Words R Us - Bambara (bam)

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Alternate names - Bamanakan, Beledugu, Ganadugu, San, Segou, Sikasso, Somono, Standard Bambara, Wasu-lunkakan (Maninkakan, Eastern, Wassulu, Wassulunka, Wassulunke, Wasulu, Wasuu). Many local dialects. The main division is standard Bambara, influenced heavily by Eastern Maninkakan [emk], and rural dialects. Bamanankan dialects are spoken in varying degrees by 80% of the Mali population. In Mali, Wasulunkakan is shared by both Bamanankan and Eastern Maninkakan, but in Guinea it is only a dialect of Eastern Maninkakan.

Bambara is a Mande language used in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ghana. It is spoken principally among the Bambara ethnic group in Mali, where it is the national language and the most widely understood one. The number of speakers of this language is estimated from 3 million by Omniglot to 15 million by Wikipedia.

Bambara and Jula (Dioula (dyu)) are considered dialects of Mandekan (Manding), but from my initial observations there are sufficient differences between the two to cause real confusion to an outsider. Bambara is used as a trade language in the northern and northwestern part of Burkina Faso and Jula is widely used in the southwest. The same pronunciation rules and sentence structure should apply to both languages.

Some of the differences between Bambara and Jula lie in variation in pronunciation. For example, the word 'five' is duuru in Bambara and loolu in Jula.

Additional Resources

Where There is no Doctor

Peace Corps Language Lessons