They might belong in with the
Mbole–Enya languages, but the connection could be with Lengola, which constitutes the
Lebonya proposal (Nurse 2003).
The Nyali languages were treated as a
dialect cluster by Guthrie. Ethnologue notes that Mbo, Ndaka, Budu, Vanuma, and Nyali are quite close. However,
Beeke and
Ngbee are more distant; Ethnologue suggests Beeke is closer to
Bali, and leaves extinct Ngbee unclassified within Bantu.