Mande languages

E54190
branch of Niger–Congo languages language family

The Mande languages are a branch of West African languages spoken primarily in countries such as Mali, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, known for including major languages like Bambara, Mandinka, and Soninke.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (5)

Surface form Occurrences
Soninke 4
Manding languages 2
Central Mande languages 1

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf branch of Niger–Congo languages ⓘ
language family ⓘ
associatedWithEthnicGroup Mande ⓘ
surface form: Mande peoples
geographicDistribution West Africa ⓘ
hasMajorLanguage Bambara ⓘ
Bobo ⓘ
Dan ⓘ
Jahanka ⓘ
Jula ⓘ
Kono ⓘ
Kpelle ⓘ
Loko ⓘ
Loma ⓘ
Mandinka ⓘ
Maninka ⓘ
Mende ⓘ
Mande languages self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: Soninke

Susu ⓘ
Toma ⓘ
Vai ⓘ
hasSubgroup Mande languages self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: Central Mande languages

Eastern Mande languages ⓘ
Southern Mande languages ⓘ
Western Mande languages ⓘ
historicallyAssociatedWith Ghana Empire ⓘ
Mali Empire ⓘ
Songhai Empire ⓘ
linguisticFeature mostly tonal ⓘ
predominantly SOV word order ⓘ
rich aspectual verbal morphology ⓘ
region Sahel ⓘ
Inner Niger Delta ⓘ
surface form: Upper Niger basin
spokenIn Burkina Faso NERFINISHED ⓘ
Côte d’Ivoire NERFINISHED ⓘ
Guinea ⓘ
Guinea-Bissau ⓘ
Liberia ⓘ
Mali ⓘ
Mauritania ⓘ
Niger ⓘ
Senegal ⓘ
Sierra Leone ⓘ
The Gambia ⓘ
subclassOf West African languages ⓘ
usedAsLinguaFrancaIn Guinea ⓘ
Mali ⓘ
writingSystemUsed Arabic script ⓘ
Latin script ⓘ
N'Ko script ⓘ
surface form: N’Ko script

Vai script ⓘ

Referenced by (12)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Ghana Empire → associatedPeople → Mande languages ⓘ
this entity surface form: Soninke
Bambara → branchOf → Mande languages ⓘ
this entity surface form: Manding languages
Mali Empire → ethnicGroup → Mande languages ⓘ
this entity surface form: Soninke
Mandinka → hasLinguisticAncestor → Mande languages ⓘ
this entity surface form: Proto-Mande
Mande languages → hasMajorLanguage → Mande languages self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: Soninke
Mande languages → hasSubgroup → Mande languages self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: Central Mande languages
Mandinka → languageBranch → Mande languages ⓘ
Mandinka people → languageFamily → Mande languages ⓘ
Mandinka → languageGroup → Mande languages ⓘ
this entity surface form: Manding languages
Niger–Congo languages → majorSubgroup → Mande languages ⓘ
Mauritania → recognizedLanguage → Mande languages ⓘ
this entity surface form: Soninke
Arabic alphabet → usedFor → Mande languages ⓘ
this entity surface form: Mandinka language (Ajami)