Maninkakan, Western

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A language of Senegal

ISO 639-3
mlq
Alternate Names
Malinka, Malinké, Maninga, Maninka, Maninka-Western, Maninkakan, Maninkaxan, Western Malinke
User Population

1,630,000 in Senegal (2017). Total users in all countries: 2,067,260.

Location

Kédougou and Tambacounda regions: north of Gambia river; Kolda region: near easternmost point of The Gambia.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing). Recognized language (2001, Constitution, Article 1).

Classification
Niger-Congo, Mande, Western, Central-Southwestern, Central, Manding-Jogo, Manding-Vai, Manding-Mokole, Manding, Manding-West
Dialects

Jahanka (Diakhanke, Diakhonké, Diakkanke, Jahanque, Jahonque, Jaxanka, Kyakanke). Lexical similarity: 59% with Mandinka [mnk]. A member of macrolanguage Mandingo [man].

Language Use

Most domains. Used by all. Many also use Wolof [wol], as the language of commerce and interethnic communication (Sarr and Thiaw 2012). Some also use French [fra], as the language of education and government (Diouf et al 2017).

Language Development

Radio. Grammar. Bible portions: 1997–2003.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Maninkakan, Western
Writing

Arabic script, Naskh variant [Arab]. Latin script [Latn].

Other Comments

Muslim, traditional religion.

Also spoken in:

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