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E sign on word refers to the ability to electronically sign Word documents using platforms like airSlate SignNow. This process enables users to upload their Word files, add signature fields, and send them for signatures seamlessly. With e sign on word, you can streamline document approval processes while ensuring legal compliance.

The cost of using the e sign on word feature with airSlate SignNow varies depending on the subscription plan you choose. We offer several pricing tiers to fit different business needs, starting from a cost-effective option for small businesses to comprehensive plans for larger organizations. Visit our pricing page to find the best plan for your requirements.

Using e sign on word provides multiple benefits, including faster document turnaround times and reduced printing costs. This digital solution allows you to sign documents anywhere and anytime, enhancing productivity and organizational efficiency. Additionally, it ensures that all signatures are secure and legally binding.

Yes, airSlate SignNow supports integrations with various applications and platforms, allowing you to easily e sign on word. Whether you use CRM systems or cloud storage solutions, you can streamline your workflow by connecting with your favorite tools. Check our integration page for a list of supported applications.

Absolutely! E sign on word signatures created with airSlate SignNow are legally binding in accordance with e-signature laws such as the ESIGN and UETA acts. This means you can utilize e sign on word with confidence, knowing that your agreements are enforceable and secure.

airSlate SignNow utilizes advanced encryption and security protocols to protect your documents when you e sign on word. Each document is stored securely, and you have the option to set access permissions and authentication methods for added protection. Your sensitive information remains safe throughout the signing process.

You can e sign on word for a diverse range of documents, including contracts, agreements, and forms. Whether your file is a business proposal or a simple consent form, airSlate SignNow makes it easy to electronically sign Word documents quickly and effectively. Simply upload your file and start signing within minutes.

Working with Chief Minster of a State, especially as a Principal Secretary can be very challenging. However it is a great opportunity to get involved in overall administration and overall well-being of the state. If a CM is beginning a new term of office after elections there is lot more enthusiasm and lot more action.Post election first important thing is to look at the election manifesto of the ruling party to which the CM belongs. The assurances given in the manifesto in simple words now need to be translated into action, into implementable socially useful and viable schemes and programmes. Implementing the party manifesto gets the top most priority as the credibility of the CM depends on if he or she was able to fulfill the poll promises. Adequate financial resources have to be identified and than channelised towards these programmes and schemes.Hence a series of meetings need to be held with the heads of concerned departments and finance secretary to discuss the nitty gritty of the schemes and implementation time frame.Next will be to get the budget approved for what needs to be done. Hence the budget session of the state assembly becomes the most important legislative activity of the year. The Governors inaugural speech is actually prepared by Finance Secretary, Chief Secretary and the Secretary to CM. Similarly, the budget speech of Finance Minister is also prepared by them collectively.Once the annual budget and schemes of the various departments are announced. The Secretary to CM is constantly watching the implementation of these schemes and programmes. His attention is especially focussed on the announcements made by the CM on the floor of the assembly and monitors these on monthly basis.Most of the states have a Chief Minister’s grievance cell where public petitions are received. He also oversees the proper disposal of the public complaints and requests.He accompanies CM for all public functions and vets all the speeches.He accompanies CM for all important meetings with PM, President, at Planning Commission , any national or International conference or meeting etc.He is present and assisting CM when important Indian or foreign delegates, ambassadors, industrialists, investors, sportsmen, artists are calling on CM.He assists CM in all important decision making and signing the files.I was principal secretary to Dr. J. Jayalalithaa when she started her fresh term in office in 2001. Our focus, at that time was on increasing the revenue of the State, Rainwater Harvesting to augment the water shortage in the state, legislating on preventing sex selective abortions, setting up All Women’s Police Station through out the state, preventing female infanticide, addressing Women’s poverty by strengthening Self Help Groups of Women establishing an effective CM’s grievance Cell etc.I have written about my time and experiences in CM’s office in my new autobiographical book titled ‘My Beautiful journey from Kashmir to Kanyakumari which is now available as E Book on Amazon/kindle at the link below. You can download it to know more.Kashmir to Kanyakumari eBook: Dr. C. K. Gariyali: Amazon.in: Kindle Store

My son amazed me today…and not for the better.I received a phone call from the school today asking me to pick up my son.When I arrived, I had a very unpleasant discussion with the dean about how my son organized a “fascist uprising” at his school.Apparently, my son has a physics teacher who allows her students to eat lunch in her classroom while they complete any missing work they have to hand in.My son—being the busy and disorganized boy that he is—was in that classroom during lunch very often.One day, he and a couple of other hooligans were working on a class project together at lunch when they decided to take a break. What did they do during this break time? Well, what any normal teenagers would do…write a political manifesto.So they take one of those mini white boards lying around the classroom and begin writing their manifesto. Now for privacy reasons, let’s assume that my son and I live in an imaginary town called Terrytown (our town also has the word “town” at the end—just a different prefix).Now the way the school system works in our district is that the Terry School District begins with many different elementary schools, then these elementary school students blend into a few larger middle schools, and these larger middle schools blend into one giant high school.Terrytown High SchoolThe majority of the students at the school live in Terrytown, but there is one other location where students come from called Terry Plains.So my son and his idiot friends begin writing this manifesto which (according to my son) was meant to mock Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.You see, for those of you that don’t know, the word “Nazi” is an abbreviation for the NSDAP, which standed for “Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei” or the “National Socialist German Workers Party”.So to mock them, my son and his idiot friends begin writing their manifesto on the mini-whiteboard, titling it “The Townist Socialist Party of Terrytown”.Now you would think that a far-right activist would begin writing racist things about illegal immigrants, or Jews, or African-Americans or something like that…no…no…no.My son and his idiot friends write this manifesto as an emulation of Mein Kampf, except instead of having the antagonist be the Jews, they make the antagonists the kids from Terry Plains. They wrote about how Terrytown High School students lack the honor in their distinction, and that only kids who were born within Terrytown should be allowed to attend the high school…meaning the Terry Plains kids have to go.The manifesto began to go in-depth about more garbage regarding how they were going to get rid of the Terry Plains kids. First, they were gonna make all of them wear a patch on their shirt which said “Terry Plains”. Second, they were gonna confiscate their lockers and school issued computers. And lastly, they were gonna round them all up on the school buses and “deport” them to the former middle schools which they attended in Terry Plains.I was always a bit of an edgelord myself, so I suppose I could understand the joke. But my son and his idiot friends were dumb enough to write this manifesto and to not erase it!The physics teacher (who according to my son was an “SJW”) ended up finding the manifesto. Horrified, she immediately turned it over to the Dean of Students at Terrytown High School.The problem with my son is that similarly to me, he can let a joke carry him away. So he and his idiot friends actually began recruiting people to his non-existent political party. His school uses an online based server called Google Drive which allows students to share documents amongst themselves, and my son made a document which had the list of over 100 people who decided to join his political party as a joke.Now I can only imagine how awkward of a conversation it was for my son when he had to explain to his Dean of Students that he wasn’t actually a fascist, and that he didn’t actually intend to deport the Terry Plains kids because they were municipally inferior—or something like that?Am I proud of it? No.Am I amazed by it? Believe it.

In a word: Yep!Thanks to the E-SIGN Act, documents signed electronically have the same legal protections as those signed with a physical pen! As long as your eSignature solution is committed to strong legality and your NDA is drafted by a professional, you absolutely can trust NDAs that are created, signed, and stored online.There are a few options out there. The rest of these examples are using signNow’s service. You can even create one now with a free signNow account.Here’s how to set up the NDA:Step 1: Acquire an NDA TemplateYou can find NDA templates online, but I would recommend seeking out a legal professional to create one that’s right for your needs.Step 2. Upload the Template, Add SignersAfter signing in to your signNow account, you’ll see the "Who needs to sign?" menu. For a confidentiality agreement, you’ll probably want to choose between “Me & others” or “Just others.” After selecting one, you’ll be able to drag and drop, choose “Add File,” or use any of our integrations to upload your non-disclosure agreement.Now you can add signers, loop in other parties via our CC feature, and assign a signer order if needed. Select “Prepare doc for signing” to move on to the really cool part!Step 3. Format the NDA and Fill in Your InformationWith the NDA you imported pulled up in front of you, click any of the fields across the top of the page and drag it to where you want to place it in the document. Most of the fields have advanced features and some even let you add a validation type (email address, numbers only, etc.) to help guide signers and reduce errors. Take some time to click around to get your NDA dialed in.Once you get your formatting just right, hit Continue at the top of the page. Back on the “Get your document signed” page, you’ll add a title, an optional message, and send your online NDA out for signatures!Step 4. Sign Your NDA Online (Legally and Securely!)If you’re one of the signers, a prompt to sign the non-disclosure agreement will hit your (and other signers’) email inbox as soon as you send it out for signatures. Just click the “Review & Sign” button in the email to continue.We provide a variety of ways to create your electronic signature:Draw your signature on a touch screen using your finger or a stylusUpload a photo of your signatureType in your signature and customize from a selection of fontTake a picture of your signature using your smartphone’s camerasignNow will automatically prompt each signer to complete all their required fields. Once you’ve filled out your portion of the NDA, all you have to do is agree to one last legality measure and your job is done!Step 5. Access Your Online NDA Any TimeTo check the status, edit, or even download a hard copy of your confidentiality agreement; just visit the Documents section of your signNow dashboard any time.

One of the primary advantages for referencing a standard ToS in a short contract is that it makes it easier to set the line between what terms are negotiable and what terms are non-negotiable.  You will often see pricing terms in the short agreement because these are individually negotiated and the usual legal jargon (scope of license, restrictions on use, limitation of liability, etc...) will be in the ToS.  You want to discourage negotiation of the legal terms.  You often see the ToS attached as a PDF file with smaller print and in dual columns.If you're dealing with a large enterprise customer or a high TCV, separating the ToS into a separate document won't discourage them from negotiating ToS.  It is a pretty good strategy for smaller and mid-sized companies though.  Also, it simplifies the sales process because in many smaller and mid-sized firms the individual with purchasing authority will feel comfortable signing a short agreement without a full legal review.It's also a good practice in terms of contract management if you often negotiate one or two aspects of the standard ToS.  The short agreement in that case would reference the ToS and identify which terms are superseded by the agreement.  It is much easier to keep track of small deviations this way than marking up a 20 page document.On your second point, version control is important.  Your standard ToS should say you can update the ToS at any time.  However, you may end up having to remove that provision, in which case you want to know exactly which version has been agreed to.  Also, having the customer sign a short contract with a ToS is usually not a substitute for also having a click-thru ToS that a user must accept on registration.  You want to track which version of the ToS was accepted at the time of registration.

As a startup founder of three years myself, I can relate to how legal housekeeping can be messy. Once a year, I have our own lawyers go through and do an audit of all of our legal paperwork (which costs a couple thousand dollars to be extremely thorough, but it’s worth it). Luckily, there are now many ways to easily manage and track all of your legal, financial, and HR documents via third-party sites that specialize in these management proceedings. I wrote a blog post about this awhile back titled “5 Ways to Save Time Dealing With Documents” which highlights certain sites that can be very beneficial depending on what paperwork you’d like to track or manage. They are as follows:1. GroupDocsGroupDocs is a new, comprehensive online service for document creation and management. It has multiple features, including a viewer for reading documents in your browser, an electronic signature service, an online document converter, a document assembly service, a feature for comparing different versions of a document, and an annotation feature. An individual plan is $10 per month for limited storage and 500 documents, while a group plan for up to 9 people is $19 per user per month. Based on the number of features and pricing, GroupDoc is a good-value purchase for a small business. As you’ll see below, GroupDocs can be cheaper than a service that offers only one such feature.2. signNowWhen you’re closing a deal and need to get documents signed, the last thing you need is a slow turnaround due to fax machine problems or the postal service. The solution is to use an electronic signature service such as signNow, which is one of the most popular e-signature companies in the world. This service allows you to email your documents to the person whose signature you need. Next, the recipient undergoes a simply e-signing process, and then signNow alerts you when the process is completed. Finally, signNow electronically stores the documents, which are accessible at any time. As a result, you can easily track the progress of the signature process and create an audit trail of your documents. The “Professional” plan is recommended for sole proprietors and freelancers, and costs $180 per year ($15 per month) for up to 50 requested signatures per month. The “Workgroup” plan is geared towards teams and businesses, and it costs $240 per user per year ($20 per month per user), for unlimited requested signatures.3. signNowsignNow is another e-signature service. Similar to signNow, signNow allows you to upload a PDF file, MS Word file or web application document. Next, you can edit the document, such as by adding initials boxes or tabs, and then email them out for signatures. Once recipients e-sign the document, signNow notifies you and archives the document. signNow offers low rates for these services: a 1-person annual plan with unlimited document sending costs $11 per month. An annual plan for 10 senders with unlimited document sending costs only $39 per month.4. ExariExari is a document assembly and contract management service that assists in automating high-volume business documents, such as sales agreements or NDAs. First, the document assembly service allows authors to create automated document templates. No technical knowledge is required; most authors are business analysts and lawyers. Authors have a variety of options for customizing documents, such as fill-in-the-blank fields, optional clauses, and dynamic updating of topic headings. They also can add questions that the end user must answer. Once you send out the document, the user answers the questionnaire, and Exari uses that data to customize the document. Next, the contract management feature allows you to store and track both the templates and the signed documents. Pricing is based on the size and scope of your planned implementation, so visit their website for more information.5. FillanyPDFIt’s a hassle having to print out PDF forms in order to complete them. Fortunately, FillanyPDF is a service that allows you to edit, fill out and send any PDFs, while entirely online. This “Fill & Sign” plan costs $5 per month, or $50 per year. If you subscribe to the “Professional” plan, you can also create fillable PDFs using your own documents. With this service, any PDF, JPG or GIF file becomes fillable when you upload it to the site. You can modify a form using white-out, redaction and drawing tools. Then, you can email a link to your users, who can fill out and e-sign your form on the website. FillanyPDF also allows you to track who filled out your forms, and no downloads are necessary to access these services.  The “Professional” plan costs $49 per month, or $490 per year.Switching firms can be a hassle. As a former startup attorney, I have a bit of advice about finding the right attorney for your business: it’s best to focus on the specific attorney you’ll be working with. He or she should have a solid understanding of the ins and outs of your business industry, a deep knowledge of the legal issues your startup may face, and previous work experience with startups to ensure a quality and efficient work product. This is absolutely key when matching our startup clients at UpCounsel to attorneys on our platform who can perform their legal work and hash out their legal projects in a timely manner. We also allow clients to store any and all of their legal documents directly on UpCounsel so they don’t have to go searching in alternative places for the correct paperwork. It’s proven to be a free and lightweight way to store legal documents that our clients love. Here's what it looks like:As I’ve mentioned, it’s more important to find the right attorney as opposed to the right law firm. And seeing as you’re a startup, our own startup clients typically save an average of 50-60% on their legal work, since the attorneys don't include overhead fees (a.k.a. the fees included for doing business with the firm itself) in their invoices.Hope this gives you a deeper look into what other sites and services are out there. If you have any questions or would like more information on how best to handle your legal housekeeping/ attorney matters, feel free to signNow out to me directly. As a former startup attorney at Latham & Watkins, I’d be happy to give you some guidance.

So far 'Import-Export' model has been worked really well for many people.Here are few examples..(Note: As I am from India, my answer might look like India specific. However, you can implement it anywhere with little or no variation I guess.)Luxurious looking watches in China cost $4-$5/piece. In India, you can easily sell it at $10-$15/piece. (People would happily pay).If you buy 1000 watches from China, it would cost you $5000 (3,00,000 Rs.), & sell it at above described price, you will make nearly ~ $14,000 (8,40,000 Rs.). Profit = 5,40,000 Rs. ($9000) - Some Custom Duty.I live in Surat, Gujarat (India). You will easily get raw cotton fabric at a rate of Rs. 30 ($0.5) per meter from Surat Textile Market. If you somehow export it to Dubai, you will get Rs. 170 per meter ($2.85). If you buy 10,000 meters from Surat Textile Market, it would cost you $5000 (300,000 Rs.) & sell it at above described price, you will make nearly ~28300$ (17,00,000 Rs.)Profit = 14,00,000 Rs. ($22700) - Some Custom Duty.On a side note, I know one guy from Surat Textile Market who has implemented this model & makes sky rocketing high profit of around $133,333 (80,00,000 Rs.) daily. He imports millions of meters daily. He is having hummer in Dubai. ;)Buy non-branded earphones at very cheap price. Sell it on e-commerce sites with good margin. One of my friend is currently doing this. He buys earphones at just 40 Rs. ($0.67) per piece & sells at 250 Rs. ($4.16) per piece on various sites.If you buy 500 piece, it would cost you 20,000 Rs ($333) & sell it at above mentioned price, you will make 1,25,000 Rs. ($2083).Profit = 1,05,000 Rs. ($1750).Mangoes cost $5 per 10 pieces in Gujarat (Gir/Junagadh). In USA (New Jersey), it costs $35 per 10 piece. If you buy 10,000 pieces from Gir, Gujarat, it would cost you $50,00 (3,00,000 INR) & sell it at above mentioned price, you will make nearly ~$35,000 (21,00,000 INR).Profit = 18,00,000 Rs. ($30000) - Some Custom Duty.If you go to Dakor, which is one of the very famous pilgrimage place located in Gujarat (India), you will find musical instruments at very low price. There are street markets where plethora of various kinds of instruments (Drums, Mouth Organs, Flutes, Guitars etc) are being sold. One Guitar will cost you around just 2500 Rs. ($41.67) Now when you go to some shop at mall with awesome interior and lighting, that same Guitar would cost you around 10,000 Rs. I have personal experience with this when I wanted to gift Guitar to my brother on his birthday, at every other shop it was around 9000-10000 Rs. Eventually I came to know about Dakor, I bought one for 3200 Rs. from there. If you buy 1000 guitars from Dakor, it would cost you around 25,00,000 Rs. ($41,667) & sell it at above mentioned price, you will make nearly 90,00,000 Rs. ($150,000).Profit = 65,00,000 Rs. ($108,334) - Some Transportation CostWell, if you don't want to go outside from India, given the addiction of us Indian people for tea, business of tea can be the best one if done smartly.Wholesale price of tea in Assam, India is Rs. 90 per kg ($1.5). Here in Gujarat, it costs around Rs. 190 per kg ($3.17).If you buy 10 ton (10000 kg.), it would cost you Rs. 9,00,000 ($15000) & sell it at above mentioned price, you will make nearly ~Rs. 19,00,000 ($31600).Profit = Rs. 10,00,000 ($16667) - Some Transportation Cost.& many more...However it isn't as easy as it seems. It involves lots of hurdle & hustle. But business is not a business if there is no hustling.

I’ve been through the process of self-publishing on Kindle and learnt a few things. Now, I can share my tips, so you don’t make the same mistakes! I’m a commercially published author now, but I understand the frustrations of trying to break into conventional publishing, because it took me ten years to get my big break. [ http://graemeshimmin.com/a-kill-in-the-morning-shortlisted-for-terry-prachett-prize/ ] Before I got my publishing deal, I self-published a short story called Veronika, [ http://graemeshimmin.com/veronika-short-story/ ]using Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) with modest success – it has been in the Amazon top 50. Self publishing does have the advantage of getting your work out there, which can lead to attracting attention and sales. Why Self Publish on Kindle? Amazon’s two main competitors, Apple and Barnes & Noble, both claim to have gained a 20+% market share of the eBook market, leaving Amazon with something like 60%. But surveys of self-published authors have shown that Amazon’s share of self-published eBook sales is much higher – more like 80-85%. Whether the true figure is 60% or as high as 85%, Amazon is the biggest market by a long way, and KDP makes the process of self publishing on Kindle relatively easy. Self publish on Kindle: Step 1 – Your Book First you’ll need to sign up for KDP. Then you start by clicking Add a Title. The important options to fill in are: 1. Book name 2. Description (up to 4,000 characters – use it to sell your book to the reader) 3. Book contributors (you as the author) 4. Categories (whichever genres you are writing in) 5. Search keywords (up to 7, add the themes of the novel, don’t duplicate the categories) These other items can just be left blank/default: Subtitle, Series, Edition Number, Publisher, Language,Publication Date, ISBN. Verify Your Publishing Rights As you are self-publishing your own work, and so you have copyright, select This is not a public domain work and I hold the necessary publishing rights. Convert your book to Kindle format KDP accepts three main formats: * Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) * Ebook Formats (Html, Mobi, Epub) * signNow PDF It is possible to send Microsoft Word and signNow PDF documents direct to KDP, but the formatting is far from ideal if you do. If you want a really professional looking book then you should convert your book to Kindle’s HTML format yourself before uploading. I found the easiest solution was to convert the formatted manuscript [ http://graemeshimmin.com/manuscript-format-for-novel-submission/ ]into Kindle specific html. How to do this will be the subject of a separate answer. But, as we’re doing things the easy way for now, I suggest you just upload the manuscript and let Amazon reformat it for Kindle. Use Kindle Previewer If you have created an HTML format file then you can use Kindle Previewer, a downloadable Kindle emulator, to check how your book will look on various types of Kindle . What I found was that without careful tweaking, my book looked good on one type of Kindle but not on others. Kindle Previewer allows you to quickly switch between Kindle versions and see how the book will look on each type. Upload Your Book File Once you’re happy with the format, you can upload the file to KDP. The only option is Digital Rights Management. This is your choice. Choose Enable if you want to make it harder for people to copy your book, or Do Not Enable if you prefer to make your book available without restrictions. After you’ve uploaded, there’s an online previewer to check the text still looks right. Self publish on Kindle: Step 2 – Cover Photo There are two options, design your own cover or use the template-based Cover Creator. I recommend designing your own cover. The book cover is critical to attracting readers and a template based design is less likely to stand out from the crowd. The picture at the top shows what the cover I designed for Veronika looks like on the Kindle. Designing your own cover doesn’t have to be difficult. At the simplest, it’s just a question of finding a photo, making it the right size and adding the book’s title and your name to it. Find a Cover Photo There are two options: use an original photo or artwork of your own or download one from an image library. The cheapest and easiest option is to use your own photo. Make the Cover Photo the Right Size and Add the Title You’ll need some image editing software to make the cover the right size and to add the title and your name as the author. The free and easy to use image editing programs I recommend are iPiccy and Pixlr. Use the image editor to crop the photo so it is 1,563 x 2,500 pixels, as in the diagram below: The cover should also be in colour, despite the fact the most common Kindles only display black and white. This is because the Kindle Fire and the Kindle app on iPhone, Windows etc. can display colour. Both iPiccy and Pixlr have a variety of free to use fonts. Experiment with a few different ones until you find one you like. Upload the Cover This is simply a matter of clicking Browse for Image… selecting the cover you’ve designed and then clicking Upload Image. Design a cover using the Cover Creator Alternatively, if you just want a simple cover, use the Cover Creator. Step 3 – Rights and Pricing Verify Your Publishing Territories Select Worldwide rights – all territories. Your book will then appear on all the different Amazon sites around the world. Choose Your Royalty I suggest you set your price so that you receive the 70% Royalty – which means a minimum of $2.99 / £1.49 after that it’s up to you. You can set prices worldwide automatically, based on the US price, or customise your prices for different territories. It might be worth setting prices manually to exploit psychological price points like £1.99. Self publish on Kindle: Final Step – Publish! Now just click Save and Publish. That’s it. In a couple of hours your book will be on all the Amazon stores around the world. See – I told you it was easy! More Details There are more details, including links to all the tools mentioned, on my website at How to Self Publish on Kindle in Three Easy Steps [ http://graemeshimmin.com/self-publish-on-kindle/ ]

They’re languages that descend from the hypothetical Proto-Niger-Congo language. There’s no comprehensive reconstruction of that proto-language yet, or possibly ever, beyond a few dozen reconstructions (some of which are shaky) of a few words, but, based on the deep similarities these languages share, the majority of these are unquestionably related.Above: Traditional Map of the family.[1]The Urheimat isn’t set in stone yet, but West Africa is now largely considered the region of origin, and there are candidates. Several believe that 10–12,000 years ago, it possibly centered around what is today Southern and Central Mali around the inland Niger-Delta, and possibly the Guinean Highlands as well.[2]Overall, there’s a great deal of internal diversity within the family, so the overall differences are signNowly greater than what is seen within, for example, Indo-European when comparing subfamilies. For the Benue-Congo branch, the family to which all Bantu languages belong, it is estimated to be 5,500-6,000 years old at least,[3][4][5] which is about the approximate age of Indo-European. Consequently, the lexical similarities between the major branches (e.g., Benue-Congo, Kwa, Gur, etc) is frequently between or below 15-20%.[6]For most constituent languages, they mainly follow an SVO constituent word order, as you’ll see below, though with some degree of variation within languages.They are also overwhelmingly tonal languages [see example here], tending to use rising and falling tones. Though, some, particularly Kru languages, use more complex sets of tones.[7] There are notable exceptions, though, such as Swahili, Wolof, and the Fula language varieties, which do not employ tone. Concerning the tonality, this feature is most easily identifiable in homophones. A common one is in Igbo, in which the word “akwa” can have varying meanings depending on the tone: [8]Àkwà → “Bed”Ákwà → “Cloth”Àkwá → “Egg”Ákwá → “Cry”However, these tones are, more often than not, not written, even in more prominent Niger-Congo languages.[9] A common justification is ease in writing.A large portion of Niger-Congo languages are also notable for making heavy use of verbal extensions, some of which many linguists believe are reconstructable to the proto-level. [10][11][12]Igbo verbal extensions examples with the verb “ga” (“go”): [13]-la = perfectiveỌ ga-la ahịa → “s/he has gone to the market (but hasn’t come back yet).”-a = completiveỌ ga-a-la ahịa → “s/he has gone to the market (and come back).”-wa = incipientGa→ “go”Ga-wa → “Get going!”Krahn language verbal extension example with the verb “dbà” (“kill”): [14]-ɛ = applicativedbà-ɛ ‘kill for’-ɛs = instrumentaldbà-ɛs ‘kill with’Additionally, in general, most range from fairly to very agglutinative. So, for example, with the Yao language in Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania, one can have this kind of conjugation for the verb “taam-” (“sit”): [15][16]taam-a (“sit”)taam-ik-a (“seat”)taam-ik-ula (“unseat”)taam-ik-ul-igw-a (“to be unseated”)taam-ik-ul-igw-aasy-a (“cause to be unseated”)taam-uk-ul-igw-aasy-an-il-a (“cause each other to be unseated for/at”)The same can be seen in more distantly related languages, like Fula: [17]’o-maɓɓ-ii yolnde (‘s/he shut the door’)’o-maɓɓ-it-ii yolnde (‘s/he opened the door’)’o-maɓɓ-it-id-ii jolɖe fuu (‘s/he opened all the doors’)However, there are certainly languages that have analytical structures, such as the Akan language varieties, with some even becoming highly isolating, such as Yoruba and Ewe.Above: Analytic structure in Yoruba. [18]Also, save for the controversial members of the family (Mande,[19] Ijoid,[20] Dogon,[21] etc), they all either make thorough use of a noun-class system (sometimes even with agreement) or show definitive signs of having used one in the past (i.e., there are traces that remain). One can see an example of this in the Godié language of the Ivory Coast or Swahili:Above: Godié language noun classes (noun classes agreement included). [22]ɔ = human singular markerɜ and ʊ = non-human singular markers…………………………………………………………………..Above: Swahili Noun Class Marking (agreement included). [23]Another notable thing about these languages is that there’s generally no distinction between he, she, and it (also him, her, and it). Also, concerning noun phrases, grammatical modifiers typically follow the noun in these languages. This includes adjectives, determiners, numbers, etc.There are examples in Yoruba:House = IléMy house → Ilé miYour house → Ilé rẹThree houses→ Awọn ilé mẹ̀taAwọn = PluralizerThat house → Ilé yẹnThat very house → Ilé náàBig house → Ilé ńláAdditionally, these languages have a strong preference for open syllables and seldom allow for consonant clusters. The degree to which these languages abide by this preference depends on the language. Some, like Ibibio and Fulani are often replete with words that have closed syllables (e.g., Ibibio “kiet (“one”),” Fula “Pulaar” ([Western] Fula language) while others, like Swahili, are almost exclusively made up of open syllables, with words ending exclusively with open syllables (e.g., mfalme (“king”), rafiki (“friend”), mimi (“I, me”).Otherwise, these languages do tend to allow co-articulated consonants, like kw (IPA: kʷ) , gw (IPA: gʷ), and sometimes consonant clusters like kl, bl, and br, as is seen in the Ewe words “gbɔgblo” (“warm”) and “gli” (“story”).[24]Niger-Congo languages also have a tendency to use prenasalized consonants. So, for example, there are words like Swahili:ndege (“bird/airplane”) | (IPA: ⁿɗɛɠɛ)mvinyo (“wine”) | (IPA: ᶬvi.ɲo / ᶬvi.n̠ʲo)nzuri (“good”) | (IPA: ⁿzu.ri)Or Fula: [25]mbaal-u (“sheep”) | (IPA: ᵐbaal.u)mbom-ri (“girl”) | (IPA: ᵐbom.ɾi)Sometimes, the pre-nasalization can be a noun class marker. So, “mtu” is part of a noun class marking humans, which is why it begins with “m-.” Sometimes, the prenasalized consonant can even be realized with tone, like, like in “ńlá” (great/big) in Yoruba.Labial-velar consonants (e.g., kp and gb) are also quite common in Niger-Congo languages. Most Bantu languages do not feature this, but they are very, very common in West and some Central African Niger-Congo languages, and occur in controversial branches, like Ubangian and Ijoid.For example:Edo language (Volta-Niger | Edoid)sòkpán (“but”) — (IPA: sòk͡pán) [26]Fon language (Volta-Niger | Gbe)Fongbe (“Fon language”) — (IPA: fɔ̃́ɡ͡bè) [27]Dangme language (Kwa | Ga-Adangme)gbà (“prophecy”) — (IPA: ɡ͡bà) [28]Mono language (Ubangian | Central Banda)gbogbo (“strength”) — (IPA: ɡ͡bɔɡ͡bɔ) [29]These are very rare outside of Africa, only regularly appearing in some languages in Southeast Asia and Melanesia. Otherwise, it also appears in the Saramaccan language in Suriname.[30]Serial verbs also appear in many Niger-Congo languages. This means two or more verbs are put together in a clause without a morpheme with the meaning of, say, “to” or “and.”Above: Example of Serial Verb Construction from the Isu language from Cameroon. [31]Above: Serial Verb Construction Example from the Edo language from Nigeria.[32]There’s some disagreement amongst linguists concerning some of the constituent languages. As stated previously, such groups as Ijoid, Dogon, Mande, and also Ubangian, which have traditionally been classed as constituent languages, have faced criticism regarding their inclusion in the family.[33]Particularly for the first three, they are lexically distant from other branches and each other, feature SOV word orders, show little to no definitive signs of ever using noun class systems, and either don’t use verb extensions, or do use them but with limited range, many of which may be newer developments.Above: Bambara language (Mande) example of the SOV word order | PM = predicative marker. [34]Above: Proposed Reworking of African language families according to linguist Gerrit J. Dimmendaal (2017). [35]Overall, their internal classification is also still being worked out to some extent. “Kordofanian,” which was traditionally regarded as a major subgroup, now appears to be, at best, an areal grouping of deeply diverged Niger-Congo languages that occupy the same land, with some linguists seeing their inclusion as ostensible. The same goes for the “Atlantic.” This family has a surprisingly low intrafamilial lexical similarity. [36][37] [38]Then, for Benue-Congo, at least one prominent linguist has deemed the West-Benue Congo family as a unit with the Gbe languages, that is wholly distinct family called Volta-Niger, with Benue-Congo now only being made up of what’s now made up of the East Benue-Congo family. Then, within Benue-Congo, there are the Bantoid languages, of which Bantu languages are part. While Bantu is, as of yet, a rather secure sub-family with quite clear divisions, Bantoid is another story. Many have even noted that there is yet to be a clear distinction between Bantu and some Bantoid languages.[39][40][41] [42]Overall, Niger-Congo languages are a very large family, but linguists haven’t come to a firm conclusion on what its internal order looks like. So, there is a lot that needs to be worked through.Update:If you would like to get a more comprehensive understanding of where the homeland likely is, here’s my answer addressing that:Kelechi Wachuku's answer to Where is the homeland of the Niger-Congo languages?Footnotes[1] Niger–Congo languages - Wikipedia[2] https://monoskop.org/images/e/e8...[3] News from the past: Progress in African archaeobotany[4] http://www.rogerblench.info/Arch...[5] http://www.oapen.org/download/?t...[6] History and the Testimony of Language[7] On the underlying representation of contour tones in Wobe[8] Igbo-English, English-Igbo Dictionary and Phrasebook[9] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org...[10] Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages[11] https://www.researchgate.net/pub...[12] The Oxford Handbook of Derivational Morphology[13] The Tonal System of Igbo[14] (PDF) Niger-Congo Verb Extensions: Overview and Discussion[15] Language Complexity[16] http://www.linguistics.berkeley....[17] http://www.linguistics.berkeley....[18] Language Complexity[19] Encyclopedia of Linguistics[20] Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages[21] Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages[22] Agreement in Natural Language[23] On the origin of Niger-Congo nominal classification[24] https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org...[25] http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/...[26] https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bi...[27] A Grammar of Fongbe[28] The Dangme Language: An Introductory Survey : Kropp, M. E. : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive[29] https://www.sil.org/system/files...[30] Africanisms in Afro-American Language Varieties[31] Niger-Congo: A brief state of the art - Oxford Handbooks[32] http://events.illc.uva.nl/Tbilis...[33] (PDF) Africa and the Middle East²[34] http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/vie...[35] Redirect Notice[36] https://journals.linguisticsocie...[37] A Genealogical classification of Atlantic languages[38] https://journals.linguisticsocie...[39] The Languages and Linguistics of Africa[40] The Leopard's Spots[41] The Routledge Handbook of African Linguistics[42] News from the past: Progress in African archaeobotany