The Manding languages (sometimes spelt Manden, and archaically Mandingo) are a dialect continuum within the Mandé family (itself possibly within the larger Niger-Congo family) spoken in West Africa. Varieties of Manding are generally considered (among native speakers) to be mutually intelligible – dependent on exposure or familiarity with dialects between speakers – and spoken by around 37 million people in The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Liberia and at least two indigenous scripts.

  • The Arabic script was introduced into the region with the arrival of Islam and was adapted to write in the Manding languages as the Ajami, which is still commonly used for Mandinka.
  • The Latin script was introduced into the region following European conquest and colonization. It is used fairly widely, with "official" versions in many countries, for teaching, literacy and publication.
  • The Nko script, developed in 1949 by Solomana Kante, is designed to write Manding using a common literary standard comprehensible to speakers of all these varieties. It is gaining popularity.
  • A lesser-known original script was developed for Bambara in the early 20th century but is not used.

See also

  • Proto-Mandekan reconstructions (Wiktionary)
  • Mande languages
  • NKo language

References

  • PanAfrican L10n page on Manding
  • Resources to learn Bambara, Dioula and Malinké — An ka taa Project