Languages of Guinea
| Languages of Guinea | |
|---|---|
| Official | French |
| National | Fula, Malinké, Susu, Kissi, Kpelle (also known in French as Guerzé), Toma |
| Signed | American Sign Language (Francophone African Sign Language) |
| interethnic | French, Fula |
The Republic of Guinea is a multilingual country, with over 40 languages spoken. The official language is French, which was inherited from colonial rule.
Several indigenous languages have been given the status of national languages: Fula (or Pular); Malinké (or Maninka); Susu; Kissi; Kpelle (known in French as Guerzé) and Loma.
Government and institutions
French is the language of state and of official institutions. It is used as a first language by 15 to 25% of the population.[1] At the end of the Ahmed Sékou Touré regime, French was the only language used in business and schools.
By region
Fula (34.6%) is mostly spoken in Middle Guinea, where the major city is Labé. It dominates in the Labé and Mamou regions where it is spoken by 94.5% and 92.4% of the populations respectively.[2]
Malinké (30%) is mostly spoken in Upper Guinea, where Kankan is the major city. The Kankan variety of the language was used by Solomana Kante for the development of N'Ko, a standardized unified written Manding language, which is increasingly used in literacy education and publishing books and newspapers in Guinea and neighboring countries.[3][4]
Susu (20%)[5] is mostly spoken in Guinée maritime, where the capital is Conakry.[6]
Guerzé (6.2%), Kissi (4.7%) and Toma (2.8%) are spoken in Guinée Forestière. More specifically, Guerzé is spoken in Nzérékoré and Yomou. Kissi is spoken in Guéckédou and Kissidougou. Kono is a language used in the south of Guinea, mostly in Lola.
Conakry
According to a report by Alpha Mamadou Diallo,[7] the first language of inhabitants of the city of Conakry in decreasing order was: Susu 42%, Pular (Fula) 20%, Maninka(with koniaka) 19%, Kissi 4%, Guerzé 4%, French 2% and Toma 2%.
References
- ^ Linguistic situation in Guinea
- ^ "Etat et Structure de la Population Recensement General de la Population et de l'habitation 2014" (PDF). Direction Nationale de la Statistique de Guinée. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ Vydrin, Valentin (1999). Manding-English Dictionary : (Maninka, Bamana). Lac-Beauport. p. 8. ISBN 9780993996931. OCLC 905517929.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Donaldson, Coleman (2019-03-01). "Linguistic and Civic Refinement in the N'ko Movement of Manding-Speaking West Africa". Signs and Society. 7 (2): 156–185, 181. doi:10.1086/702554. ISSN 2326-4489.
- ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gv.html
- ^ Dalby, Andrew (28 October 2015). Dictionary of Languages: The definitive reference to more than 400 languages. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 590. ISBN 9781408102145.
- ^ Usages et images des langues en guinée, page 17, Alpha Mamadou Diallo, Université de Conakry.