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Senufo languages

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Languages

   The Senufo languages (Senoufo in Francophone usage) comprise ca. 15
   languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Côte d'Ivoire, the
   southeast of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated
   language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the northwest of Ghana. The
   Senufo languages are generally considered a branch of the Gur
   sub-family of Niger-Congo languages. Garber (1987) estimates the total
   number of Senufos at some 1.5 million; the Ethnologue, based on various
   population estimates, counts 2.7 million. The Senufo languages are
   bounded to the west by Mande languages, to the south by Kwa languages,
   and to the north and east by Gur languages.

   The Senufo languages are like Gur languages in that they have a
   suffixal noun class system and that verbs are marked for aspect. Most
   Gur languages to the north of Senufo have a two tone downstep system,
   but the tonal system of the Senufo languages is mostly analysed as a
   three level tone system (High, Mid, Low).

   The Senufo languages have been influenced by the neighbouring Mande
   languages in numerous ways. Many words have been borrowed from the
   Mande languages Bambara and Jula. Carlson (1994:2) notes that ‘it is
   probable that several grammatical constructions are calques on the
   corresponding Bambara constructions’. Like Mande languages, the Senufo
   languages have a Subject Object Verb (SOV) constituent order, rather
   than the SVO order which is more common in Gur and in Niger-Congo as a
   whole.

Classification

                                   Senufo
   Senoufo
     Geographic
   distribution:   northern Côte d'Ivoire, southern Mali, southern Burkina
                   Faso
       Genetic
   classification: Niger-Congo
                     Atlantic-Congo
                      Volta-Congo
                      Senufo
    Subdivisions:
                   Suppire-Mamara
                   Karaboro
                   Senari
                   Kpalaga (Palaka)
                   Tagwana-Djimini
                   Nafaanra

   Delafosse (1904:192–217) was the first linguist to write on the Senufo
   languages. He noted that the Senufo were often confused with the Mande,
   partly because use of Mande languages by the Senufo was widespread:

          [L]a langue mandé s'est répandue parmi eux, des alliances
          nombreuses ont eu lieu... C'est là l'origine de la confusion que
          l ón a faite souvent entre Mandé et Sénoufo ... alors que, aut
          triple point de vue ethnographique, antropologique et
          linguistique, la différence est profonde entre ces deux
          familles. (p. 193)

   In the influential classifications of Westermann (1927, 1970[1952]) and
   Bendor-Samuel (1971), the Senufo languages were classified as Gur
   languages. Starting with Manessy (1975) however, this classification
   was called into doubt. In 1989, John Naden, in his overview of the Gur
   family, stated that ‘[t]he remaining languages, especially Senufo, may
   well be no more closely related to Central Gur than to Guang or Togo
   Remnant, or than these to Central Gur or Volta-Comoe’ (1989:143).
   Because of this, Williamson and Blench (2000:18,25-6) place Senufo as a
   branching immediately before Gur in the Volta-Congo node of the
   Niger-Congo phylum.

Subclassification

   Early Senufo classifications (e.g. Bendor-Samuel 1971) were mainly
   geographically motivated, dividing the Senufo languages into Northern,
   Central, and Southern Senufo. In subsequent years, this terminology was
   adopted by several linguists working on Senufo languages (Garber 1987;
   Carlson 1983, 1994). Mensah (1983) and Mills (1984) avoided this
   geographical terms but used mainly the same grouping, according to
   Garber 1987. SIL International in its Ethnologue subdivides the Senufo
   languages in six groups. Combining the two classifications results in
   the grouping below.
   Map of the Senufo language area showing the major groups and some
   neighbouring languages.
   Enlarge
   Map of the Senufo language area showing the major groups and some
   neighbouring languages.

   Northern Senufo
     * Suppire-Mamara languages
          + Mamara (Minyanka, Mianka)
          + Nanerige (Nanergé)
          + Sucite (Sicite, Sìcìté)
          + Supyire (Suppire)
          + Shempire (Syempire)

   Central Senufo
     * Karaboro languages
          + Eastern Karaboro (Kar)
          + Western Karaboro (Syer-Tenyer)
     * Senari languages
          + Cebaara
          + Senara (Senari, Syenere, Tiebaara)
          + Nyarafolo
          + Syenara (Syenara, Shenara)
     * Kpalaga (Palaka)

   Southern Senufo
     * Tagwana-Djimini languages
          + Djimini (Dyimini)
          + Tagwana (Tagouna)
     * Nafaanra (Nafaara)

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