Mande · ISO 639-3 mnk
Mandinka Language
Mandinka is a Mande language spoken by about 2.1 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin, N’Ko and Perso-Arabic scripts.
Where Mandinka is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Mandinka
Language family
- Mande
- Western Mande
- Manding-Kpelle
- Central Mande
- Manding-Jogo
- Manding-Vai
- Manding-Mokole
- Manding
- West Manding
- Mandinka
Writing system
Latin, N’Ko and Perso-Arabic scripts
Related languages
About the Mandinka language
Mandinka is spoken by about 2.1 million people, which makes it the 300th most spoken language in the world — just behind Meru (2.1 million) and ahead of Kangri (2.1 million). It belongs to the Mande language family and, more precisely, to the West Manding group within the Manding-Kpelle branch.
Where is Mandinka spoken?
Mandinka is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Senegal (1.3 million).
Mandinka is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Mandinka is written in the Latin, N’Ko and Perso-Arabic scripts. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Western Maninkakan, Bambara, Eastern Maninkakan, Sankaran Maninka, Dyula, Susu and 1 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 mnk.
Frequently asked questions about Mandinka
How many people speak Mandinka?
Where is Mandinka spoken?
What language family does Mandinka belong to?
Is Mandinka an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.