Alternate Names: Mande, Manding, Mandingo, Mandingue, Mandinque, Socé
Dialects: None known. Mandinka, Eastern Maninkakan ,, and Western Maninkakan , are separate languages. Lexical similarity: 79% with Kalanke, 75% with Jahanka ,, 70% with Xaasongaxango ,, 59% with Western Maninkakan ,, 53% with Eastern Maninkakan ,, 48% with Bambara ,. A member of macrolanguage Mandingo ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 669,000 in Senegal (2006). Population total all countries: 1,346,000.
Language Use: All ages. Also use Upper Guinea Crioulo [pov]. Used as L2 by Badyara [pbp], Balanta-Ganja [bjt], Gusilay [gsl], Jola-Fonyi [dyo], Karon [krx], Mlomp [mlo].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Magazines. NT: 1989.
Writing System: Arabic, Latin
Nation of Origin: Senegal
Other Comments: Muslim.