Mende language

error: ISO 639 code is required (help) The Mende language is a major language of Sierra Leone, with some speakers in neighboring Liberia. It is spoken both by the people of the Mende tribe and by other ethnic groups as a regional lingua franca.

Some classifications of languages assign the modern day version of the Mende language to the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo language family. However, primarily because of cultural differences, this classification is disputed, with present day similarities attributed mostly to intermarriage (University of Iowa: Mende people: History). Furthermore, the roots of the Mende language seem to come from a wide variety of sources (Mende people: History). For example, the roots of the Mende language may also be traced to the ancient peoples of Papua New Guinea (see [1]) and even British English ([2]). Remarkable English similarities include "roomui" for room and "beachei " for beach!

In 1921, Kisimi Kamala invented a syllabary for Mende he called Ki-ka-ku. The script achieved widespread use for a time but has largely been replaced with an orthography using the Latin alphabet.

• Ethnologue entry for Mende
• Bibiliography on Mende
• [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/mende.htm The Mende syllabary (Omniglot)

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