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 ...

(french: Côte d'Ivoire) is a

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all ...

country with an estimated 78 languages currently spoken.Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International.
(Page on "Languages of Côte d’Ivoire." This page indicates that one of the 79 no longer has any speakers.) The

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, was introduced during the colonial period. This language is taught in schools and serves as a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

in the country, along with Dioula. The seventy or so indigenous languages fall into five main branches of the Niger–Congo family. In the southeastern quadrant are

Kwa languages The Kwa languages, often specified as New Kwa, are a proposed but as-yet-undemonstrated family of languages spoken in the south-eastern part of Ivory Coast, across southern Ghana, and in central Togo. The name was introduced 1895 by Gottlob ...

, some such as Baoulé and Anyin (2–3 million and 1 million speakers) part of a

dialect continuum 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 vari ...

with Akan in Ghana, others such as Attié (or Akyé) (half a million) more divergent. Baoulé is spoken east of

Lake Kossou Lake Kossou (french: Lac de Kossou) is Côte d'Ivoire's largest lake. It lies on the Bandama River in the center of the country. It is an artificial lake, created in 1973 by damming the Bandama River at Kossou (the Kossou Dam). Some 75,000 Baoul ...

and at the capital Yamoussoukro, and Anyi along the Ghanaian border. In the southwestern quadrant are Kru languages, such as Bete and We ( Gure/ Wobe), half a million apiece, and

Dida In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the Diploma in Digital Applications (DiDA) is an optional information and communication technology (ICT) course, usually studied by Key Stage 4 or equivalent school students (aged 14-16). DiDA was intr ...

(a quarter million), related to the languages of Liberia. In the northwest, along the Guinean border and across to Lake Kossou in the center of the country, are

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 milli ...

, such as

Dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

(1 million speakers) and Guro (half a million, on the lake). The lake and the river Bandama divide the Kwa east of the country from the Kru and Mande west. Across the center north are various

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 ...

, such as Senari (1 million speakers). In the northeast corner, surrounding

Comoé National Park The Comoé National Park is a Biosphere Reserve and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Zanzan and Savanes Districts of north-eastern Ivory Coast. It is the largest protected area in West Africa, with an area of 11,500 km2, and ranges from the ...

, are a quarter million speakers each of Kulango, the

Gur language The Gur languages, also known as Central Gur or Mabia, belong to the Niger–Congo languages. They are spoken in the Sahelian and savanna regions of West Africa, namely: in most areas of Burkina Faso, and in south-central Mali, northeastern Iv ...

Lobi, and the Mande language Jula (french: Dioula), which is a ''

'' of neighboring

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 ...

. There are also three million or so speakers of immigrant languages, mostly from neighboring countries and above all from Burkina Faso. Ethnic tensions in the north between immigrant and native Ivoirians, as well as between the Mande/Senoufo north and the Kru/Kwa south, were a large factor in the Ivorian civil wars. Education for the deaf in Ivory Coast uses

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual language that is expre ...

, introduced by the deaf American missionary Andrew Foster.

References

General

''Ethnologue''
list and map for Ivory Coast
PanAfrican L10n page on Ivory Coast
*

References

General

Notes

See also