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Mandinka language

The Mandinka language (Mandi'nka kango; Ajami: مَانْدِينْكَا كَانْجَوْ) or Mandingo, is a Mande language spoken by the Mandinka people of Guinea, northern Guinea-Bissau, the Casamance region of Senegal, and in The Gambia where it is one of the principal languages.

Mandinka
Mandingo
مَانْدِنْجَوْ
ߡߊ߲߬ߘߌ߲߬ߞߊ
Native toSenegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Guinea
RegionCasamance
EthnicityMandinka
Native speakers
1.3 million (2001–2016)[1]
Mande
  • Western Mande
Arabic, Latin, N'Ko
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3mnk
Glottologmand1436
Linguasphere00-AAA-aa
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
A Mandingo speaker, recorded in Liberia.
A Mandinka speaker, recorded in Taiwan.

Mandinka belongs to the Manding branch of Mande and is thus similar to Bambara and Maninka/Malinké but with only 5 instead of 7 vowels. In a majority of areas, it is a tonal language with two tones: low and high, although the particular variety spoken in the Gambia and Senegal borders on a pitch accent due to its proximity with non-tonal neighboring languages like Wolof.

Phonology

Mandinka is here represented by the variety spoken in Casamance.[2] There is little dialectical diversity.

Tone

Mandinka has two tones, high and low. Unmodified nouns are either high tone on all syllables or low tone on all syllables. The definite suffix -o takes a low tone on high-tone nouns and a falling tone on low-tone nouns. It also assimilates any preceding short vowel, resulting in a long /oo/ with either low or falling tone. It shortens a preceding long high vowel (ii > io, uu > uo; ee optionally > either eo or ee) or assimilates itself (aa remains aa) leaving only its tone:

/búŋ/ 'a room' > /búŋò/ 'the room'
/tèŋ/ 'a palm tree' > /tèŋô/ 'the palm tree'
/kídí/ 'a gun' > /kídòò/ 'the gun'
/kòrdàà/ 'a house' > /kòrdáà/ 'the house'

In Senegal and Gambia, Mandinka is approaching a system of pitch accent under the influence of local non-tonal languages such as Wolof, Serer, and Jola.

The tonal system remains more robust in the Eastern and Southern Mandinka dialects (Tilibo) spoken in the Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Eastern Senegal. These conservative dialects merge into other conservative Manding languages like Maninka, the once official language of the Mali Empire, Bambara, and Susu. All of these preserve the typical West African terraced downstep in tonality that is only lightly alluded to in the Western Mandinka dialects spoken in much of Gambia and Senegal.

Vowels

Vowel qualities are /i e a o u/. All may be long or short. There are no nasal vowels; instead, there is a coda consonant /ŋ/. Long vowels are written double: aa, ee, ii, oo, uu.

Consonants

The following table gives the consonants in the Latin orthography, and their IPA equivalent when they differ.

  1. ^ a b /g/ and /p/ are found in French loans.
  2. ^ /r/ is only found initially in loans and onomatopoeia. Otherwise it is the intervocalic allophone of /d/.

Syllabic nasals occur in e.g. nnààm 'yes!' (response), ŋte "I, me". Word-initial mb, nd, ndy, ng occur but are not particularly common; it is not clear whether they should be considered syllabic nasals or additional consonants.

Consonants may be geminated in the middles of words (at least /pp, cc, jj, kk, ll, mm, nn, ññ/). The only other consonant found at the ends of syllables in native words is /ŋ/. It assimilates to the following consonant: /ns, nc, mb/ etc. Syllable-final /r/ and /s/ are found in French loans (e.g. /kùrtù/ "pants").

Orthography

The Latin alphabet and the Arabic alphabet are widely used for Mandinka; the former is official, but the latter is more widely used and older. In addition, the pan-Manding writing system, the N'Ko script, invented in 1949, is often used in north east Guinea and in bordering communities in Ivory Coast and Mali. Additionally, the Garay alphabet, originally developed for Wolof, has seen some limited use.[3]

In the Latin script, c represents /t͡ʃ/, ŋ /ŋ/, and ñ /ɲ/; the letters v, x, z, and q are not used. Vowels are as in Spanish or Italian and are doubled to indicate length or distinguish words that are otherwise homophones.

The Arabic script uses no extra letters (apart from, rarely, an extra vowel mark for e), but some of the letters are pronounced differently from in Arabic.

The Latin and Arabic consonants correspond as follows:

Arabic ا ع ب ت ط ض ج ه ح خ د ر س ش ص ث ظ ڢ ل م ن و ي ك لا
Latin ('), aa, ee (', with madda ŋ) b, p t t t c, j h h d r s s (sh) s s s f l m n, ñ, ŋ w y k, g la

Letters in italics are not normally used in native Mandinka words. ه (h) may also be used in the Arabic scfy to indicate a final glottal stop, which is not noted in the Latin script. The letter ŋ of the Latin script is often indicated with vowel signs in the Arabic script; see below.

The vowels correspond as follows (diacritics are placed over or under the consonant in Arabic):

Arabic ـَ ـِ ـُ ـْ ـִ ـً ـٍ ـٌ ـَا ـِي ـُو
Latin a, e i, e, ee o, u (no following vowel) e aŋ, eŋ iŋ, eeŋ, eŋ oŋ, uŋ aa ii oo, uu
Mandinka names of Arabic marks: sira tilidiŋo; sira tilidiŋo duuma; ŋoo biriŋo; sira murumuruliŋo; tambi baa duuma; sira tilindiŋo fula; sira tilindiŋo duuma fula; ŋoo biriŋo fula.

In addition, a small Arabic 2 (۲) may be used to indicate reduplication, and the hamza may be used as in Arabic to indicate glottal stops more precisely.

Titles

See also

References

  1. ^ "Mandinka". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-08-25.
  2. ^ Maŋ Lafi Dramé (c. 2003) Parlons Mandinka
  3. ^ Everson, Michael (26 April 2012). "Preliminary proposal for encoding the Garay script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). UC Berkeley Script Encoding Initiative (Universal Scripts Project)/International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 5 July 2015.

Bibliography

  • R. T. Addis, A Study on the Writing of Mandinka in Arabic script, 1963.
  • Dramé, Man Lafi, Parlons Mandinka, L'Harmattan 2003 (in French)

External links

  • ELAR archive of Bainouk and its main contact language Mandinka
  • Wolof and Mandinka resources, including grammar and dictionary

mandinka, language, confused, with, dinka, language, maninka, language, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sourc. Not to be confused with Dinka language or Maninka language This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Mandinka language news newspapers books scholar JSTOR April 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Mandinka language Mandi nka kango Ajami م ان د ين ك ا ك ان ج و or Mandingo is a Mande language spoken by the Mandinka people of Guinea northern Guinea Bissau the Casamance region of Senegal and in The Gambia where it is one of the principal languages MandinkaMandingoم ان د ن ج و ߡߊ ߘߌ ߞߊNative toSenegal The Gambia Guinea Bissau Liberia and GuineaRegionCasamanceEthnicityMandinkaNative speakers1 3 million 2001 2016 1 Language familyMande Western MandeMandingWest MandingMandinkaWriting systemArabic Latin N KoOfficial statusRecognised minoritylanguage in SenegalLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code mnk class extiw title iso639 3 mnk mnk a Glottologmand1436Linguasphere00 AAA aaThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA source source source source source source source source A Mandingo speaker recorded in Liberia source source source source source source source source source source source source source source A Mandinka speaker recorded in Taiwan Mandinka belongs to the Manding branch of Mande and is thus similar to Bambara and Maninka Malinke but with only 5 instead of 7 vowels In a majority of areas it is a tonal language with two tones low and high although the particular variety spoken in the Gambia and Senegal borders on a pitch accent due to its proximity with non tonal neighboring languages like Wolof Contents 1 Phonology 1 1 Tone 1 2 Vowels 1 3 Consonants 2 Orthography 3 Titles 4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliography 7 External linksPhonology EditMandinka is here represented by the variety spoken in Casamance 2 There is little dialectical diversity Tone Edit Mandinka has two tones high and low Unmodified nouns are either high tone on all syllables or low tone on all syllables The definite suffix o takes a low tone on high tone nouns and a falling tone on low tone nouns It also assimilates any preceding short vowel resulting in a long oo with either low or falling tone It shortens a preceding long high vowel ii gt io uu gt uo ee optionally gt either eo or ee or assimilates itself aa remains aa leaving only its tone buŋ a room gt buŋo the room teŋ a palm tree gt teŋo the palm tree kidi a gun gt kidoo the gun kordaa a house gt kordaa the house In Senegal and Gambia Mandinka is approaching a system of pitch accent under the influence of local non tonal languages such as Wolof Serer and Jola The tonal system remains more robust in the Eastern and Southern Mandinka dialects Tilibo spoken in the Guinea Bissau Guinea and Eastern Senegal These conservative dialects merge into other conservative Manding languages like Maninka the once official language of the Mali Empire Bambara and Susu All of these preserve the typical West African terraced downstep in tonality that is only lightly alluded to in the Western Mandinka dialects spoken in much of Gambia and Senegal Vowels Edit Vowel qualities are i e a o u All may be long or short There are no nasal vowels instead there is a coda consonant ŋ Long vowels are written double aa ee ii oo uu Consonants Edit The following table gives the consonants in the Latin orthography and their IPA equivalent when they differ Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar GlottalNasal m n ɲ n ŋStop voiceless p a t t ʃ c kvoiced b d d ʒ j g a Fricative voiceless f s hApproximant w l r b j y a b g and p are found in French loans r is only found initially in loans and onomatopoeia Otherwise it is the intervocalic allophone of d Syllabic nasals occur in e g nnaam yes response ŋte I me Word initial mb nd ndy ng occur but are not particularly common it is not clear whether they should be considered syllabic nasals or additional consonants Consonants may be geminated in the middles of words at least pp cc jj kk ll mm nn nn The only other consonant found at the ends of syllables in native words is ŋ It assimilates to the following consonant ns nc mb etc Syllable final r and s are found in French loans e g kurtu pants Orthography EditThe Latin alphabet and the Arabic alphabet are widely used for Mandinka the former is official but the latter is more widely used and older In addition the pan Manding writing system the N Ko script invented in 1949 is often used in north east Guinea and in bordering communities in Ivory Coast and Mali Additionally the Garay alphabet originally developed for Wolof has seen some limited use 3 In the Latin script c represents t ʃ ŋ ŋ and n ɲ the letters v x z and q are not used Vowels are as in Spanish or Italian and are doubled to indicate length or distinguish words that are otherwise homophones The Arabic script uses no extra letters apart from rarely an extra vowel mark for e but some of the letters are pronounced differently from in Arabic The Latin and Arabic consonants correspond as follows Arabic ا ع ب ت ط ض ج ه ح خ د ر س ش ص ث ظ ڢ ل م ن و ي ك لاLatin aa ee with madda ŋ b p t t t c j h h d r s s sh s s s f l m n n ŋ w y k g laLetters in italics are not normally used in native Mandinka words ه h may also be used in the Arabic scfy to indicate a final glottal stop which is not noted in the Latin script The letter ŋ of the Latin script is often indicated with vowel signs in the Arabic script see below The vowels correspond as follows diacritics are placed over or under the consonant in Arabic Arabic ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ا ـ ي ـ وLatin a e i e ee o u no following vowel e aŋ eŋ iŋ eeŋ eŋ oŋ uŋ aa ii oo uuMandinka names of Arabic marks sira tilidiŋo sira tilidiŋo duuma ŋoo biriŋo sira murumuruliŋo tambi baa duuma sira tilindiŋo fula sira tilindiŋo duuma fula ŋoo biriŋo fula In addition a small Arabic 2 ۲ may be used to indicate reduplication and the hamza may be used as in Arabic to indicate glottal stops more precisely Titles EditFaama father leader or king Mansa title sultan king or emperor See also EditMande languages Manding languages Mandinka people MandeReferences Edit Mandinka Ethnologue Retrieved 2018 08 25 Maŋ Lafi Drame c 2003 Parlons Mandinka Everson Michael 26 April 2012 Preliminary proposal for encoding the Garay script in the SMP of the UCS PDF UC Berkeley Script Encoding Initiative Universal Scripts Project International Organization for Standardization Retrieved 5 July 2015 Bibliography EditR T Addis A Study on the Writing of Mandinka in Arabic script 1963 Drame Man Lafi Parlons Mandinka L Harmattan 2003 in French External links Edit Mandinka language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator For a list of words relating to Mandinka language see the Mandinka language category of words in Wiktionary the free dictionary ELAR archive of Bainouk and its main contact language Mandinka Wolof and Mandinka resources including grammar and dictionary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mandinka language amp oldid 1146838700, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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