Loko, or Landogo, is a
Southwestern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
Mande language spoken by the
Loko people
The Loko (IPA: Lɔkɔ) are one of the indigenous ethnic groups in Sierra Leone. Landogo is used as an endonym for the people and language, but other groups refer to them as Loko. They speak a Southwestern Mande language that is also called ...
, who primarily live in
Northern Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
. There are two known
Dialect, dialects, ''Landogo'' and ''Logo'', which are mutually intelligible. Ethnic Loko outnumber native Loko speakers due to the
linguistic
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
encroachment of
Temne and
Krio and urbanization to
Freetown
Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...
, where Loko is internally and externally seen as a
low-prestige language.
[Speed, Clarke Karney. Swears and Swearing Among Landogo of Sierra Leone: Aesthetics, Adjudication, and the Philosophy of Power. University of Washington, 1991.]
Citations
References
*Kimball, Les. 1983. A description of the grammar of Loko. Freetown. Institute for Sierra Leonean Languages.
*Innes, Gordon. 1964. An outline grammar of Loko with texts. African Language Studies, pp. 115-178.
Languages of Sierra Leone
Mande languages
Loko people
Endangered languages of Africa
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