Jalonke
| Jalonke (Yalunka) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Sierra Leone , Senegal , Guinea , Mali | |
| speaker | approximately 172,000 | |
| Linguistic classification |
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
- |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
nic (other Niger-Congo languages) |
|
| ISO 639-3 | ||
The West African language Jalonke (also known as Jalunka , Yalunka or Diallonke ) is still spoken by around 172,000 people today. Distribution area are the West African countries Sierra Leone , Senegal , Guinea and Mali . There are around 45,000 native speakers in Sierra Leone (as of 2015).
The name Jalonke means "the language of the Jalon". This is a reference to the Jalonke people in the Futa Jalon Mountains in Guinea.
Use of language
Jalonke is only spoken within difficult to access regional enclaves (linguistic islands). Until the Jalonke was displaced by the Ful , Jalonke was also used supraregionally.
There are among others the dialects Firia, Sulima and Musaia.