The Senufo, or Senufic, languages comprise about fifteen languages spoken by the Senufo people across the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso, with an outlying member, Nafaanra, spoken in western Ghana. They form their own branch within the Atlantic-Congo family of Niger-Congo languages, bordered by Mande languages to the west, Kwa languages to the south, and Central Gur languages to the north and east. The languages divide into Northern, Central and Southern Senufo groups comprising six subgroups in all, with individual member languages ranging from about 8,000 to 860,000 speakers; estimates of total speakers range from 1.5 million to 2.7 million depending on the source.
Facts
Disputed
Speaker CountEstimates vary by source: Anne Garber puts total Senufo speakers at about 1.5 million, while Ethnologue counts 2.7 million; the higher Ethnologue figure is stored here. Proto-Language StatusEstablished as its own branch of the Atlantic-Congo sub-family of Niger-Congo. Its earlier classification as a Gur language was called into doubt by Gabriel Manessy in 1975, and later scholarship has questioned a close relationship to Central Gur. 1 RegionThe north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso, with an outlying member in western Ghana 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Senufo Languages
Wikimedia FoundationLead section
comprise around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso.
Classification section
The Senufo languages constitute their own branch of the Atlantic-Congo sub-family of the Niger-Congo languages.
Lead section, speaker-estimate sentence
Anne Garber estimates the total number of Senufos at some 1.5 million; the Ethnologue, based on various population estimates, counts 2.7 million.
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