Manding Language Page

1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN

Manding (also known as Mandekan and Mandingo) belongs to the northern branch of Mande. It represents a collection of mutually intelligible dialects, including Mandinka, Bambara, Dyula, and others. Manding is spoken primarily in Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso.

2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS

UBS (l978) notes two million Bambara speakers, one million Dyula speakers, and l00,000 Mandinka speakers. Platiel (1982) reports the following figures for Mandikan: Bambara, 1.5 million; Dyula, 310,000; and Mandinka (Maninka), 1.4 million. Grimes (1996) gives the following: Bambara, 3 million; Dyula, 2,520,000 (3.4 million second language speakers); Mandinka, 914,500; Maninka, ,140,300; Malinke, 1,015,000; Jahanka, 24,500; and Manya, 45,400.

3 DIALECT SURVEY

Bambara is spoken primarily in Mali and also in eastern Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Burkina Faso. Dyula is spoken in Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. Mandinka is spoken in The Gambia and Senegal (where it is often called Malinke in French). Maninka is spoken in Guinea and southwestern Mali (also called Malinke).

4 USAGE

Mandikan is a widely spoken first language and lingua franca in the above-mentioned areas. It is broadcast in Gambia over Radio Gambia and Radio Syd and in Mali over Radiodiffusion Nationale du Mali. A Bambara monthly, Kibaru, is published in Mali.

5 ORTHOGRAPHIC STATUS

A Mandekan orthography was established at the UNESCO meeting in Bamako, Mali, in l966. Also, Bambara and Mandinka use orthographies standardized by Senegalese government decree in l975 (see Bibliography).

6 SETS OF LEARNING MATERIALS

It is not clear at this time whether one set of materials based on the Bambara dialect would be sufficient.