Maninka language

Not to be confused with Mandinka language.

Maninka
Malinke Maninkakan
Native to	Guinea, Mali, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast
Native speakers	2.8 million  (1986–1999)
Language family	Niger–Congo ? Mande Western Mande ... Manding East Manding Maninka
Writing system	N'Ko, Latin
Official status
Official language in	Guinea, Mali
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: mku – Konyanka emk – Eastern Maninkaka msc – Sankaran Maninkaka mzj – Manya (Liberia) jod – Wojenaka (Odienné Jula) jud – Worodougou kfo – Koro (Koro Jula) kga – Koyaga (Koyaga Jula) mxx – Mahou (Mawukakan)

Maninka (Malinke), or more precisely Eastern Maninka, is the name of several closely related languages and dialects of the southeastern Manding subgroup of the Mande branch of the Niger–Congo languages. It is the mother tongue of the Malinké people and is spoken by 3,300,000 speakers in Guinea and Mali, where the closely related Bambara is a national language, and also in Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast, where it has no official status.

References

• Vydrine, Valentin. Manding–English Dictionary (Maninka, Bomana). Volume 1: A, B, D–DAD, Supplemented by Some Entries From Subsequent Volumes (1999). Dimitry Bulanin Publishing House, 315 pp. ISBN 5-86007-178-7.

External links

• Report on Malinke in Mali en Senegal
• Nko script and a literary Maninka language by Valentin Vydrine
• Some text from the language Museum
• Language museum in kankan
• Ethnologue report