- Koyra Chiini language
language
name=Koyra Chiini
states=Mali
region=Niger River
speakers=200,000 (as of1999 )
familycolor=Nilo-Saharan
fam2=Songhay
fam3=Northern
iso2=ssa|iso3=khqKoyra Chiini ("koyra ʧiini", literally "town language"), or Western Songhay, is a variety of Songhai in
Mali , spoken by about 200,000 people (as of1999 ) along theNiger River inTimbuktu and upriver from it in the towns ofDiré , Tonka,Goundam , andNiafunké , as well as in the Saharan town ofAraouane to its north. In this area, Koyra Chiini is the dominant language and the "lingua franca ", although minorities speakingHassaniya Arabic, Tamashek, and Fulani are found. Djenné Chiini ("ʤɛnnɛ ʧiini"), the Songhai variety spoken inDjenné , is mutually comprehensible, but has noticeable differences with Koyra Chiini proper - in particular, two extra vowels (ɛ and ɔ) and syntactic differences related to focalization. East of Timbuktu, Koyra Chiini gives way relatively abruptly to another Songhai language,Koyraboro Senni .Unlike most Songhai languages, Koyra Chiini has no phonemic tones, and has
Subject Verb Object word order rather thanSubject Object Verb . It has changed original "z" to "j".References
*
Jeffrey Heath , 1998. "A Grammar of Koyra Chiini, the Songhay of Timbuktu". Mouton de Gruyter: Mouton Grammar Series. ISBN 3-11-016285-7.
* ed. Jeffrey Heath, Wilhelm J. Möhlig, 1998. "Texts in Koyra Chiini Songhay of Timbuktu, Mali". Ruediger Koeppe. ISBN 3-89645-260-6.
* Jeffrey Heath, "Dictionnaire Songhay-Anglais-Français: Tome 1 - Koyra Chiini, ou "songhay de Tombouctou", Tome 2 - Djenné Chiini, ou "songhay de Djenné". L'Harmattan:Paris 1998. ISBN 2-7384-6726-1.* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=KHQ Ethnologue]
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