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 A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

and Dams, such as Nigeria, Burkina Faso and the

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 ...

. According to the 2000 census, the Bozo people number about 132,100. Bozo is considered a

dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

, 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 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 ...

; the closest linguistic relative is Soninke, a major language spoken in the northwestern section of southern Mali, in eastern Senegal, and in southern

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

. 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 thousand speakers), spoken in Mali

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

(15th edition) reports identical speaker counts for both Hainyaho and Tigemaxo: 117,696, from the 1987 census. In the fourteenth edition, this number was noted to be the number of 'all mother tongue Boso speakers'. In the light of the 200,000 reported speakers of Sorogama, by far the most widely spoken Bozo variety, speaker numbers for Hainyaho and Tigemaxo are put at 'a few thousand' here. *Tiɛma Cɛwɛ (Tièma cièwè, Tièma cièwe, Tiema ciewe, Tiema cewe, Tiemacèwè, Tiemacewe, Tiema) (2,500 speakers in 1991), spoken in Mali *Tiéyaxo (Tieyaxo, Tigemaxo) (a few thousand speakers), spoken in Mali and Burkina Faso *Sorogaama (Jenaama, Sorogama, Sorko) (200,000 speakers in 2005), spoken in Mali, Nigeria and Ivory Coast Hainyaxo (Kelengaxo), spoken by the Hain (sg. Xan), is the most western dialect, spoken in two spots along the Niger River. It is closely related to Tieyaxo (Tigemaxo), its eastern neighbour which is spoken around

Diafarabé Diafarabé is a village and rural commune of the Cercle of Ténenkou in the Mopti Region of Mali. The commune is at the southern boundary of the '' cercle''. It covers an area of approximately 980 square kilometers and extends on both sides of ...

. The central and most widely spoken Bozo language is Jenaama (Sorogama), which actually consists of four dialects, Pondori (south of

Mopti Mopti ( Bambara: ߡߏߕߌ tr. Moti) is a town and an urban commune in the Inner Niger Delta region of Mali. The town is the capital of the Mopti Cercle and the Mopti Region. Situated 630 km northeast of Bamako, the town lies at the conflue ...

), Kotya, Korondugu (north of

) and Debo (around

Lake Debo A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

). Tiemacewe (Tièma Cièwè) is the northeasternmostern Bozo dialect, spoken in the vicinity of Lake Debo.

Nigeria

In Nigeria, the Jenaama/Sorogama dialect of the Bozo language is usually referred to as Sorko. It is spoken in the Nigerian States of Niger, Kebbi, and Kwara (

Lake Kainji Kainji Lake, in North Central Nigeria, is a reservoir on the Niger River, formed by the Kainji Dam. It was formed in 1968 and is a part of Niger State and Kebbi State. Kainji Lake National Park (KNLP), situated around the lake, is Nigeria's oldes ...

Writing system

A long vowel is indicated by doubling the letter: ; nasalization is indicated by following the letter with an n: .

Notes

References

*Daget, Jacques & Konipo, M. & Sanakoua, M. (1953) 'La langue bozo' (Études soudaniennes, 1). Koulouba: Institut français d'Afrique noire, Gouvernement du Soudan, Centre

IFAN Ifan may refer to: People *Ifan (given name), list of people with this name * Ifan Evans (born 1983), Welsh rugby union player * Wil Ifan * The nickname of Riefian Fajarsyah of a former Seventeen member, disbanded by 2018 Sunda Strait tsunam ...

. *Blecke, Thomas (1998) ''Lexikalische Strukturen und grammatische Kategorien im Tigemaxo (Bozo, Mande)''. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. *

External links

Ethnolinguistic map of the Bozo languages
(

SIL SIL, Sil and sil may refer to: Organizations * Servis Industries Limited, Pakistan * Smithsonian Institution Libraries * SIL International, formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics * Apex Silver Mines (former American Stock Exchange ticker symb ...

)
La langue Bozo

Resources in Bozo-Tieyaxo
fro
SIL Mali
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Resources in Bozo-Jenaama
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SIL Mali
. {{Authority control Languages of Mali Mande languages