Bambara language

Bambara is a language from Mali. More than 6 000 000 people (including second language users) speak it. It is called Bamanankan in Bambara. Bambara is very similar to Dioula. Dioula is not spoken by as many people, but it is used in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Gambia. The Bambara language is spoken mainly by people in the Bambara racial group. About 2,700,000 people are in this group, but Bambara is also used by other racial groups in Mali.

Bambara
Bamanankan
Native toMali
Regioncentral southern Mali and neighboring areas
Native speakers2.8 million  (1995)[1]
Spoken to varying degrees by 80% of the population of Mali
Language family
Niger–Congo ?
  • Mande
    • Western Mande
      • ...
        • Manding
          • East Manding
            • Bambara–Dyula
              • Bambara
Writing systemN'Ko, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-1bm
ISO 639-2bam
ISO 639-3bam

Bambara is in the Manding language family. These languages are similar to each other. This family of languages is in a larger language group. This group is called the Mandé group. It is an SOV language (Subject-Object-Verb) and it has two tones (pitches).

There are seven vowels: a, e, ɛ, i, o, ɔ and u.

Writing started during the period of French rule. There is not much written work, but there is a lot of oral literature, which is often stories about kings and heroes. The people who tell these stories are called Griot. They also sing religious songs. Many of their songs are very old and some people think the songs are as old as the old Mali Empire.

Bambara is a national language of Mali, and it is also the most widely understood language in Mali.

Bambara has many local dialects. Somono, Segou, San, Beledugu, Ganadugu and Wasulu and Sikasso are some dialects.

Bambara Language Media

References

  1. Bambara at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)