The
Manding languages are a fairly mutually intelligible group of dialects or languages in
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:*Benin...
, belonging to the
Mande languagesThe Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Bissa, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mende, Susu, Yacouba, Vai, and Ligbi...
. Their best-known members are
BambaraBambara, also known as Bamanankan in the language itself , is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people . The differences between Bambara and Dioula are minimal. Dioula is a language spoken or understood by a lesser number of people in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and The Gambia...
(the most widely spoken language in
MaliMali, officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west...
),
MandinkaThe Mandink'a language, sometimes referred to as Mandingo, is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding...
(the main language of Gambia),
ManinkaManinka is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo languages...
(or Malinké, a major language of
GuineaGuinea, officially Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa formerly known as French Guinea . The country's current population is estimated at 10,211,437 ....
), and
Dioula (Dyula or Jula)Dioula is a Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. It is one of the Manding languages, and is most closely related to Bambara...
(an important language of the northern
Côte d'Ivoire' , formerly named, and often referred to as the Ivory Coast, officially the ', is a country in West Africa. The government officially discourages the use of the name Ivory Coast in English, preferring the French name to be used in all languages.With an area of 322,462 km
2 Côte...
and western
Burkina FasoBurkina Faso , also known by its short-form name Burkina, is a landlocked nation in West Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the south east, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the south west.Its size is 274,000 km² with an...
.) Smaller languages/dialects belonging to the group include
Khassonké or XaasongaxangoXaasongaxango is a Manding-West language spoken as a first language by the Khassonké on the border of Mali and Senegal. It has about 128,170 speakers in all countries and is a national language of Mali. Xaasongaxango is highly similar to Malinke and Mandinka...
.
The Manding tongues, and what distinguishes one from the rest and relationship among all of them are matters that continue to be researched.
The
Manding languages are a fairly mutually intelligible group of dialects or languages in
West AfricaWest Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:*Benin...
, belonging to the
Mande languagesThe Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé people and include Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Bissa, Dioula, Kagoro, Bozo, Mende, Susu, Yacouba, Vai, and Ligbi...
. Their best-known members are
BambaraBambara, also known as Bamanankan in the language itself , is a language spoken in Mali by as many as six million people . The differences between Bambara and Dioula are minimal. Dioula is a language spoken or understood by a lesser number of people in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and The Gambia...
(the most widely spoken language in
MaliMali, officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west...
),
MandinkaThe Mandink'a language, sometimes referred to as Mandingo, is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding...
(the main language of Gambia),
ManinkaManinka is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo languages...
(or Malinké, a major language of
GuineaGuinea, officially Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa formerly known as French Guinea . The country's current population is estimated at 10,211,437 ....
), and
Dioula (Dyula or Jula)Dioula is a Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. It is one of the Manding languages, and is most closely related to Bambara...
(an important language of the northern
Côte d'Ivoire' , formerly named, and often referred to as the Ivory Coast, officially the ', is a country in West Africa. The government officially discourages the use of the name Ivory Coast in English, preferring the French name to be used in all languages.With an area of 322,462 km
2 Côte...
and western
Burkina FasoBurkina Faso , also known by its short-form name Burkina, is a landlocked nation in West Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the south east, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the south west.Its size is 274,000 km² with an...
.) Smaller languages/dialects belonging to the group include
Khassonké or XaasongaxangoXaasongaxango is a Manding-West language spoken as a first language by the Khassonké on the border of Mali and Senegal. It has about 128,170 speakers in all countries and is a national language of Mali. Xaasongaxango is highly similar to Malinke and Mandinka...
.
Subdivisions of Manding language group
The Manding tongues, and what distinguishes one from the rest and relationship among all of them are matters that continue to be researched. In addition, the nomenclature - being a mixture of indigenous terms and words applied by English and French speakers since before colonization - makes the picture complex and even confusing.
SIL identifies five groups, Manding-East, Manding-West,
Bohon, Jahanka and Sininkere.
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=89993
The
ISO 639-3ISO 639-3:2007, Codes for the representation of names of languages Part 3: Alpha-3 code for comprehensive coverage of languages, is an international standard for language codes in the ISO 639 series. The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages. It extends the ISO 639-2...
draft defines (among others) one language as macrolanguage:
Mandingo [man], with the seven individual languages coming from both the first two groups:
- Eastern Maninkakan [emk] (East)
- Forest Maninka [myq] (East -> Southeast)
- Kita Maninkakan [mwk] (West)
- Konyanka Maninka [mku] (East)
- Mandinka [mnk] (West)
- Sankaran Maninka [msc] (East)
- Western Maninkakan [mlq] (West)
Manding-West
- Xaasongaxango language
Xaasongaxango is a Manding-West language spoken as a first language by the Khassonké on the border of Mali and Senegal. It has about 128,170 speakers in all countries and is a national language of Mali. Xaasongaxango is highly similar to Malinke and Mandinka...
[kao] (Mali)
- Maninkakan, Western [mlq] (Senegal)
- Mandinka language
The Mandink'a language, sometimes referred to as Mandingo, is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding...
[mnk] (Gambia)
- Maninkakan, Kita [mwk] (Mali)
- Kagoro language [xkg] (Mali)
Manding-East
- Marka-Dafin
- Bamana languages (Northeastern Manding)
- Bamanankan [bam] (Mali)
- Dioula language
Dioula is a Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. It is one of the Manding languages, and is most closely related to Bambara...
[dyu] (Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire)
- Southeastern Manding
- Maninkakan, Eastern [emk] (Guinea)
- Maninka-Mori
- Wojenaka [jod] (Côte d'Ivoire)
- Worodougou [jud] (Côte d'Ivoire)
- Koro [kfo] (Côte d'Ivoire)
- Koyaga [kga] (Côte d'Ivoire)
- Mahou [mxx] (Côte d'Ivoire)
- Maninka, Forest [myq] (Côte d'Ivoire)
- Maninka, Konyanka [mku] (Guinea)
- Maninka, Sankaran [msc] (Guinea)
- Manya language [mzj] (Liberia)
see also:
Maninka languageManinka is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo languages...
Writing Manding languages
The Manding languages have a strong oral tradition, but also have written forms - adaptations of Arabic and Latin alphabets, and at least two indigenous scripts.
- Arabic was introduced into the region with Islam, and the writing was adapted to write in Manding languages to a certain degree. Arabic script or Ajami is still commonly used for Mandinka
The Mandink'a language, sometimes referred to as Mandingo, is a Mandé language spoken by millions of Mandinka people in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau and Chad; it is the main language of The Gambia. It belongs to the Manding...
.
- The Latin alphabet was introduced into the region following European conquest and colonization. It is used fairly widely, with "official" versions in many countries, for teaching, literacy and publication.
- The N'Ko
N'Ko is both a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949 as a writing system for the Mande languages of West Africa, and the name of the literary language itself written in the script. The term N'Ko means 'I say' in all Manding languages....
alphabet, developed in 1948 by Solomana KanteSoulemayne Kante or Solomana Kante was an African writer and inventor of the N'Ko alphabet for the Mande languages of West Africa...
, is designed to write Manding using a common literary standard comprehensible to speakers of all these varieties. It is gaining in popularity.
- A lesser-known alphabet for Bambara was developed in the early 20th century but is not used.
External links