Mandinka (language)

Mandinka ; (لغة مندنكا)
Spoken in	Senegal , Gambia , Guinea-Bissau , Sierra Leone
speaker	approx. 1.2 million
Linguistic ; classification	Niger Congo Languages Mande languages Mandinka ;
Official status
Other official status in	Gambia
Recognized minority / ; regional language in	Senegal
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mnk

Mandinka is a language in West Africa .

Together with several other closely related languages ( Bambara , Dioula , Maninka and others) it belongs to the Manding - Vai branch of the Mande languages , which form a primary branch of the Niger-Congo languages .

Mandinka is spoken by around 1.5 million speakers in Gambia , Mali , Senegal and Guinea-Bissau . It is the most widely spoken language in The Gambia. In Sierra Leone there are almost 89,000 native speakers , known there as Madingo (as of 2015).

The language is written in both Latin letters and Arabic script , with Latin being the officially used and Arabic being the older. In addition, Mandinka is written less often in N'Ko , a script specially developed for Mande languages in the middle of the 20th century.

Phonetics and Phonology

Consonants

Table 1 shows the phonemes of the consonants in Mandinka. The IPA symbols are in brackets , otherwise the standard orthography of the languages in Senegal was used.

Table 1: Consonant inventory - Mandinka

	labial	dental	palatal	velar	laryngeal
voiceless plosives	p	t	c [ʨ]	k
voiced plosives	b	d	j [ʥ]
Fricatives	f	s			H
Nasals	m	n	ñ [ɲ]	ŋ
lateral approximants		l
Vibrants		r
Gliding lute (half vowel)	w		y [j]

Source: Creissels, 2015, p. 4

Vowels

Table 2 shows the vowel inventory in the Mandinka. There are 5 distinctive vowel qualities. The vowel length is also distinctive and is characterized by doubling the single vowels (ii, ee, aa, oo, uu).

Example: sàrá "watermelon" vs. sàará "firstborn"

Table 2: Vowel inventory - Mandinka

	front		back
closed	i		u
half open	e		O
open		a

Source: Creissels, 2015, p. 4

volume

Mandinka has 2 contrasting tones: high and low.

E.g .: ŋ́ 'I' vs. ŋ̀ 'we' and í 'you' vs. ì 'they (pl.)'

(Creissels, 2015, p.5)

noun

case

There are no classifiers, nominal classes, or grammatical genders in the Mandinka. This phenomenon, the complete lack of grammaticalized nominal classification systems, can also be found in other Mande languages . However, there is a plural marker '- lú '. This is often left out when the plurality is evident from the context and an associative plural marker '- ñòlú '.

NP structure

(GEN) (DET1) N (ATTR) (NUM) (DET2)

Nominal flexion

Strictly speaking, there is no flexion morphology in the Mandinka . There is a “default” determiner '- ò ' and a plural marker '- lú ', which look like suffixes . However, these are enclitics that occupy the DET2 position. It follows that the noun does not have to be a stem to which suffixes have to be added.

Pronominal system

	weak (non-emphatic)	strong (emphatic)
1 sg.	ŋ́	emph. ń-tè
2. so.	í	emph. í-tè
3rd sg.	à	emph. à-té
1. pl.	ŋ̀	emph. ǹ-tè-lú ~ ǹ-tò-lú
2. pl.	álí ~ álú	emph. álí-tè-lú ~ álú-tò-lú
3rd pl.	ì	emph. ì-tè-lú ~ ì-tò-lú

Source: Creissels, 2015, p. 15

Verbs

There is a predicative marker , this is a Portmanteau morpheme and encodes aspect and modal distinctions and expresses polarity. A simple verbal lexeme can only appear in the positive imperative function or as a kind of infinitive without the predicative marker.

Predicative markers

Completely

positive: S yé OV (X) (transitive) / SV - tá (X) (intransitive)

negative: S mâŋ (O) V (X)

Ŋ (1SG) + yè (CPL) and ŋ (1PL) + yè (CPL) are referred to as NA and NA realized

(Creissels, 2015, p.21)

conjunctive

positive: S yè (O) V (X)

negative: S kánà (O) V (X)

(Creissels, 2015, p.21)

Potentials

positive: S sì ~ sè (O) V (X)

sì ~ sè = dialectal variants

(Creissels, 2015, p.21)

Incomplete

typically used in contexts of habit

positive: S kà (O) V (X)

negative: S búkà (O) V (X)

(Creissels, 2015, p.21)

Resultant

positive: S bé V - ríŋ (X)

negative: S té V - ríŋ (X)

(Creissels, 2015, p.22)

Future tense

positive: S bé (O) V - lá (X)

negative: S té (O) V - lá (X)

(Creissels, 2015, p.22)

Progressive

only exists in some varieties of the mandinka

positive: S bé (O) V - kâŋ (X)

negative: S té (O) V - kâŋ (X)

(Creissels, 2015, p.22)

imperative

positive: no predicative marker

negative: like the subjunctive ( kánà )

Zero coding in the 2nd person Singular

(1) Díndíŋ-ò yè táa kàràmbúŋ-ò tó!

 Kind-D  SUBJ gehen Schule-D   LOC

"Let the kid go to school!"

(2) Táa kàràmbúŋ-ò tó!

 gehen Schule-D   LOC

"Go to school!"

(3) Álí táa kàràmbúŋ-ò tó!

 2Pl gehen Schule-D   LOC

"Goes to school!"

(4) Kánà táa kàràmbúŋ-ò tó!

 SUBJ.NEG gehen Schule-D   LOC

"Don't go to school!"

(5) Álí kánà táa kàràmbúŋ-ò tó!

 2Pl SUBJ.NEG gehen Schule-D   LOC

"Don't go to school!"

(Creissels, 2015, pp. 22-23)

Present vs. preterite

In general there is no distinction between the present and the past tense. Usually the context implies the reference for the past. Sometimes there is a marker for the past ( nǔŋ , stem related to núntò “before / earlier”) in post-verbal or sentence-final position.

(6) Wǒo tùm-ôo, ŋ̀ kà ñòô fíyì bâaké.

 DEM Zeit-D 1Pl INCL Hirse.D anbauen viel

"We used to grow a lot of millet."

(7) Kód-òo bé sàarêe-ríŋ nǔŋ bàŋk-ôo kónò lè.

 Geld-D LOCCOP vergraben-RESULT PST Erde-D  in FOC

"The money was buried in the ground."

(Creissels, 2015, p.23)

Infinite verb forms

- V- lá (infinitive)

- V- ríŋ (resultant participle)

- V- tôo (simultaneity, gerundive)

(Creissels, 2015, p.20)

Auxiliaries

In some biverbal constructions, the higher verb serves as an auxiliary to the subordinate verb. It expresses temporal, modal, or aspect specifications.

(8) Ì bòyí-tá dòokúw-òo ké-là.

3Pl fallen-CPL Arbeit-D  machen-INF

"They started to work."

bòyí (to fall) is used as an inchoatives auxiliary

(Creissels, 2015, p.23)

Word order

Sentence level

S- (O) -V- (X) - (X ')

X: Obliquus (= general expression for phrases in postverbal position, mostly encoded as adpositional phrase) (Creissels, 2019, p.5)

Phrase level

C pm VX *

C1 pm C2 VX *

C: single core term of the verbal predicative construction with a core term

C1: in a verbal predicative construction with two core terms, the term takes the first position and is separated from the verb by the other core term

C2: in the verbal predicative construction with two core terms, the term that immediately precedes the verb

pm: predicative marker

X *: string consisting of any number of X's

(Creissels, 2019, p.3)

(9) Fànkàntáŋ-ò-lú ká sùulá máakóyír-òo lá.

 arm-D-PL     INCPL.POS brauchen Hilfe-D    POSTP
 C            pm V        X

"The poor need help."

(Creissels, 2019, p.4)

(10) Kèw-ôo yè kód-òo díi mùs-ôo lá.

  Mann-D CPL.POS Geld-D geben Frau-D POSTP
  C1     pm C2     V     X

"The man gave the woman money."

(Creissels, 2019, p.4)

Simple sentences

Interrogative clauses

Interrogative clauses always contain the auxiliary-like predicative marker, which stands between agent and patient . They differ from assertive sentences in two ways: Either by: 1. increasing stress or 2. an inserted interrogative particle (Creissels, 2015, p.30).

Decision question

Yes / no questions are of the same construction as assertive sentences. Very often, however, they also contain the interrogative particle " bǎŋ ", which occurs in the final position of the sentence (Creissels, 2015, p.30).

(11) Kèw-óo yè kód-òo díi mùs-ôo lá bǎŋ?

  Mann-D CPL Geld-D geben Frau-D POSTP Q

"Did the husband give the wife money?"

(Creissels, 2015, p.30)

W questions

Inventory of interrogative words:

jùmâa = who / what?

mǔŋ = what / what kind?

mùmmâa = In what form?

dǐi = how?

mìntóo ~ mùntóo = Where?

jèlú ~ jòlú = How many?

jèlùñjáŋ ~ jòlùñjáŋ = At which position?

Mǔŋ nè yè à tínnà ..., = What caused that? / Why?

(Creissels, 2015, p.30)

(12) Kèw-óo yè kód-òo díi jùmáa (lè) lá?

   Mann-D CPL Geld-D geben Wer  (FOC) POSTP

"Who did the man give the money to?"

(Creissels, 2015, p.30)

literature

Karin Knick: gibberish. Mandinka for Gambia - word for word . Reise Know-How Verlag, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-89416-286-4 .

Web links

Website for the Mandinka (in Mandinka and some other languages, with some language files)
Online dictionary German-Mandinka (expandable, vocabulary learning program)
deniscreissels.fr

Individual evidence

↑ Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census national analytical report. (PDF) Statistics Sierra Leone, October 2017, p. 89 ff.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Denis Creissels: A sketch of Mandinka. (PDF) In: deniscreissels.fr. 2015, accessed on May 4, 2019 .
↑ Denis Creissels: Grammatical relations in Mandinka. (PDF) In: deniscreissels.fr. 2019, accessed on May 5, 2019 .

[1] Sierra Leone 2015 Population and Housing Census national analytical report. (PDF) Statistics Sierra Leone, October 2017, p. 89 ff.

[:0-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Denis Creissels: A sketch of Mandinka. (PDF) In: deniscreissels.fr. 2015, accessed on May 4, 2019 .

[3] Denis Creissels: Grammatical relations in Mandinka. (PDF) In: deniscreissels.fr. 2019, accessed on May 5, 2019 .