda na bondeko okati na bango.'

Venda:

'Vhathu vho?he vha bebwa vhe na mbofholowo nahone vha tshi lingana siani ?a tshirunzi na pfanelo. Vhathu vho?he vho ?ewa mihumbulo na mvalo ngauralo vha tea u konou farana sa vhathu vhathihi.'

Tshiluba:

'Bantu bonsu badi baledibwa badikadile ne badi ne makokeshi amwe. Badi ne lungenyi lwa bumuntu ne kondo ka moyo, badi ne bwa kwenzelangana malu mu buwetu.'

The few African languages that diverge from this annoying pattern are Fang, Wolof, and Ewe. Wolof considering its contact with European languages may not count.

Why couldn't African languages evolve beyond this pattern? And slang is even MORE primitive than this, if that's possible. I bet even Khoisan languages have more to offer than this. What do you think?

To find more things that make African languages weird, read one of the comments in this article, Differences Between Negroids and Other Races | Lumine Boreali

I know that some of you may look at Tibetan or Cantonese and scoff, because to you it's all "chig chog". But the fact is that there is greater diversity of phonotactics amoungst Sino-Tibetan languages and Mongloid languages in general than in the Niger-Congo family.

Compare Japanese to Mandarin and you will see. Does this look like "ching chong"?

"Subete no ningen wa, umarenagara ni ****e jiyu de ari, katsu, songen to kenri to ni tsuite byodo de aru. Ningen wa, risei to ryoshin to o sazukerarete ori, tagai ni doho no seishinn o motte kodo shinakereba naranai."

And you may say, "But Japanese looks like African language." That's where your wrong, many vowels are actually silent in Japanese.

African languages rarely have mute or lax vowels.

And what boggles my mind is that there is more diversity in the Sinitic family alone than in all Niger-Congo families combined.

The real prize however belongs to Ameridian families, who have so much differences even in closley related specimens. Look at Arapaho, Nuxalk, Kwatiutl, Blackfoot, Hopi, Quechua, Yucatec, Nahuatl etc. It's beautiful.