Languages of the World
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Language family

Mande

Languages of West Africa – Bambara, Dyula, Mandinka, Soninke, Mende, Kpelle and others. The Manding languages serve as lingua francas across Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire; N’Ko is the alphabet created for them in 1949.

14 languages on this site · c. 35 million speakers in total (sum of estimates, bilingual people counted more than once) · the main official language in 1 country.

Highlighted countries: the main official language belongs to this family.

Western Mande 11

  1. Bambara 10 million
  2. Dyula 7.4 million
  3. Mandingo 3.9 million
  4. Susu 3.6 million
  5. Mende 2.6 million
  6. Kpelle 1.6 million
  7. Soninke 1.3 million
  8. Kita Maninkakan 1.1 million
  9. Xaasongaxango 220 thousand
  10. Jenaama Bozo 187 thousand
  11. Mandingo –

Eastern Mande 2

  1. Nuclear Dan 1.6 million
  2. Mann 391 thousand

No separate branch 1

  1. N’Ko 699 thousand

Family tree

Subgroups according to Glottolog with the languages that are in the atlas – click to expand.

Western Mande 11
Manding-Kpelle 9
Central Mande 7
Manding-Jogo › Manding-Vai › Manding-Mokole › Manding 6
East Manding 2
West Manding 4
Kita-Kagoro 1
Xasonka 1
Susu-Yalunka 1
Southwest Mande 2
Mende-Loma › Mende-Bandi › Mende-Loko 1
Kpelle 1
Northwestern Mande › Soninke-Bozo 2
Soninkean 1
Bozo › Nuclear Bozo 1
Eastern Mande › Southeastern Mande › Mano-Dan 2
Guro-Dan › Dan-Toura › Dan 1

Classification: Glottolog (CC BY 4.0). Branches are selected nodes of the Glottolog tree.