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In the classification of African languages, Volta-Congo is a major branch (in terms of number of languages) of the Niger-Congo phylum. Itself part of Atlantic-Congo, the Volta-Congo branch is divided in two major groupings: East and West. West Volta-Congo comprises Kru, the Gur and Adamawa-Ubangi subfamilies and probably Senufo (if not included in Gur). East Volta-Congo consists of the Kwa and Benue-Congo subfamilies, the latter of which includes the well-known and particularly numerous Bantu group.

Comparative linguistic research by John M. Stewart in the sixties and seventies has helped establish the genetic unity of Volta-Congo and shed light on its internal structure. The vowel systems of Volta-Congo languages have been the subject of much historical comparative linguistic debate. Casali (1995) defends the hypothesis that the proto-Volta-Congo language originally had a nine- or ten-vowel system employing vowel harmony and that this set has been reduced to a seven vowel-system in many Volta-Congo languages. The Ghana Togo Mountain languages are examples of languages where nine- or ten-vowel systems are still found.

Williamson and Blench (2000) note that in many cases it is difficult to draw clear lines between the respective subfamilies of Volta-Congo and suggest that this might indicate the diversification of a dialect continuum rather than a clear split of families. This has been suggested before by Bennet (1983 as cited in Williamson and Blench 2000:17) in the case of the Gur and Adamawa-Ubangi subfamilies.

• African languages
• Language families and languages

• Casali, Roderic F. (1995) 'On the Reduction of Vowel Systems in Volta-Congo', African Languages and Cultures, 8, 2, Dec, 109–121.
• Stewart, John M. (1976) Towards Volta-Congo reconstruction: a comparative study of some languages of Black-Africa. (Inaugural speech, Leiden University) Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden.
• Stewart, John M. (1985) 'Nasality patterns in the Volta-Congo foot.' Paper presented at the Colloquium on African Linguistics, Leiden, Sept. 1985.
• Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger-Congo', in Heine, Bernd and Nurse, Derek (eds) African Languages - An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, pp. 11–42.

v • d • e Niger-Congo-speaking nations

v • d • e Kordofanian  Sudan v • d • e Mande  Gambia  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau  Mali  Mauritania  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Liberia  Côte d'Ivoire  Nigeria  Burkina Faso  Benin  Togo v • d • e Atlantic-Congo Atlantic  Benin  Burkina Faso  Cameroon  CAR Ijoid  Nigeria  Chad  Côte d'Ivoire  Gambia  Guinea Dogon  Mali  Guinea-Bissau  Liberia  Mali  Mauritania  Niger  Senegal  Sierra Leone  Sudan  Togo v • d • e Volta-Congo Senufo  Benin  Côte d'Ivoire  Mali Gur  Benin  Burkina Faso  Côte d'Ivoire  Ghana  Mali  Nigeria  Togo Adamawa-Ubangi  Cameroon  CAR  Chad  Nigeria Kru  Burkina Faso  Côte d'Ivoire  Liberia Kwa  Benin  Côte d'Ivoire  Ghana  Nigeria  Togo v • d • e Benue-Congo Bantu  Angola  Botswana  Burundi  Cameroon  DRC Yoruba and Igbo  Nigeria  Rep. of the Congo  Equatorial Guinea  Gabon  Kenya  Nigeria  Malawi  Mozambique  Namibia  Rwanda  Somalia  South Africa  Swaziland  Tanzania  Uganda  Zambia  Zimbabwe CAR = Central African Republic    DRC = Democratic Republic of the Congo