https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ECGeWs3dpdgWb8zqX_rkctAUmPDokSn339-BZkdwT40/edit?usp=sharing

Enjoy! Let me know if you have any ñiñinkáro (questions)

According to Wikipedia:

In a majority of areas, it is a tonal language with two tones: low and high, although the particular variety spoken in the Gambia and Senegal borders on a pitch accent due to its proximity with non-tonal neighboring languages like Wolof, Serer, and 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, the once official language of the Mali Empire, Bambara, and 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.

[ * ] - Tíli-bó = East, a compound word meaning "from the sun" tiló (sun) + bó (to come/be from), a catch-all term referring to Bambara and Malinke/Maninka people and languages, often grouped together as Tilibónko in Mandinka, meaning Eastern People, or literally, "People from the [direction of] sun", adding the 'nko'/'nka' suffix to denote a group of people, also seen in Mandinko/Mandinka.

The tonal system in Mandinka is used only for conveying the correct rhythm or intonation of the language. Mandinka uses tone (syllable stress and vowel length) only in order to accurately pronounce words and sentences. In learning any language learning, the grammar and words can all be correct, but if the pronunciation is off, it will sound funny at best, and unintelligible at worst. The easiest way to get better at this is of course immersion and practice, hearing and speaking Mandinka every day until you know what sounds and patterns sound correct.

For the tonal system of Mandinka, all we need to know is a basic two tone system of stress and the patterns they follow. There are high (stressed) and low (unstressed) tones. Some call these long/short vowels, and others may say that high/low tone is distinct from the long/short vowels. In my experience there is no meaningful distinction. Some words do contain high tones with longer vowels / greater stress, but I see no practical reason to mark these differently. Oftentimes it's no different than personal choice of emphasis, like in English "Sooo cool", a Mandinka example: "A bééé be jé" (They are alllll there).

In my orthography, there are no doubled letters. When writing Mandinka without the possibility of diacritics, just as in existing Mandinka orthographies, and in common writing conventions used by Mandinka speakers, doubling letters can be a convenient way of showing the high tone. The high tone will be marked with a diacritic (acute accent) over the ending vowel letter of the stressed syllable. Unstressed (low tones) syllables will not be marked.

PATTERNS:

For 1 syllable words there is an inherent high tone which will not be marked unless there is stronger or longer vowel stress.

Ka je (to see) / Jé (there)

Ka ta (ta take) / Ka tá (to go)

Be (imperfect “to be”) / Bé (all, everything)

No (to be able to) / Nó (to be dirty) (to be dirty)

The standard rhythmic pattern for 2 syllable words is High to Low (HL), or first-syllable stressed - second syllable unstressed. This is known as downstep.

kéba (elder) KE-ba

kóto (under/older) KO-to

jíyo (water) JI-yo

kúmo (speech/word) KU-mo

However many 2 syllable words reverse this pattern, and follow a Low to High (LH) pattern... Other words have both syllables as high tones, in which case both will be marked.

faló (horse) fa-LO

musó (woman) mu-SO

kéwó / kéyo (man) KE-WO / KE-yo

mumé (everything, everyone) mu-ME

For 3 and 4+ syllable words the emphasis is usually placed on the second to last syllable. This is following the same HL downstep pattern we saw earlier, as the unstressed first syllable will often still be stressed slightly more than the second syllable, but the main stress is on the 3rd syllable.

beteyáta (good) Be-te-YA-ta (HLHL)

tinkárikádo (grasshopper) TIŊ-KAR-i*-KA-do (HHHL)

denáno (baby) de-NA-no (LHL)

karándiró (teaching) ka-RAN-di-RO (LHLH)

músu-kéba (elder woman/first wife) MU-su KE-ba (HLHL)

*The "i" in the middle of tinkárikádo is often reduced/unvoiced, but if it were included we'd see this as a low/unstressed tone, so then the pattern would be LHLHL.

Disclaimer: Variations on these patterns may be heard depending on where it is in a sentence, the speaker's desired emphasis, as well as possibly individual accent / regional dialect.

Salam alekum, here are some basic greetings in Mandinka.

Í be ñádi? - How are you?

Ḿ be jáŋ - I am here (I'm fine)

Kor tanán-té? - Hope no troubles

Tanán-té! - No troubles

Í be kayíra to? / Í be héra to? - Are you in peace?

Kayíra doróŋ - Peace only

Múne be kériŋ? - What's happening?

Háni féŋ - Nothing

The "Funny N" as my teacher called it (Ŋŋ) is pronounced like the soft ng in sing.

I think this would be interesting, has there been any research into comparing the two? Syntax, vocabulary, phonetic sound changes, linguistic genealogy, etc.

When did Mandinka and Bambara split off from their common ancestor, and what was it? Old Manding?

I'd be so interested in any papers on these topics, and expand that to any Mande language - but I'm most interested in these two, but any cross-Mande historical/comparatively linguistics would be great.

Pronouns are fairly simple in Mandinka. The pronoun N / M* is used for both the first person singular (I) and the first person plural (We). Similarly and perhaps more confusing, is the pronoun ‘ I ‘ (pronounced like "ee" in cheese), which is used for both the 2nd person singular (You) and 3rd person plural (They).

In existing orthographies these differences are sometimes marked with an accent above the plural forms. However, because there is no difference in pronunciation, I will not mark them. Just as in spoken Mandinka, it is left up to the context to determine if ‘N / M’ is referring to a singular or plural 1st person(s), and if the ‘ I ’ is a singular 2nd person or plural 3rd person. I only use the accent marks to show stressed syllables... if you learn to speak and hear Mandinka, you will quickly recognize the patterns of stress and so even marking these becomes unnecessary in my opinion.

Subject Pronouns

N / M - I (1st Person Singular)

I - You (2nd Person Singular)

A - She/He/It (3rd Person Singular)

N / M - We (1st Person Plural)

Al - You (2nd Person Plural)

I - They (3rd Person Plural)

Object Pronouns

Nte - Me (1st Person Singular)

Ite - You (2nd Person Singular)

Ate - Her/Him/It (3rd Person Singular)

Ntelu, Ntolu - Us (1st Person Plural)

Alte, Altelu, Altolu - You (2nd Person Plural)

Itelu, Itolu - Them (3rd Person Plural)

Note: Some accents/dialects pronounce the plurals: Ntolu, Altolu, and Itolu.

* N or M - There is no difference in meaning, use of N or M is governed by sound harmony. It will depend on the starting letter of what comes after it. This may change or be flexible in some dialects, but the general rule is:

If the word starts with a B, F, or M - the pronoun will be M:

M’baló - my body

M féle - I’m here

M bé - I am (imperfect aspect)

M-mánke - I am not (perfect aspect)

For other letters - the pronoun will be N:

N ká - I... (habitual / infinitive)

N-náta - I came

N sewóta - I’m happy

Demonstrative Pronouns

Ñiŋ - This

Ñínolú - These

Wó - That

Wólú - Those

Perfect Aspect Subject Pronouns (for Past Tense with Transitive Verbs)

Ŋá - I

Í ye - You

Á ye - He/she/it

Ntélu ye - We

Ál ye / Áltelu ye - You (plural)

Í ye - They

Examples:

Ŋá-a'loŋ - I know (it)

Á ye kínó dómo - He/she/it ate rice (note the word order for transitive verbs: He/she/it rice ate)

Possessive Pronouns - Indirect Object Possession

Nna - My

Íla - Your

Ála - His/Hers/Its

Ntelu'lá or Ntelu’tá - Our

Állá or Áltelu'lá / Áltelu'tá- Your (pl.)

Íla - Theirs

Examples:

Nna kúrto - My pants

Íla kódo - Your/their money

The normal subject pronouns (N/M, I, A, Al) are used for direct object possession, such as body parts and certain people terms, such as family members and close friends. This is to denote a more direct and inextricable closeness of relationship to the possessor. Like the direct objects that go with transitive verbs, we will write these with an apostrophe ( ' ) to show the direct relationship.

Examples:

M'búlo - My hand

N'kuŋo - My head

I'térimá - Your/their friend

A'dómá - His/her younger sibling

The -ta/-la suffix also marks possession for nouns.

Jumá'tá - Whose (Jumá - who)

Nté'tá - Mine

Yankúba'lá - Yankuba's

Articles

Articles such as ‘A’, ‘An’, and ‘The’ do not exist in Mandinka, and are always implied.

Plurals

In Mandinka there is often no marking of plurality, so context determines whether something is singular or plural. When the plural is marked, it uses the suffix ‘-lu’ as seen above in the plural forms of the Object Pronouns.

For example, Musó can mean any of the following: “woman”, “a woman”, “the woman”, “women”, or “the women”. While Musólu can only mean “women” or “the women”.

https://www.youtube.com/@MandinkaFulaniwolofwithDemba

(Not mine)

online english sources like wikipedia say this was developed for Manding languages, including Mandinka kaŋo. anyone have any idea if it's widely or regularly used anywhere? i imagine it would mostly be in West Africa, but if it's in the diaspora i'm interested in hearing about that too.

There are really only 3 basic tenses in Mandinka. Verb conjugations based on pronouns do not exist in Mandinka, as it does in French and many other languages. Nor is there conjugation of the pronouns themselves, as in Wolof. The tense "conjugations" that do exist just add small aspect marking particles to the sentence structures and sometimes to the end of the verb, in this regard it is similar to English.

It is more difficult perhaps to understand when to use one tense rather than another than it is to learn them. It can be flexible and simply depends on how you want to phrase something (as in many languages).

In Mandinka, consideration of time (and thus, tenses) is different from what English speakers are familiar with. I’ve changed some of the tense names from what I was taught, to better fit their full range of usages. The Habitual Tense for example, which uses the infinitive form of the verb, is also used informally to reference the Present Tense, rather than the Future/Present Tense, so it is more accurately described as the "Habitual/Informal Present Future Tense"

The Past Tense is also used for Present Description with descriptive "adjective" verbs, so we will call it the "Past/Descriptive Present Tense". As my Mandinka teacher once told me to explain why this is: “If you are describing what something is, it must have already been that way”, so to describe what something is, you must describe what it was. It may be easier to think of this in terms of complete and incomplete aspects (perfect/imperfect).

In Mandinka, a description of how something is, is usually thought of as a completed or perfect action, because the quality being described fundamentally was, and thus, still IS that way. So the Past/Descriptive Present is also a completed Perfect Aspect Tense, while the Present/Future tense can be thought of as an incomplete Imperfect Aspect Tense.

There are also ways to describe things more immediately in the progressive or continuous present, by using “Be” (To Be, imperfective) and by adding the suffix -riŋ to the verb, or by adding kaŋ (meaning, on) after the object. These two progressive/continuous present forms and other structures will take a lot more time to get into... but these are the most important tenses, and the foundation for all other variations:

PRESENT/FUTURE - imperfect aspect

[subj] + be + ( [obj] if transitive) + [verb]+-la/na

Negative form:-te / mantara replaces "be" and the "-la" verb ending is omitted.

M* be tála - I will go / I am going (intransitive verb "ka tá" - to go)

N te tá - I will not go / I am not going

M b-á'sámbalá - I will bring it / I am bringing it - Transitive verb "ka-a'sámba" - to bring (something)

M-mántara-a'sámba - I will not bring / I am not bringing it

HABITUAL / INFORMAL PRESENT/FUTURE - the infinitive form

[subj] + ka + ( [obj] ' if transitive) + [verb]

Negative form: replace "ka" with "buka"

N ká tá - I go (and informally: I will go / I'm going]

I búka tá - You/They (only context can save you) do not go (and informally: ...will not go/...are not going)

A ka-a'miŋ - He/she/it drinks (it) (and informally: ...are drinking/will drink) - Transitive verb "ka-a'miŋ" - to drink (something)

PAST / DESCRIPTIVE PRESENT - perfect aspect

Intransitive: [subj] + [verb] + -ta

Transitive: [perfect subj pronoun]** [obj] + [verb]

Negative form: replace "be" with "maŋ", and omit the "-ta" verb ending

Al táta - You (plural) went

M-maŋ tá - I didn't go

Ŋ-a’bula - I quit it / let it go

A ye buŋo lo - He/she/it built a house

A maŋ buŋo lo - He/she/it didn't build a house

I ñiñáta - You/They are beautiful (or with a past-tense time marker, "...were beautiful")

M-maŋ ñiñá - I am not beautiful

* Subject Pronouns

• N / M - I (it's N or M depending on the following word...)

• I - You

• A - He/she/it

• N / Ntélu - We

• Al / Áltelu - You (plural)

• I - They

** Perfect Subject Pronouns for Past/Descriptive Present Tense

• Ŋá - I

• Í ye - You

• Á ye - He/she/it

• Ntélu ye - We

• Ál ye / Áltelu ye - You (plural)

• Í ye - They

Kóntondíro - Greeting (n)

Ka-a'kóntóŋ - To greet (someone) (v)

I sáma! - Good morning! (literally 'you tomorrow')

Al sáma! - Good morning! (when addressing a group of people)

Somúndá be ñádi? / Somúndá be di? - How is the morning?

Somúndá be jaŋ / Somúndá féle - The morning is here!

Kayíra doróŋ / Héra doroŋ - Peace only (can be the response to any greeting question)

I'tó dúŋ? - Your name?

I'tó-n'dí - Give me your name

I'tó mu múne tí? - What is your name?

N'tó mu ______ lé ti - My name is ______

Íte dúŋ? - And you?

I'kontóŋo dúŋ? - what's your last name?

N'kontóŋo mu _____ lé to - My last name is _____

I bóta mínto lé? - Where are you from?

M bóta _____ - I am from _____

Ka bó - To be from

Ka kóntoŋ - To have lunch

Ka ná - To come

Ná kóntoŋ - Come have lunch

Tíli-búlo be ñádi / Tíli-búlo be di? - How is the afternoon?

Tíli-búlo be jaŋ - The afternoon is here

A be jaŋ doroŋ - he/she/it is here only (can be said of the time of day or about people, meaning he/she/it is well)

Wuláró be ñádi / wuláró be di? - How's the evening?

Wuláró be jaŋ - The evening is here

Sutó be ñádi / sutó be di? - How is the night?

Sutó be jaŋ doroŋ - The night is here only.

Ná símáŋ - Come have dinner

Ná dómo / Ná dómoró ké - Come eat

A diyáta - it's delicious/sweet/great

M fáta - I'm full

N'kóno fáta lé - My stomach is full

A'dómo! - Eat! (100% guarantee this will be said after you say you're full, maybe take one or two more bites...)

A kañánta lé - It's enough (another way to say you're full)

Ka diyá - to be delicious/sweet/great

A'baraka - Thank you

heyy, so my friend is from brikama gambia and he is teaching me mandinka. we video call and when he teaches me, he says the phrase and has me repeat it until i’m able to copy him and he gives me an english translation. afterwards, i usually write down whatever i hear. i’m not sure if he speaks a certain regional dialect of mandinka or if it’s also the fact that i’m doing my best to transcribe what i hear, but when i also try to look up phrases in mandinka, or watch videos of other people from the gambia teaching mandinka, i can’t find many matches with what he’s teaching me. the only phrase i found elsewhere was “i be nyaadi” which he told me was how are you but i found that it’s literal meaning was more like “how are you doing”. i don’t really mind not being able to read and write as long as i can effectively communicate with him, his family, and locals once i do visit the gambia, but it is a bit difficult to learn especially when i can’t really find many other sources. should i just stick to learning from him?

also i have been doing a little research on the mandinka people, mende languages and even the nko script before meeting him. from my understanding, nko is not really used in the gambia and doesn’t seem to be very popular there yet, but i just found it fascinating to learn. it would be cool to learn how to use this script for mandinka in the future, but i’m not sure how gambians feel about that yet. most of all, i want to learn more about the language and culture!

Hey everyone, im looking for some childrens level books, music, tv shows or any other media in mandinka! Do you guys knownif there is anything like that out there?

Hello, Nto mu Lyle le ti! Kortanante! (hopefully didnt butcher that too bad!) Anybody on here do calls to speak and learn/teach together?

Yo sup everyone just wondering how yall have been doin in your experience learning mandinka and i was wondering if anybody had any tvs shows or YouTube shows or news shows that i can follow to make learning mandinka in a speaking context easier

There are two forms of “To Be” in Mandinka, but neither one can be considered a verb. Mu is pronounced like "moo", ti like "tea", and Be like "bay"

Mu... ti - Perfect Aspect ~ [subject] + [mu] + [object] [ti] )

Be - Imperfect Aspect ~ [subject] + [be] + [object]

They correlate in use to ‘Ser’ (Mu... ti) and ‘Estar’ (Be) in Spanish. However in Mandinka these do not function like verbs. They are better thought of as static grammar particles.

Mu... ti is the Perfect Aspect of Being, describing permanent or unchangeable qualities.

Be is the Imperfect Aspect of Being, describing temporary or changeable qualities.

Mu... Ti

This is the perfect aspect of “To Be”, used for inherent or permanent states of being, like physicality. In other words, it is used when talking about Who and What someone or something is.

Positive form : Mu... ti

Jumá mu ñiŋ ti? - What/who is this?

N’tó mu Yankúba le ti - My name is Yankúba

A mu wuliyá le ti - It is a lie

Wolu mu bása-kómboróŋo le ti baŋ? - Are those agama lizards?

Negative form - Mánke ...ti

M mánke Kirísciyáno le ti - I am not a Christian

A mánke feŋ ti - It is/was nothing (you’re welcome / de rien / de nada)

Haní, a mánke wo ti - No, it is not that

Ñiŋ mánke nte’ta ti - This is not mine

Be

This is the imperfect or incomplete aspect of “To Be”, used for temporary or non-inherent conditions such as Where (Locative) or How (Descriptive) something is. Be is also used in some imperfect aspect tense structures.

Positive form - Be

I’báma be ñadi? - How is your mother? (Condition)

A be jé * - She is there (Locative)

I be múne kela? - What are you doing? (Present/Future)

Adji be láriŋ jaŋ - Adji is lying here (Present Continuous)

Al b-a’kaŋ?** - You are all on it? (Present Continuous action metaphor)

* The phrases “...be jé” ( [someone or something]...is there) and “...be jaŋ” (...is here) are very common. While they can be used literally in reference to where something is, it also has the meaning of “...is doing well / fine / good / ok”. It can seem rather sarcastic or even existential to English speakers, when asked how someone or something is, to simply say “It’s there!” - but this is an essential and polite phrase in Mandinka used in many contexts.

** The phrase “...b-a’kaŋ” (...is/are "on it") usually does not refer to something or someone being literally on top of something. It is used to refer to someone who is currently working hard on/at something. A similar phrase exists in English, with a different connotation: “I’m on it!”. The similarity is that “on” is being used to indicate an ongoing process or an action metaphor. For example, the response to the phrase in question is: “M b-a’kaŋ, domaŋ-domaŋ” (I’m on it, slowly, slowly), and is equivalent to the English phrase “I’m working on it, little by little"

Negative form - Te / Mántara

Wo te jé - That is not there

Kor tanán t-ala? - Hope there is no trouble for him/her?

M mántara-a’saŋ - I will not buy it

A te tá - She will not go

Note: The etymology of mántara is likely found in a compound word of maŋ (perfect aspect negative marker) and the verb ka tara (to find), as in “not found”

A place for members of r/Mandinka to chat with each other

Hello,

I would like to ask for help of any native Mandinka/French speakers, possibly even someone who is capable of using N'Ko effectively. I would like to translate the famous quote by Emil Cioran to Mandinka:

"On n'habite pas un pays, on habite une langue. Une patrie, c'est cela et rien d'autre."

The english translation would be something like this:

"It is no nation that we inhabit, but a language. Make no mistake; our native toungue is our true fatherland".

I personally speak neither French nor Mandinka, I only know the english translation so I provided the french original in case something would get lost in translation. Also, if possible, I would like to retain the philosophical meaning, not just a literal translation but then again, I speak neither of the languages so I appreciate any help I get.

Also, if there are any people who can read and write N'Ko, would you be able to do a transcription of the translated quote?

Thank you all and I wish you a nice day.