Temne is a Mel language (southern branch of the West Atlantic branch of Niger Congo) and is spoken in the northern half of Sierra Leone.
Grimes (1996) cites figures of 1.2 million first language speakers and 240,000 second language speakers. Julie Nemer (personal communication, 1986) reports that "the 1974 census puts the number of ethnic Temne (i.e., first-language Temne speakers) at 815,227 (30% of the 2.7 million Sierra Leone population). Even given the use of Temne as a lingua franca (with varying degrees of competence) in predominantly Temne-speaking areas, the UBS (1982) estimate of 1.2 million seems inflated." The Voegelin and Voegelin (1977) report of 525,000 speakers appears too low.
Temne is one of the four official languages of Sierra Leone. It is also used as a lingua franca in predominantly Temne-speaking areas. Radio broadcasts are heard daily in Temne in Sierra Leone.
Nemer notes "a new orthography was developed as part of the `Literacy Programme for the Indigenous Languages' in 1980 by the Ministry of Education in Sierra Leone. This orthography has been used in three primary school readers, a word list and a number of health pamphlets as of this date."
One set of materials is presumed sufficient.
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