Maninka language

Spoken in

  • Niger - Congo languages Mande languages Maninka

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One

Myg mku emk MZJ

Maninka is the term for related dialects and languages ​​of the southeastern subgroup of the Mande languages ​​that belong to the family of the Niger - Congo languages ​​. It is the mother tongue of the people of the Malinke and is spoken by about 3,300,000 people in Guinea and Mali, where the related Bambara is a national language, and also in parts of Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast, where the language but has no official status.

It is possible to make the following ethnic distinctions:

  • East Maninka, also Malinke or Maninka is spoken by 1,890,000 speakers in Guinea and 200,000 in Liberia and Sierra Leone;
  • Maninka and Konyanka have 128,000 speakers in Guinea;
  • Maninka and Sankaran, also called Faranah, is spoken in Guinea;
  • Waldmaninka, part of the Maninka - Mori- group together with Wojenaka, Worodougou, Koro, Koyaga and Mahou, has 15,000 speakers in the Ivory Coast.

Note

The Maninka is not to be confused with the related Mandinka.

Language family Malinké Mandinka language
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