Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 knf
Mankanya Language
Mankanya is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 33,000 people in 2 countries. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Mankanya is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Mankanya
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- North-Central Atlantic
- Central Atlantic
- Bak
- Joola-Manjaku
- Manjaku-Mankanya-Pepel
- Mankanya
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Mankanya language
Mankanya is spoken by about 33,000 people, which makes it the 538th most spoken language in the world — just behind Bassari (33,600) and ahead of Chortí (30,000). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Manjaku-Mankanya-Pepel group within the Central Atlantic branch.
Where is Mankanya spoken?
Mankanya is used in 2 countries. The largest communities live in Guinea-Bissau (55,440) and Senegal (39,579).
Share of the population that speaks Mankanya: Guinea-Bissau 2.6% (55,440) and Senegal 0.2% (39,579).
Mankanya is not a national official language anywhere. It also has regional official status in Senegal.
Writing system and status
Mankanya is written in the Latin script. Glottolog classifies it as threatened, meaning fewer children learn it than in the past.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Mandjak, Jola-Fonyi and Balanta-Ganja.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 knf.
Frequently asked questions about Mankanya
How many people speak Mankanya?
Where is Mankanya spoken?
What language family does Mankanya belong to?
Is Mankanya 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.