Mende, Bandi, Loko
< Manding | Major Languages | Meru >
Categories: Languages, Sierra Leone, Liberia
On this page... (hide)
- 1. Classification / Classification
- 2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
- 3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
- 4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
- 5. Usage / Utilisation
- 6. Orthography / Orthographe
- 7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
- 8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
- 9. Comments / Remarques
- 10. References / Références
1. Classification / Classification
Mende, Bandi, and Loko belong to the southwestern group of Mande. (Webbook?)
Ethnologue? lists the classification as: Niger-Congo, Mande, Western, Central-Southwestern, Southwestern, Mende-Loma, Mende-Bandi, Mende-Loko
Although Mende is in the Mande branch of Niger-Congo the name is a separate term from Mande (see also Manding).
Bandi is also called Gbandi. The Lokaa (or Yako) language of Nigeria, sometimes also called Loko, is unrelated.
2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
Mende, Bandi, and Loko are spoken in Sierra Leone/Liberia, northeastern Liberia, and north-central Sierra Leone, respectively. (Webbook)
Apparently some speakers of Bandi were (are?) located in Guinea as refugees.
3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
According to to information compiled from Ethnologue:
- Mende
- 1,460,000 in Sierra Leone (1987 UBS)
- 19,700 in Liberia (1991 Vanderaa)
- Population total all countries: 1,479,700
- Bandi
- 100,000 in Liberia (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk)
- 50,000 have fled to Guinea (1993 Johnstone)
- Population total all countries: 107,000
- Loko
- 115,000 in Sierra Leone (1989 J. Kaiser TISLL)
4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
No thorough dialect survey has come to our attention. Dwyer reports that Mende, Bandi, and Loko "stand on the dividing line between being distinct languages and being dialects." (Webbook)
According to information compiled from Ethnologue:
- Mende
- Kpa
- Ko
- Waanjama
- Sewawa
- Bandi [Lexical similarity 96% among the 6 dialects, 83% with the closest Mende dialect. ... considered to be a separate language from Mende]
- Tahamba
- Wawana
- Wulukoha
- Hasala
- Lukasa
- Hembeh
- Loko
5. Usage / Utilisation
Mende is a regional lingua franca and first language in southern Sierra Leone; it is one of the four major languages of Sierra Leone. Bandi and Loko are local first languages. (Webbook)
In Bandi, the Tahamba dialect is used for literature. (Ethnologue)
6. Orthography / Orthographe
6.1 Status / Statut
Mende is written in a Latin-based alphabet, with extended characters. The exact current status of the orthography needs to be clarified.
The Mende KiKaKui script is apparently still used by a small number of people. It is not yet encoded in Unicode.
6.2 Sample Alphabet / Alphabet exemple
Alphabets as reported by Hartell (1993) and presented in Systèmes alphabétiques:
- Mende: http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/AfficheTableauOrtho2N.php?choixLangue=mende
- Bandi http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/AfficheTableauOrtho2N.php?choixLangue=bandi+%28gbande%29
- Lɔkɔ http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/AfficheTableauOrtho2N.php?choixLangue=l%C9%94k%C9%94
A sample Mende text is shown on the "Language Museum" site: http://www.language-museum.com/m/mende.htm
7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
7.1 Fonts / Polices
Unicode fonts with extended Latin ranges would be necessary.
7.2 Keyboard layouts / Dispositions de clavier
Gate2Home - Krio Keyboard (virtual online keyboard; can be used to type Mende) http://gate2home.com/Krio-Keyboard
7.3 Content on computers & internet / Contenu en informatique et sur l'Internet
Dunya Lahi Nuvuu Lɔnyisia Va (Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Mende): http://www.unhchr.ch/udhr/lang/mfy.htm
7.4 Localized software / Logiciels localisés
Not aware of any.
7.5 Language codes / Codes de langue
Mende
- ISO 639-1: -
- ISO 639-2: men
- ISO 639-3: men
Bandi
- ISO 639-3: bza
Loko
- ISO 639-3: lok
7.6 Other / Autre
8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
8.1 Individuals (experts) / Individuelles (experts)
8.2 Institutions / Institutions
8.3 On the internet / Sur la toile
9. Comments / Remarques
10. References / Références
Chanard, Christian (2006), Systèmes alphabétiques des langues africaines, LLACAN, CNRS, http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/
Dwyer, David (1997), Webbook of African Languages, http://africa.isp.msu.edu/afrlang/hiermenu.html (page on "Mende/Bandi/Loko," http://africa.isp.msu.edu/afrlang/Mende_root.html )
Hartell, Rhonda L., ed. (1993), The Alphabets of Africa. Dakar: UNESCO and SIL. (The French edition, published the same year, is entitled Alphabets de Langues Africaines).
SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Bandi," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/bza
______, "Loko," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/lok
______, "Mende," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/men
SIL International, "ISO 639 Code Tables," http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp
U.S. Library of Congress, "ISO 639.2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages: Alpha-3 codes arranged alphabetically by the English name of language," http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php
Wikipedia, "Gbandi language," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gbandi_language
______, "Loko language," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loko_language
______, "Mende language," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mende_language
< Manding | Major Languages | Meru >
Categories: Languages, Sierra Leone, Liberia