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{{short description|Mande language}}
{{Distinguish|Dinka language|Maninka language}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Mandinka
| altname          = Mandingo
| states           = Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau
| region           = [[Casamance]], [[The Gambia]], [[Senegal]]
| ethnicity        = [[Mandinka people|Mandinka]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|2.114|2}} million
| date             = 2017–2022
| ref              = e26
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam1             = [[Niger–Congo languages|Niger–Congo]]?
| fam2             = [[Mande languages|Mande]]
| fam3             = [[Mande languages|West Mande]]
| fam4             = [[Mande languages|Central-West]]
| fam5             = [[Mande languages|Central Mande]]
| fam6             = [[Manding languages|Manding-Jogo]]
| fam7            = [[Manding languages|Manding-Vai]]
| fam8             = [[Manding languages|Manding-Mokole]]
| fam9             = [[Manding languages|Manding]]
| fam10            = [[Manding languages|West Manding]]
| minority         = {{flag|Senegal}}
| iso3             = mnk
| glotto           = mand1436
| lingua           = 00-AAA-aa
| glottorefname    = Mandinka
| notice           = IPA
| script           = [[Arabic script|Arabic]], [[Latin alphabet|Latin]], [[N'Ko script|N'Ko]], [[Garay alphabet|Garay]]
| nativename       = {{lang|mnk|Mandinka kaŋo}} {{lang|mnk|مَانْدِينْكَا كَانْجَوْ}}<br/>{{lang|mnk|Mandingo}} {{lang|mnk-Arab|مَانْدِنْجَوْ}} {{lang|mnk-Nkoo|ߡߊ߲߬ߘߌ߲߬ߞߊ}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|mnk|ma.ⁿdi.ᵑka ka.ŋo|}}
}}

[[File:WIKITONGUES- Omar speaking Mandinka.webm|thumb|A Mandinka speaker, recorded in [[Taiwan]].]]

The '''Mandinka language''' ({{Transliteration|mnk|Mandinka kaŋo}}; [[Ajami script|Ajami]]: {{lang|mnk-Arab|مَانْدِينْكَا كَانْجَوْ}}), or '''Mandingo''', is a [[Mande languages|Mande language]] spoken by the [[Mandinka people]] of northern Guinea-Bissau, the [[Casamance]] region of Senegal, and The Gambia where it is one of the principal languages.

Mandinka belongs to the [[Manding languages|Manding]] branch of Mande and is similar to [[Bambara language|Bambara]] and [[Maninka language|Maninka/Malinké]] but with only 5 instead of 7 vowels, due to lacking the [[Advanced tongue root|ATR]] distinction.  
The varieties spoken in Urban Gambia and Senegal borders on a [[pitch accent]] due to its proximity with non-tonal neighboring languages like [[Wolof language|Wolof]].

==Phonology==

Mandinka is here represented by the variety spoken in [[Casamance]].<ref>Maŋ Lafi Dramé (c. 2003) ''Parlons Mandinka''</ref> There is little dialectical diversity.

===Tone===
Mandinka has two tones, high and low. Unmodified nouns are either high tone on all syllables or low tone on all syllables. The definite suffix ''-o'' takes a low tone on high-tone nouns and a falling tone on low-tone nouns. It also assimilates any preceding short vowel, resulting in a long /oo/ with either low or falling tone. It shortens a preceding long high vowel (''ii'' > ''io'', ''uu'' > ''uo''; ''ee'' optionally > either ''eo'' or ''ee'') or assimilates itself (''aa'' remains ''aa'') leaving only its tone:
:/búŋ/ 'a room' > /búŋò/ 'the room'
:/tèŋ/ 'a palm tree' > /tèŋô/ 'the palm tree'
:/kídí/ 'a gun' > /kídòò/ 'the gun'
:/kòrdàà/ 'a house' > /kòrdáà/ 'the house'

In Senegal and Gambia, Mandinka is approaching a system of [[pitch accent]] under the influence of local non-tonal languages such as [[Wolof language|Wolof]], [[Serer language|Serer]], and [[Jola languages|Jola]].

The tonal system remains more robust in the Eastern and Southern Mandinka dialects (Tilibo) spoken in the Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Eastern Senegal. These conservative dialects merge into other conservative Manding languages like [[Maninka language|Maninka]], the once official language of the [[Mali Empire]], [[Bambara language|Bambara]], and [[Susu language|Susu]]. All of these preserve the typical West African terraced downstep in tonality that is only lightly alluded to in the Western Mandinka dialects spoken in much of Gambia and Senegal.

===Vowels===
Vowel qualities are {{IPA|/i e a o u/}}. All may be long or short. There are no [[nasal vowel]]s; instead, there is a coda consonant /ŋ/. Long vowels are written double: ''aa'', ''ee'', ''ii'', ''oo'', ''uu''.

===Consonants===
The following table gives the consonants in the Latin orthography, and their IPA equivalent when they differ.
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
! colspan=2| 
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- 
! colspan=2 | [[nasal consonant|Nasal]] 
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}} {{angle bracket|ñ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|-
! rowspan=2|[[stop consonant|Stop]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| ({{IPA link|p}}){{efn|name=French loans|/g/ and /p/ are found in French loans.}}
|  {{IPA link|t}}
|  {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} {{angle bracket|c}}
|  {{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} {{angle bracket|j}}
| ({{IPA link|g}}){{efn|name=French loans}}
|
|-
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|- 
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPA link|w}}
| {{IPA link|l}} ({{IPA link|r}}){{efn|/r/ is only found initially in loans and onomatopoeia. Otherwise [r] is the intervocalic allophone of /d/.}}
| {{IPA link|j}} {{angle bracket|y}}
|
|
|}
{{Notelist}}

Syllabic nasals occur, such as in ''nnààm'' 'yes!' (response), ''ŋte'' "I, me". Word-initial ''mb, nd, ndy, ng'' occur but are not particularly common; it is not clear whether they should be considered syllabic nasals or additional consonants.

Consonants may be geminated in the middles of words (at least /pp, tʃtʃ, dʒdʒ, kk, ll, mm, nn, ɲɲ/). The only other consonant found at the ends of syllables in native words is {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, which assimilates to the following consonant, e.g. /ŋs, ŋtʃ, ŋb/ → [ns, ɲtʃ, mb]. Syllable-final /r/ and /s/ are found in French loans (e.g. /kùrtù/ 'pants').

==Orthography==
The [[Latin alphabet]] and the [[Arabic alphabet]] are widely used for Mandinka; the former is official, but the latter is more widely used and older. In addition, the pan-[[Manding languages|Manding]] writing system, the [[N'Ko script]], invented in 1949, is often used in Guinea-Bissau, north east Guinea, and in bordering communities in Ivory Coast and Mali. Additionally, the [[Garay alphabet]], originally developed for Wolof, has seen some limited use.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2012/12139-n4261-garay.pdf |title=Preliminary proposal for encoding the Garay script in the SMP of the UCS |last1=Everson |first1=Michael |date=26 April 2012 |publisher=UC Berkeley Script Encoding Initiative (Universal Scripts Project)/International Organization for Standardization |access-date=5 July 2015}}</ref>

In the Latin script, c represents {{IPA|/t͡ʃ/}}, ŋ {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, and ñ {{IPA|/ɲ/}}; the letters v, x, z, and q are not used. Vowels are as in Spanish or Italian and are doubled to indicate length or distinguish words that are otherwise homophones.

In most places, the Ajami script uses a subset of Arabic characters for Mandinka phonemes (apart from, at times, an extra vowel mark for ''e''). 

The Latin and Arabic consonants correspond as follows:

{|class="wikitable"
!Arabic
|ا
|ع
|ب
|ت
|ط
|ض
|ج
|ه
|ح
|خ
|د
|ر
|س
|ش
|ص
|ث
|ظ
|ڢ
|ل
|م
|ن
|و
|ي
|ك
|لا
|-
!Latin
|('), aa, ee
|(', with ''madda'' ŋ)
|b, p
|t
|''t''
|''t''
|c, j
|h
|h
|
|d
|r
|s
|s (sh)
|''s''
|''s''
|''s''
|f
|l
|m
|n, ñ, ŋ
|w
|y
|k, g
|la
|}

Letters in italics are not normally used in native Mandinka words. ه (h) may also be used to indicate a final glottal stop, which is not noted in the Latin script. The letter ŋ of the Latin script is often indicated with vowel signs in the Arabic script; see below.

The vowels correspond as follows (diacritics are placed over or under the consonant in Arabic):

{|class="wikitable"
!Arabic
|ـَ
|ـِ
|ـُ
|ـْ
|ـִ
|ـً
|ـٍ
|ـٌ
|ـَا
|ـِي
|ـُو
|-
! Latin
|a, e
|i, e, ee
| o, u
| (no following vowel)
| ''e''
| aŋ, eŋ
| iŋ, eeŋ, eŋ
| oŋ, uŋ
| aa
| ii
| oo, uu
|-
! Mandinka names of Arabic marks:
| sira tilidiŋo;
| sira tilidiŋo duuma;
| ŋoo biriŋo;
| sira murumuruliŋo;
| tambi baa duuma;
| sira tilindiŋo fula;
| sira tilindiŋo duuma fula;
| ŋoo biriŋo fula.
| 
| 
| 
|}

In addition, a small Arabic 2 (۲) may be used to indicate [[reduplication]], and the ''hamza'' may be used as in Arabic to indicate glottal stops more precisely.

==Titles==
* [[Faama]]: "father," "leader," or "king"
* [[Mansa (title)]]: "sultan", "king" or "emperor"

==See also==
*[[Mande languages]]
*[[Manding languages]]
*[[Mandinka people]]
*[[Mandé peoples]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*R. T. Addis, ''A Study on the Writing of Mandinka in Arabic script'', 1963.
*Dramé, Man Lafi, ''Parlons Mandinka'', L'Harmattan 2003 ''(in French)''

==External links==
{{Incubator|mnk}}
{{Wiktionary category}}
* ELAR archive of [http://elar.soas.ac.uk/deposit/0225 Bainouk and its main contact language Mandinka]
*[http://resourcepage.gambia.dk/langabot.htm Wolof and Mandinka resources], including grammar and dictionary

{{Mande languages}}
{{Languages of Senegal}}
{{Languages of the Gambia}}
{{Languages of Guinea}}
{{Languages of Guinea-Bissau}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandinka Language}}
[[Category:Mandinka]]
[[Category:Manding languages]]
[[Category:Languages of the Gambia]]
[[Category:Languages of Guinea-Bissau]]
[[Category:Languages of Senegal]]