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original division between the two branches as set up by Westermann and retained by
Greenberg. Second, there is some evidence that the two groups should be considered a
single branch under Volta-Congo, rather than two. I will examine these two points in
turn.
Greenberg includes within old Kwa several languages which are today no longer
considered to be a part of new Kwa: Kru [4a], Yoruba [4c], Nupe [4d], Bini [4e], Idoma
[4f], Igbo [4g], and Ijo [4h]. In Williamson’s (1989a) classification, Yoruba, Nupe, Bini,
Idoma, and Igbo have all been moved to (new) Benue-Congo, while, Kru and Ijo are now
considered neither (new) Kwa nor (new) Benue-Congo.
Williamson (1989a: 11) offers evidence for rejecting the old division between the
two groups. First, she claims that there are no single lexical items which occur in all of
the branches of old Benue-Congo and not in old Kwa. Greenberg (1970: 32) suggests that
the form *== == == == ‘child’ is an old Benue-Congo innovation, but Williamson claims that the
form should be *CM== CM== CM==, CM== and that variants of this form occur in Igbo and Yoruba.
Greenberg states, “Many other such innovations could be cited,” but unfortunately, he
does not provide them. Second, there are no noun class innovations which occur in all the
branches of old Benue-Congo which are unique to old Benue-Congo. Finally, Elugbe &
Williamson (1977) argue that a certain putative typological distinction, the predominance
of CV roots in Kwa, is invalid.
The accepted realignment of Kwa and Benue-Congo is based primarily on
Bennett & Sterk’s (1977) lexicostatistical study. In rejecting Greenberg’s Kwa/Benue-
Congo division, they note that the distinction between the two was originally on
typological grounds. That is, the (old) Kwa languages were said to have no or limited
concord systems, whereas the (old) Benue-Congo languages were said to have
functioning concord systems. However, Bennett & Sterk claim that in reality the
languages form a typological continuum from one extreme to the other rather than a
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