Mankanja
| Mankanja | ||
|---|---|---|
| speaker | 68,955 | |
| Linguistic classification |
Niger-Congo
|
|
| Official status | ||
| Other official status in |
 Senegal
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-3 |
knf |
|
The West Atlantic language Mankanja ( Portuguese Mancanha , French Mancagne ) is spoken by approximately 70,000 inhabitants of Guinea-Bissau , Senegal and Gambia from the Mankanja people of the same name .
It belongs to the language family of the Niger-Congo languages .
However, the language only has an official status in Senegal, and a spelling was developed in the course of its writing. Mankanja is known by the ethnic group itself (the Mankanja or "Bahula") as "Uhula". The term 'Mankanja' is incorrectly related to the people by colonialists who transferred the name of their chief to the people of this language themselves at the time of colonization.
The language now contains many loan words from the Guinea-Pissau Creole, from Portuguese and from French. These languages are also spoken by the Mankanja as a second mother tongue or foreign language. There is also extensive bilingualism with Mandjak , a closely related language that is mutually understandable, as well as other minority languages spoken in the region - such as Mandinka and Dioula .