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Soninke–Bozo Languages
The Soninke–Bozo languages, Soninke and Bozo Bozo or bozo may refer to: People *Bozo people, a fishing people of the central Niger delta in Mali ** Bozo language, languages of the Bozo people * Frédéric Bozo, history Professor at the University of Paris III: Sorbonne Nouvelle * Bozo Mille ..., form a branch of the Mande languages spoken across western Africa. References Mande languages {{mande-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niger–Congo Languages
Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic-Congo languages (which share a characteristic noun class system), and possibly several smaller groups of languages that are difficult to classify. If valid, Niger-Congo would be the world's largest in terms of member languages, the third-largest in terms of speakers, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area.Irene Thompson"Niger-Congo Language Family" "aboutworldlanguages", March 2015 It is generally considered to be the world's largest language family in terms of the number of distinct languages, just ahead of Austronesian, although this is complicated by the ambiguity about what constitutes a distinct language; the number of named Niger–Congo languages listed by ''Ethnologue'' is 1,540. If valid, it would be the third-largest language family in the world by number of native speakers, comprising around 700 million people as of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mande Languages
The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé peoples and include Maninka, Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Kpelle, Dioula, Bozo, Mende, Susu, and Vai. There are "60 to 75 languages spoken by 30 to 40 million people", chiefly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ivory Coast, and also in northwestern Nigeria and northern Benin. The Mande languages show lexical similarities with the Atlantic–Congo language family, and the two have been classified together as a Niger–Congo language family since the 1950s. However, the Mande languages lack the noun-class morphology that is the primary identifying feature of the Atlantic–Congo languages. Without the help of that feature, a demonstration of the validity of Niger–Congo will require reconstructing both Proto-Mande and Proto-Atlantic–Congo. Until that work is done, linguists have increasingly decided to treat Mande and Atlantic–Cong ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soninke Language
The Soninke language (Soninke: ''Sooninkanxanne''), also known as Serakhulle or Azer is a Mande languages, Mande language spoken by the Soninke people of Africa. The language has an estimated 2.1 million speakers, primarily located in Mali, and also (in order of numerical importance of the communities) in Senegal, Ivory Coast, The Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Ghana. It enjoys the status of a national language in Mali, Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania. The language is relatively homogeneous, with only slight phonological, lexical, and grammatical variations. Linguistically, its nearest relatives is the Bozo language , which is centered on the Inner Niger Delta. It is possible that the language of the Imraguen people and/or the Nemadi dialect are dialects of, or closely related to, Soninke. Phonology Consonants Vowels Long vowels are written double: ''aa'', ''ee'', ''ii'', ''oo'', ''uu''. References External linksPanAfriL10n page on Soninke [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bozo Language
Bozo ( meaning house of straw) is a Mande language spoken by the Bozo people of the Inner Niger Delta in Mali. For Fishing, many Bozo are also found in other West African countries where there are Rivers and Dams, such as Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. According to the 2000 census, the Bozo people number about 132,100. Bozo is considered a dialect cluster, but there is a quite a bit of diversity. ''Ethnologue'' recognises four languages on the basis of requirements for literacy materials. Bozo is part of the northwestern branch of the Mande languages; the closest linguistic relative is Soninke, a major language spoken in the northwestern section of southern Mali, in eastern Senegal, and in southern Mauritania. The Bozo often speak one or more regional languages such as Bambara, Fula, or Western Songhay. The language is tonal, with three lexical tones. The Bozo cluster is divided into the following varieties: *Hainyaxo (Hainyaho, Kelengaxo, Kɛlɛngaxo) (a few thous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |