Manding languages
| Manding | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
West Africa |
| Linguistic classification: | Niger–Congo
|
| Subdivisions: |
|
| ISO 639-2 / 5: | man |
| Glottolog: | mand1435[1] |
Extent of Manding languages
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The Manding languages are mutually intelligible dialects or languages in West Africa of the Mande family. Their best-known members are Bambara, the most widely spoken language in Mali; Mandinka, the main language of Gambia; Maninka or Malinké, a major language of Guinea; and Dyula, a trade language of the northern Ivory Coast and western Burkina Faso.
Subdivisions[edit]
The Manding languages, and what distinguishes one from the rest and relationships 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.
The Mandinka people speak varieties from the first two groups; the differences between the western and eastern branches manifest themselves primarily phonetically. While dialects of the western group usually have 10 vowels (5 oral and 5 long/nasal), the eastern group, typified by Bambara, has 14 vowels (7 oral and 7 nasal):
- Manding-West
- Kassonke – Western Maninka (Mali, Senegal)
- Mandinka (Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau)
- Kita Maninka (Mali)
- Jahanka (Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Mali; one of several dialects under this name)
- Manding-East
- Marka (Dafin) (Burkina Faso, Mali)
- Bambara–Dyula (Northeastern Manding; Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast)
- Eastern Maninka (Southeastern Manding; multiple varieties in Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast)
- Bolon (Burkina Faso)
In addition, Sininkere (Burkina Faso) is of unclear placement within Manding.
Writing[edit]
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 the Manding languages. Arabic script or Ajami is still commonly used for Mandinka.
- 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 alphabet, developed in 1949 by Solomana Kante, 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.
See also[edit]
External links[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Manding". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.