A sketch of Mandinka

2020

This study describes the relationship of between Manggarai language and Manggarai culture, as reflected in the culturalconceptualisation of Manggarai people on the origin of life that includes the origin of human beings, food plants, and animals. The study isviewed from the perspective of cultural linguistics. The study is descriptive. The results of study show that there is a close relationship betweenManggarai language and Manggarai culture, as reflected in the cultural conceptualisation of Manggarai people on the origin of life that includesthe origin of human beings, food plants, and animals.

Mandenkan, 2018

This paper gives a preliminary account of the dialectal situation of Mano, a South Mande language. Mano has at least three varieties in Guinea and three varieties in Liberia. The focus of the paper is a comparison between the central Guinean dialect, Maa, and the southernmost Liberian variety, with some additional information from other Guinean and Liberian varieties. Some patterns of variation in phonology, morphosyntax and lexicon are presented. The paper argues that some of the dialectal differences in Mano could be explained by different contact situations: while in the North, and especially in Guinea, Mano is influenced by Kpelle, which was in turn influenced by Manding, in the South of Liberia, Mano is influenced by Dan. The patterns of spread of common Mano – Kpelle – Manding vocabulary show a complex multilayered picture of horizontal contact between Mano and Kpelle and across different dialects, of old contact with Manding via trade and a more recent introduction of Manding borrowings intensified (or motivated) by the translation practices of the Guinean missionaries and limited by political borders between Guinea and Liberia.

Mandenkan, 2018

This paper 1 gives a preliminary account of the dialectal situation of Mano, a South Mande language. My main descriptive focus is Guinean Mano, I have been doing fieldwork on the language since 2009 and I have spent more than 14 months in the field, mainly in the city of Nzerekore and in neighboring villages. A description of the Guinean variety can be found in Khachaturyan (2015). The information on Liberian dialects was obtained in January 2018 during a short trip to three Liberian villages, Gbanquoi, Kpein and Flumpa, as well as from written sources: two language manuals: (deZeeuw & Kruah 1981; Neal et al. 1946), a Bible translation (UBS 1978) and some literacy materials (Zarwolo 2009). The paper is organized as follows. Section 1 gives a sketch of the sociolinguistic situation. Section 2 provides some preliminary observations of the interdialectal differences in phonology. Section 3 gives some details on morphosyntactic variation. Section 4 presents differences in lexicon. The results are discussed in Section 5 where I explain, in particular, why some of the dialectal differences could be in fact an issue of contact with different languages: Kpelle, especially in the North of the Mano zone, and Dan in the South. 1 I would like to express my gratitude to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful criticism. As usual, I am thankful to Pe Mamy for his tireless help and support in (our) language research, and also for his wonderful companionship in our travels (we will have to have more Club beers to share in Liberia!). I am indebted to Leelamen Zarwolo for accompanying us in Liberia and introducing us to Mano communities-without him, we would never have accomplished what we have in just a few days,-for his valuable language commentaries, and also for the literacy materials he created. I am also thankful to the University of Helsinki for the financial support of the fieldwork and for Jack Rueter for language check and inspiring comments.

Studies in language companion series, 2017

Mandinka, spoken by approximately 1.5 million speakers in The Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea Bissau, is the westernmost member of the Manding dialect cluster included in the Western branch of the Mande language family: 1 The area where Mandinka is spoken largely coincides with the territory of the precolonial state of Kaabu. 3 Speakers of Mandinka call themselves Mandiŋkóolu (singular: Mandiŋkôo) and designate their language as mandiŋkakáŋo. 4 Rowlands 1959 and Creissels 1983 constitute so far the main references on Mandinka grammar. Creissels & Sambou (Forthcoming) will provide a more detailed presentation of Mandinka phonology and morphosyntax. For descriptions of other Manding varieties, see Dumestre 2003 (Bambara) and Creissels 2009 (Kita Maninka). 1 Etymologically, Mande, Manden, Manding, and Mali, are variants of the same term, originally a toponym designating the upper valley of the Niger River and a state located in this region, whose capital was Kangaba. In the 13th century the Manding prince Sundiata Keita founded an empire, known as the Manding, Mande(n) or Mali empire, that extended over a large area and flourished until the 16th century. In the terminology of linguistics, Mande and Manding have been retained with meanings that must be carefully distinguished. In linguistics, Manding refers to a set of closely related dialects resulting from the evolution of the language that was spoken in Manding before the expansion of Sundiata's empire, whereas Mande refers to the language family that includes Manding dialects. It is commonly admitted that the time distance between the most ancient branches of the Mande language family exceeds 5000 years, whereas the time depth of the Manding dialect cluster does not exceed 8 centuries. On the classification of Mande languages, see

2016

Manda (N.11) is an under-documented Bantu language in southwestern Tanzania, with most mention of its closest genetic affiliation in the work of Nurse (1988). Nurse concludes that Manda belongs with the Southern Tanzania Highlands (SH) subgroup based primarily on phonological evidence. This paper uses new data from workshops and surveys conducted by SIL International to show that Nurse’s conclusion does not take into account the necessary dialectal information, namely that the Matumba dialect (which Nurse uses) is phonologically distinct from the remaining Manda dialects. Lexicostatistical, phonological, and sociohistorical evidence is taken into account. Further, in light of this new evidence, we propose two likely historical scenarios, both of which posit that Manda is most closely genetically affiliated with the Rufiji subgroup.

Journal of Language Contact, 2010

International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation

Regional languages, namely the mother tongue or first language for most Indonesian people, ​​ can be used in intra-ethnic interactions, both in official situations and not regional situations only. Mandaran language is used in daily communication for people of Mandar ethnic descent in Banyuwangi. Therefore, the researchers examined the maintenance of the Mandaran language in Banyuwangi. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative, using observation and interview techniques to obtain data. The results of this study show that the descendants of the Mandaran ethnicity still use the Mandaran language in daily communication and, in some traditional activities, the introduction of the Mandaran language as the mother tongue to their children and amidst the rise of publications in the Banyuwangi regional language and slang.