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14-421: Gbin (Gbĩ) is an extinct Mande language of Ivory Coast , neighboring but not closely related to Beng . The only significant attestation is Delafosse (1904). Paperno describes Beng and Gbin as two primary branches of Southern Mande. This article about Mande languages is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mande languages The Mande languages show a few lexical similarities with

28-523: A coherent family, with Mande being the most divergent of the branches he considered. The diversity and depth of the Mande family is comparable to that of Indo-European. Eleven low-level branches of Mande are nearly universally accepted: Southern Mande (Dan etc.), Eastern Mande (Bisa, Boko etc.), Samogo , Bobo , Soninke–Bozo , Southwestern Mande (Mende, Kpelle, Loma etc.), Soso–Jalonke , Jogo , Vai–Kono , Mokole and Manding (Bambara, Djula etc.). It

42-555: A distinction of two groups. He speaks of a northern group mandé-tan and a southern group mandé-fu . The distinction was basically done only because the languages in the north use the expression tan for ten, and the southern languages use fu . In 1924, Louis Tauxier noted that the distinction is not well founded and there is at least a third subgroup he called mandé-bu . It was not until 1950 that André Prost supported that view and gave further details. In 1958, Welmers published an article called "The Mande Languages," where he divided

56-658: Is subject – auxiliary – object – verb – adverb . Mainly postpositions are used. Within noun phrases, possessives come before the noun, and adjectives and plural markers after the verb; demonstratives are found with both orders. Below is a sample basic vocabulary of reconstructed proto-forms: Below are some cognates from D. J. Dwyer (1988) ( ⟨j⟩ is [dʲ] or [d͡ʒ] ): Note that in these cognates: Comparison of numerals in individual languages: Southern Mande languages The Southern Mande languages (called 'Southeastern Mande' in Kastenholz, who calls

70-453: Is also widely accepted that these form two primary branches, the first two as Southeastern Mande and the rest as Western Mande. Most internal Mande classifications are based on lexicostatistics , for example, that based on the Swadesh list . An alternative classification from Kastenholz (1996) is based on lexical innovations and comparative linguistics. Kastenholz warns however that this

84-501: Is not based on objective criteria and thus is not a genealogical classification in the narrow sense. The following classification is a compilation of both. Vydrin (2009) differs somewhat from this: he places Soso-Jalonke with Southwestern (a return to André Prost 1953); Soninke-Bozo, Samogho and Bobo as independent branches of Western Mande, and Mokole with Vai-Kono. Most classifications place Jo within Samogo. Mande languages do not have

98-521: The Atlantic–Congo language family, so together they have been proposed as parts of a larger Niger–Congo language family since the 1950s. However, the Mande languages lack the noun-class morphology that is the primary identifying feature of the Atlantic–Congo languages. Accordingly, linguists increasingly treat Mande and Atlantic–Congo as independent language families. Various opinions exist as to

112-598: The noun-class system or verbal extensions of the Atlantic–Congo languages and for which the Bantu languages are so famous, but Bobo has causative and intransitive forms of the verb. Southwestern Mande languages and Soninke have initial consonant mutation . Plurality is most often marked with a clitic; in some languages, with tone , as for example in Sembla . Pronouns often have alienable–inalienable and inclusive–exclusive distinctions. Word order in transitive clauses

126-517: The noun-class system . Nor are there many recognized cognates in core vocabulary between Mande and Niger-Congo. Accordingly, Dimmendaal (2008) argues that the evidence for inclusion is slim, and that for now Mande is best considered an independent family. The same view is held by Güldemann (2018). Without definitively concluding that Mande is or is not a member of Niger–Congo, Vydrin (2016) notes that proto-Mande basic vocabulary fits relatively well with Niger–Congo, and that typological criteria such as

140-637: The Niger-Congo group, which in his view includes the Mande language family, began to break up at around 7000 years BP . Its speakers would have practised a Neolithic culture, as indicated by the Proto-Niger-Congo words for "cow", "goat" and "cultivate". The group was first recognized in 1854 by Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle , in his Polyglotta Africana . He mentioned 13 languages under the heading North-Western High-Sudan Family, or Mandéga Family of Languages . In 1901, Maurice Delafosse made

154-399: The absence of a noun-class system should not be taken as probative; he notes that "If the position of Mande within Niger-Congo is confirmed... Mande will certainly represent the most ancient branching of the phylum". Blench regards it as an early branch that diverged before the noun-class morphology developed. Dwyer (1998) compared it with other branches of Niger–Congo and finds that they form

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168-637: The age of the Mande languages. Valentin Vydrin concluded that "the Mande homeland at the second half of the 4th millennium BC was located in Southern Sahara , somewhere to the North of 16° or even 18° of Northern latitude and between 3° and 12° of Western longitude.". That is now Mauritania and southern Western Sahara . If Mande's linguistic affiliation were clearer that would help inform its history. For example, Joseph Greenberg suggested that

182-467: The languages into three subgroups: North-West, South and East. His conclusion was based on lexicostatistic research. Joseph Greenberg followed that distinction in his The Languages of Africa (1963). Long (1971) and Gérard Galtier (1980) follow the distinction into three groups but with notable differences. Mande does not share the morphology characteristic of most of the Niger–Congo family, such as

196-644: The superior Southeastern Mande node 'Eastern') are a branch of the Mande languages spoken across Ivory Coast and into Liberia. The following internal classification is from Dwyer (1989, 1996), as summarized in Williamson & Blench 2000. Mano Dan – Goo – Tura Guro – Yaure Mwa – Wan Gban – Beng Vydrin (2009) places Mwan with Guro-Yaure. There is also an extinct Gbin language . Paperno classifies Gbin and Beng as two primary branches of Southern Mande. This article about Mande languages

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