Zialo language

Zialo (self-identification Ziolo) is a language spoken by the Zialo people in West Africa.

The language of Zialo which belongs to the Southeastern group of the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo language family is spoken by approximately 25,000 people residing in the southeastern part of Guinea, the province of Macenta. The Zialo area covers over 50 villages (including two centers of sous-prefectures). Nearly a third of all Zialo live now in the nearby towns of Macenta and Gekedou, as well as in the city of Conakry. The Zialo language does not have its writing, people use French in all official paperwork.

Zialo was discovered and studied by the Moscow-based linguist Kirill Babaev, member of the Russian Linguistic Expedition to Guinea, in January-February 2010. Before that, Zialo was considered a remote dialect of the language of Loma, however, significant differences were discovered between the two. The tonology and phonetics of Zialo do resemble Loma, but the lexicon and the morphological systems of Zialo are much closer to those of Bandi and Mende. Zialo is characterized by the extensive use of nasal vowels and consonants, the wide system of initial consonant alternations, a great number of analytic verbal constructions of time and aspect, and over 15 sets of personal pronouns. Zialo speakers name five major dialects of the language: Bayawa, Wolo-Ziolo, Woyjawa, Kelighigo and Lawolozu, of which the last one seems the most specific.

The Zialo must have come to their present location from the south, the present-day territory of Liberia, as far as their legends tell. Nowadays, the majority of Zialo are Christians, there are also groups of Muslims and animists following traditional cults.

Ссылки

• The Zialo language on the 'Mande languages' portal
• The Zialo people at Joshua Project