Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Maninka

SOURCE

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - Guinea Country Office

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Maninka

Language Profile

TOTAL SPEAKERS

2,140,300 (1991)

USAGE BY COUNTRY (OFFICIAL LANGUAGE)

Home Speakers: Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia

BACKGROUND

It belongs to the Mandebranch of the Niger-Congo family, spoken by 3,5 million people (over 6 million in all countries) and is used as lingua franca in West Africa. There are several varieties called with different names (Mandinka and Dioula, for instance). Maninka of Guinea is the same as that of Liberia; Bambara of Mali and Mandinka of Gambia and Senegal do not differ greatly. The Nko script is popular, created in 1948 by Sulemana Kante.