The Siamou language, also known as Seme (Sɛmɛ), is a language spoken mainly in

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 t ...

. It is part of the

Kru languages The Kru languages are spoken by the Kru people from the southeast of Liberia to the west of Ivory Coast. Classification According to Güldemann (2018), Kru lacks sufficient lexical resemblances and noun class resemblances to conclude a relati ...

or unclassified within the proposed

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 ...

. It is also spoken in

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 i ...

and

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. Ma ...

, and could likely be a

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The nu ...

. The speakers call themselves ''Seme''. The

Dioula language Dyula (or Jula, Dioula, ''Julakan'' ߖߎ߬ߟߊ߬ߞߊ߲) is a language of the Mande language family spoken mainly in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali, and also in some other countries, including Ghana, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. It is one of ...

exonym is ''Siamou''.

Classification

Siamou is traditionally classed as Kru. However, according to

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and w ...

(2013) and Pierre Vogler (2015), the language bears little resemblance to Kru.Blench (2013:50) Güldemann (2018) also leaves out Siamou as unrelated to Niger-Congo and considers it a language isolate. Glottolog considers it a language isolate. Siamou word order is SOV, like the

Senufo languages The Senufo or Senufic languages (''Senoufo'' in French) has around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the west o ...

, but unlike the SVO Central Gur languages.

Geographical distribution

In 1999, it was spoken by 20,000 people in western

and another 20,000 in the

and

. In Burkina Faso, it is mainly spoken in the province of Kénédougou, around the provincial capital

Orodara Orodara is a town and the capital of the province of Kénédougou in Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to ...

and the surrounding villages of Bandougou, Didéri, Diéri, Diéridéni, Diossogou, Kotoudéni, Lidara, and Tin.Vogler, Pierre. 2015.
Le sèmè/siamou n’est pas une langue kru''
Siamou has one major dialect, Bandougou. In addition, there are minor dialectal differences among the Siamou spoken in Orodara and in surrounding villages. It is also spoken in

Toussiana Department Toussiana is a department or commune of Houet Province in south-western Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali ...

of Burkina Faso.

Notes

References

* Blench, Roger (2013)
Why Is Africa So Linguistically Undiverse? Exploring Substrates and Isolates
" in ''Mother Tongue'', Issue XVIII, pp. 43–78. Journal of the Association for the Study of Language in Prehistory. {{Niger-Congo branches Kru languages Languages of Burkina Faso Language isolates of Africa

Classification

Geographical distribution

See also

Further reading

Notes

References