The Eastern Mande languages (called Eastern Eastern Mande by Kastenholz, and Niger–Volta by Schreiber
[Schreiber, Henning. 2008. ''Eine historische Phonologie der Niger-Volta-Sprachen: Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung der Sprachgeschichte der östlichen Ost-Mandesprachen'' (Mande Languages and Linguistics 7). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.] and also known as the Bisa–Busa languages) are a branch of the
Mande languages spoken in seven areas: northwest
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...
, the border region of northern
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
and
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, and one language,
Bissa, also spoken in
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
,
Togo
Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...
, and
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
and the
Samo languages
Samo (Sane, San, Sa), also known as Mande Samo, is a dialect cluster of Niger-Congo languages spoken in Burkina Faso and Mali.
Varieties
Intelligibility between Samo varieties is low. The following have been coded as separate languages:
*Matya ...
also spoken in
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
.
Member languages
*
Bissa, spoken in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, and Ivory Coast
*
Boko of Benin and Nigeria
*
Busa of Nigeria and Benin
*
Bokobaru of Nigeria
*
Samo languages
Samo (Sane, San, Sa), also known as Mande Samo, is a dialect cluster of Niger-Congo languages spoken in Burkina Faso and Mali.
Varieties
Intelligibility between Samo varieties is low. The following have been coded as separate languages:
*Matya ...
(Sane, San, Sa) of Burkina Faso and Mali
*
Shanga, spoken in Nigeria
*
Tyenga (Kyenga), spoken in Benin and Nigeria.
Classification
The following internal classification is from Dwyer (1989, 1996), as summarized in Williamson & Blench 2000.
Vydrin (2009) places San (Samo) with Bisa.
See also
*
Proto-Niger-Volta reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
Mande languages
{{mande-lang-stub