Bambara
Story
Bambara, known as Bamanankan by its speakers, is a Mande-branch language whose cultural roots trace back to the medieval Mali Empire, and it became the dominant tongue of the Bambara Empire centred on Segou in the 18th century. It is a subject-object-verb language with only two tones, high and standard, and the same syllable can mean something entirely different depending on its pitch, as in sa meaning 'to die' versus sa with a high tone meaning 'snake'. In 1949, Guinean scholar Solomana Kante invented the N'Ko alphabet specifically for Manding languages including Bambara; N'Ko means 'I say' in all Manding varieties, and the script reads right to left. In 2023, a new Malian constitution elevated Bambara to co-official status alongside French and 12 other national languages.
At a glance
- Also known as: Bamanankan
- Family: Niger-Congo
- Region: West Africa
- Speakers: 14M (approximately 4.2 million l1 bambara speakers plus roughly 10 million l2 users across mali and neighbouring countries; wikipedia citing ethnologue; approximately 80 percent of mali's population speak it as first or second language)
- Writing system: Latin, N'Ko script, and Arabic script (Ajami)
- Greeting: I ni ce (hello)
Spoken in
Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia
Common questions
How many people speak Bambara?
Bambara is spoken by about 14M people (approximately 4.2 million l1 bambara speakers plus roughly 10 million l2 users across mali and neighbouring countries; wikipedia citing ethnologue; approximately 80 percent of mali's population speak it as first or second language).
Where is Bambara spoken?
Bambara is spoken in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia.
What language family does Bambara belong to?
Bambara belongs to the Niger-Congo language family.