Gambia: Clarification of the words maninka, mandingo, mandinka and malinka
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 February 1993 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | GMB13170 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Gambia: Clarification of the words maninka, mandingo, mandinka and malinka, 1 February 1993, GMB13170, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6acda68.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
According to the Encyclopedia of the Third World, Mandinka is one of the languages used in The Gambia (1992, 660). Although the official language of The Gambia is English, Mandinka is used as a ligua franca and as a trade language (Ibid.).
According to The Languages of the World, Malinke is another important West African language, spoken by about two million people in several West African countries including The Gambia (Katzner 1986, 290). Malinke belongs to the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages, and it is closely related to Bambara and Dyula, the three often combined under the single term Mandingo (Ibid.).
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to Malinke (or Mandingo) as the most widely spoken of the Mande languages, and classifies Malinke in the western subgroup (1989, 765). The source adds that all Mande languages are tonal languages (Ibid.). According to the same source, "[the] Malinke, also called Maninka, Mandingo, or Manding [are] a West African people occupying parts of Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau" (Ibid., 737).
For the geographical distribution of the Malinke people, please refer to the attached map from L'état du monde (L'état du monde édition 1985 1984, 303).
Information on the meaning of the word Malinka could not be found among the sources currently available to the DIRB in Ottawa. For additional information please refer to the attached documents. Additional or corroborating information is currently unavailable to the DIRB in Ottawa.
References
Encyclopedia of the Third World. 1992. Vol. 1. George Thomas Kurian, ed. New York: Facts on File.
L'état du monde édition 1985. 1984. Montréal: éditions du Boréal.
Katzner, Kenneth. The Languages of the World. 1986. London: Routledge.
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989. Micropaedia. 15th ed. Vol. 7. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc.
Attachments
Encyclopedia of the Third World. 1992. Vol. 1. George Thomas Kurian, ed. New York: Facts on File, pp. 659-660.
L'état du monde édition 1985. 1984. Montréal: éditions du Boréal, pp. 302-303.
Katzner, Kenneth. The Languages of the World. 1986. London: Routledge, p. 290.
Les Langages de L'humanité. 1983. Paris: éditions Seghers, pp. 418-419.
The New Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989. Micropaedia. 15th ed. Vol. 7. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., pp. 765, 737.