Mande languages
The Mande languages ( briefly called Mande ) form a primary branch of the Niger - Congo.
The approximately 60 languages are spoken in the West African countries of Mali, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Guinea- Bissau, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, in the northwestern and southeastern Burkina Faso and the border of Benin and Nigeria of about 19 million people.
Empire ups the Mande peoples
Early on Mande ethnic groups have founded great empires of Mali and neighboring countries, so dominated the Soninke from the 8th to the 11th century, the Ghana Empire ( within present-day Mali, Ghana today has except his name no relationship to this empire), in the 13th century founded the Malinke, the Mali Empire (whose name of " Malinke " is derived ), today's traffic and majority language in Mali, the Bambara, also a Mande language of the Manding group.
The group of Mande languages
The Mande languages have - like the kordofanischen - also eliminated relatively early from the other Niger - Congo languages and have many specific characteristics, in particular, they do not have noun classes. However, their membership in the Niger - Congo is well established, although similarities with today classified as Nilo-Saharan Songhai were noted by several researchers. As a group of related languages, the Mande languages were identified in the 19th century. Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle used in 1854 as the first name " Mandenga " for this group, which dates back to indigenous names.
Mande is divided into two main branches, the larger West -Mande branch with 16 million speakers, with Manding languages as the core and the Eastern Mande together with only 2.5 million speakers.
The most important of their number of speakers of Mande languages are:
- Bambara: 2.8 million native speakers, lingua franca in Mali with up to 10 million speakers, including second speakers
- Diula ( Jula ): 1.5 million native speakers, 4 million, including a second language
- Maninka: East Maninka, 2 million
- Mandinka: Manding, Mandinga and Mandingo, 1.2 million
These languages all belong to the Manding main branch. Millions more languages of the Western Mande are:
- Mende: 2 million
- Soninke: 1.1 million
- Susu: 1 million
- Kpelle: 1 million
Dan (also Yakuba ): 1 million speakers, spoken in the Ivory Coast, is the largest language of the eastern Mande branch.
Classification of the Mande languages
The following classification of the Mande languages based on box wood (1996, Western Mande ) and Dwyer (1989, 1996 Eastern Mande ). It contains all the languages of the group, with the number of speakers (after Ethnologue and the below web link).
Classification of the Mande languages
- Mande West -Mande centrally Jogo - Jeri: Ligbi (15 thousand), Jeri (less than 1 thousand )
- Manding - Vai Manding east Northeast Bambara ( Bamanankan ) ( 2.8 million, S2 8 to 10 million), Jula ( Dyula ) ( 1.5 million, S2 4 million), Marka ( 230 thousand)
- Maninka (East Maninka, Eastern Malinke ) ( 2 million); Wojenaka (120 thousand), Worodugu (80 thousand), Koro (40 thousand), Koyaga (60 thousand), Mahou ( Mauke ) (170 thousand), Wasulu ( Busch- Maninka ) (15 thousand)
- Mandinka ( Manding, Mandinga, Mandingo, Mandingo, Mandinque ) ( 1.2 million) Mandinka (West Maninkakan, Western Malinke ) (500 thousand) Kita- Malinke (600 thousand), Kasonke ( Xaasongaxango ) (130 thousand), Kagoro (15 thousand)
- Kpelle ( 800 thousand )
- Loma - Mende: Loma (140 thousand), Toma (140 thousand); Mende ( 1.9 million, S2 2 million), Loko (120 thousand), Bandi (120 thousand)
- Soninke - Bobo: Soninke ( 1.1 million), Boso (120 thousand); Bobo Fing ( Bobo Madare ) ( 230 thousand)
- Dzuun - Seeku: Duungoma (70 thousand), Dzungoo (15 thousand), Jowulu (10 thousand); Seeku, Bankagoma
- Bissa - Samo Bissa (500 thousand)
- Busa: Boko (110 thousand), Bokobaru (30 thousand), Busa (20 thousand), Kyenga (5 thousand), Shanga (10 thousand)
- Samo (230 thousand)
- Guro Dan: Guro ( Kweni ) (330 thousand), Mano ( 250 thousand ); Dan ( Yakuba, Gio ) ( 1 million)
- Nwa - Beng: Beng (20 thousand), Gagu ( 35 thousand ); Mwan ( Muan ) (20 thousand), Wan ( Nwa ) (20 thousand)
Linguistic characteristics
The Mande languages do not have noun classes like most other Niger - Congo languages , so that they belong to the Niger - Congo was found more frequently in question. The languages of the Southwest group have a morphologically conditioned consonantal Anlautwechsel. Almost all the Mande languages are tonal languages with up to five sound levels. There are free and bound nouns, the latter are generally accompanied by a noun or pronoun; these include the kinship terms and names of body parts (ie basically " my, your hand ... " but not "the hand ").
Word equations
The following word equations show the closeness of the relationship of the West Mande languages. They come from Dwyer 1989.