Mande Languages
Mande languages are a group of approximately forty languages belonging to the Niger-Congo family, spoken by an estimated twenty-five million people primarily in West Africa. These languages are categorized into two main groups: western Mande, which includes twenty-seven languages, and eastern Mande, consisting of thirteen languages. Mande languages are notable for lacking a noun-class system, which is a characteristic feature of many other Niger-Congo languages, leading some experts to propose that they should be classified separately.
The languages employ a variety of writing systems, including regional alphabets, Arabic, Latin scripts, and unique syllabaries invented by various Mande communities. Historical roots suggest that the Mande people migrated from North Central Africa approximately four thousand years ago, adapting to changes in their environment and developing agriculture. Key historical developments, such as the rise and fall of empires like Ghana and Mali, significantly influenced the evolution of Mande languages, particularly the Manding dialects.
Modern Mande speakers are found in several West African countries, including Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivoire. Among them, Bambara stands out as the most widely spoken Mande language, followed by Malinke and Dyula. Despite similarities among many dialects, some languages within this group, such as Maninka and Mandinko, are mutually unintelligible, reflecting the rich linguistic diversity of the Mande communities.
Mande Languages
The Mande languages group comprises forty languages spoken by various peoples in the savanna plateau of the western bulge of Africa. Used by an estimated twenty-five million people, Mande is considered part of the Niger-Congo language family, one of the largest language families in the world and the largest in Africa, with more than 1,500 distinct languages. Mande is divided into two groups, the western group comprising twenty-seven languages, and the eastern group of thirteen.
Because Mande languages do not use a noun-class system like the other Niger-Congo languages, some experts dispute Mande’s inclusion in the Niger-Congo family, instead advocating for an independent category. A noun-class system is the classification of nouns with such attributes as gender, animacy, or shape. The Mande languages also employ a variety of writing systems. Some use regional alphabets, others use Arabic or Latin scripts, and still others use a phonetic writing system called a syllabary—a group of symbols representing syllables.
History and Classification
Archaeologists believe the ancestors of the Mande people resided in North Central Africa about four thousand years ago. They lived in the area when the Sahara region was more fertile, which helped them develop their own form of agriculture. About 2000 BCE, the Sahara entered a dry period. The people migrated to the Western Sudan region as a result and eventually began to build settlements and larger cities. The discovery of gold in the region led to the creation of the Ghana Empire about 300 CE. This kingdom lasted until the thirteenth century, when it was replaced by the powerful Mali Empire, which thrived in the region until its decline in the fifteenth century. The history of the Mande people from this time is difficult to ascertain, because they left no written records. Much of what is known comes from oral history passed down through generations.
Many of the modern Mande dialects developed under the Mali Empire. Some of the most prominent of these are direct descendants of core Mande languages called Manding, which were spoken in the royal court of the Mali kingdom. When the empire broke up, the people spread out and settled various areas of western Africa, taking with them their language and culture.
Most Mande languages use a system of seven vowels, although some northern dialects use five, and some southern dialects use nine. Mande words often use a consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel progression, with the second vowel usually the same as the first. It is a tonal language, which means the same word can have two distinct meanings depending on the pitch or accent used in pronunciation. In Mande, this accent is placed on entire words not syllables and usually consists of two tones, although up to five may be used. Sentence order in Mande languages is usually subject-object-verb.
Some researchers have found evidence of an ancient proto-Mande writing system dating from about 3000 BCE. This system used a group of pictographs known as a syllabary, in which symbols are used to represent consonant and vowel groupings, or syllables. This system is very similar to the script used in the Vai language of Liberia and Sierra Leone. The modern form of Vai consists of a syllabary of more than two hundred characters and was reportedly invented in the early nineteenth century. Linguists continue to debate whether it was a new creation or influenced by the ancient proto-Mande script.
Other Mande languages also use syllabaries as a writing system. The Loma people of Liberia have a 185-character script invented in the 1930s; the Kpelle of Liberia and Guinea use an 88- character system also invented in the 1930s; and the Mende of Liberia and Sierra Leone use a 195-character syllabary created in the 1920s.
The largest group of Mande speakers uses an alphabet called the N’Ko. The N’Ko was developed in 1949 and is used by millions of the Maninka, Bambara, and Dyula peoples. N’Ko is a twenty-seven character alphabet that also employs an additional sixteen characters for European and Arabic words that cannot be translated into the native language. Other Mande languages use writing systems based on Arabic alphabets or the Latin alphabet.
Many Mande languages share the name of the people who speak them. For example, the Kono people of Sierra Leone speak Kono, and the Jenaama of Mali speak Jenaama. While many of the dialects are similar and can be understood by other speakers, some Mande languages, such as Maninka and Mandinko, are mutually unintelligible.
Geographic Distribution and Modern Usage
Mande languages are spoken by twenty-five million people in the West African nations of Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, and Burkina Faso. They are also spoken in isolated areas of Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, and Nigeria.
Linguists divide Mande into two groups: western Mande and eastern Mande. The western group is the largest and consists of twenty-seven dialects. The Bambara people of Mali have the most Mande speakers with more than 4 million. They are followed by the Malinke of Guinea, Mali, and Sierra Leone with 3.5 million; the Dyula of Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire with 2.5 million; and the Soninke with 2 million. Of the eastern Mande languages, Dan is the largest with about 1.5 million speakers, followed by Bissa with seven hundred thousand.
Bibliography
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Childs, George Tucker. An Introduction to African Languages. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2003. Print.
Conrad, David C. Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2004. Print.
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