科尔多凡语族是尼日尔尔-刚果语系的三个分支之一，主要语言人口位于东非苏丹中部科尔多凡地区南部的努巴山区内，是一个比较疏离的一个支系。1963年，约瑟·格林伯格(Joseph Greenberg)把它归入尼日尔尔-科尔多凡语系之内，与由其它尼日尔尔-刚果语系的语言组成的「尼日尔尔-刚果语族」并列。今日，一般都把科尔多凡语系及其他原尼日尔尔-刚果语族的成员并列。尽管如此，由于科尔多凡语族的语言与其他尼日尔尔-刚果语系的语言少有共同之处，有些学者认为它不属于尼日尔尔-刚果语系，并把它与门德语族（Mande languages，又译曼德语族）放在同一个独立的分类中。科尔多凡语族的语言人口组成到现在仍有争议。

The Kordofanian languages are a geographic grouping of half a dozen language families spoken in the Nuba Mountains of Kordofan Province, Sudan. In 1963 Joseph Greenberg added them to the Niger–Congo family, creating his Niger–Kordofanian proposal. The Kordofanian languages have not been shown to be more distantly related than other branches of Niger–Congo, however, nor have they been shown to constitute a valid group. Today the Kadu family is excluded, and the others usually included in Niger–Congo proper.