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Mende /ˈmɛndi/[2] (Mɛnde yia) is a major language of Sierra Leone, with some speakers in neighboring Liberia. It is spoken by the Mende people and by other ethnic groups as a regional lingua franca in southern Sierra Leone. In southern Sierra Leone, it is the regional lingua franca that allows all tribes to communicate.

Not to be confused with Mende language (Papua New Guinea).
Mende
Mɛnde yia / 𞠗𞢱𞡓𞠣 /
Native toSierra Leone, Liberia
RegionSouth central Sierra Leone
EthnicityMende people
Native speakers
1.5 million (2006)[1]
Language family
Mande
  • Western Mande
    • Southwestern
      • Mende–Loma
        • Mende–Bandi
          • Mende–Loko
            • Mende
Writing system
Latin
Mende Kikakui script
Language codes
ISO 639-2men
ISO 639-3men
Glottologmend1266
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Mende is a tonal language belonging to the Mande language family. Early systematic descriptions of Mende were by F. W. Migeod[3] and Kenneth Crosby.[4]


Written forms


In 1921, Kisimi Kamara invented a syllabary for Mende he called Kikakui (𞠂𞠁𞠀 / ). The script achieved widespread use for a time, but has largely been replaced with an alphabet based on the Latin script, and the Mende script is considered a "failed script".[5] The Bible was translated into Mende and published in 1959, in Latin script.

The Latin-based alphabet is: a, b, d, e, ɛ, f, g, gb, h, i, j, k, kp, l, m, n, ny, o, ɔ, p, s, t, u, v, w, y. [6][7]

Mende has seven vowels: a, e, ɛ, i, o, ɔ, u. [8][9]


Phonology



Consonants


Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive plain p t k
voiced b d ɡ
prenasalized m͡b n͡d ŋ͡ɡ
Fricative plain f s h
voiced v
Affricate plain k͡p
voiced d͡ʒ ɡ͡b
prenasalized ɲd͡ʒ ŋɡ͡b
Lateral l
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Approximant w j

Vowels


Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

[10]


In films


Mende was used extensively in the films Amistad and Blood Diamond and was the subject of the documentary film The Language You Cry In.


References


  1. Mende at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  3. Migeod, F. W. 1908. The Mende language. London
  4. Crosby, Kenneth. 1944. An Introduction to the Study of Mende. Cambridge University Press.
  5. Unseth, Peter. 2011. Invention of Scripts in West Africa for Ethnic Revitalization. In The Success-Failure Continuum in Language and Ethnic Identity Efforts, ed. by Joshua A. Fishman and Ofelia García, pp. 23-32. New York: Oxford University Press.
  6. Coble, Scott. n.d. "Mende." AboutWorldLanguages.com (accessed 8 October 2014)
  7. "Langue : mende". Systèmes alphabétiques des langues africaines. Retrieved 2019-02-14.
  8. A Mende Orthography Workshop: Ministry of Education, Freetown, January 21-25, 1980
  9. Pemagbi, Joe. 1991. "A guide to Mende orthography." SLADEA.
  10. Dwyer, David James (1969). Consonant Mutation in Mende. Michigan State University.



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На других языках

[de] Mende (Sprache)

Mende (Mɛnde yia) ist eine westafrikanische Sprache, die mehrheitlich in Sierra Leone gesprochen wird, jedoch gibt es auch Sprecher im benachbarten Liberia. 2015 gaben mehr als 2,065 Millionen Menschen in Sierra Leone, knapp 30 Prozent der Gesamtbevölkerung, Mende als ihre Hauptsprache an.[1] Für 2019 wird die Zahl mit 2,47 Millionen für Sierra Leone und knapp 42.000 für andere Staaten angegeben.[2]
- [en] Mende language

[es] Idioma mendé

El mendé (también llamado mɛhndé yia) es un idioma africano hablado por 1,5 millones de personas, principalmente en Sierra Leona y Liberia, en el centro oeste de África.

[fr] Mendé (langue)

Le mendé () est une langue parlée en Sierra Leone par une grande partie de la population, au Libéria et par une minorité en Guinée-Conakry. C’est la langue du peuple mendé mais elle est aussi utilisée comme lingua franca dans le Sud de la Sierra Leone.

[it] Lingua mende

La lingua mende (Mɛnde yia) è una lingua mande parlata in Sierra Leone e Liberia.

[ru] Менде (язык)

Ме́нде — язык народа менде, распространенный в Сьерра-Леоне и Либерии. Относится к семье манде, а точнее — вместе с лоома, локо, банди, зиало и несколько обособленным кпелле — к юго-западной подветви западной ветви этой семьи. Широко используется на юге Сьерра-Леоне как лингва-франка (наряду с английским языком и крио). Число носителей менде как родного оценивалось в 1991 году примерно в 1 480 000 человек[1].


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