- Soninke language
language
name=Soninke
nativename=Soninkanxaane
familycolor=Niger-Congo
states=Mali ,Senegal ,Côte d'Ivoire , Gambia,Mauritania ,Guinea-Bissau andGuinea
region=West Africa
speakers=1,096,795
rank=
fam2=Mande
fam3=Western
fam4=Northwestern
fam5=Soninke-Bobo
fam5=Soninke-Boso
iso1=|iso2=snk|iso3=snkThe Soninke language (Soninke: "Soninkanxaane") is a Mande language spoken by the
Soninke people ofWest Africa . The language has an estimated 1,096,795 speakers, primarily located inMali , and also (in order of numerical importance of the communities) inSenegal ,Côte d'Ivoire ,The Gambia ,Mauritania ,Guinea-Bissau , andGuinea .The language is relatively homogeneous, with only slight phonological, lexical, and grammatical variations.
Linguistically, its nearest relatives are the
Bozo languages , centered around theNiger Inland Delta .It is thought that the
Imraguen language is a dialect of Soninke but this is not certain.External links
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=snk "Ethnologue" report on Soninke]
* [http://www.panafril10n.org/wikidoc/pmwiki.php/PanAfrLoc/Soninke PanAfriL10n page on Soninke]nc-lang-st
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