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Concept information

Preferred term

khqKoyra Chiini  

Type

  • Language

Definition

  • Koyra Chiini (, literally "town language"), or Western Songhay, is a variety of Songhai in Mali, spoken by about 200,000 people (as of 1999) along the Niger River in Timbuktu and upriver from it in the towns of Diré, Tonka, Goundam, and Niafunké, as well as in the Saharan town of Araouane to its north. In this area, Koyra Chiini is the dominant language and the lingua franca, although minorities speaking Hassaniya Arabic, Tamashek, and Fulani are found. Djenné Chiini , the Songhai variety spoken in Djenné, is mutually comprehensible, but has noticeable differences with Koyra Chiini proper - in particular, two extra vowels ( and ) and syntactic differences related to focalization. East of Timbuktu, Koyra Chiini gives way relatively abruptly to another Songhai language, Koyraboro Senni.

Entry terms

  • Koyra Chiini Songhay
  • Songhay, Koyra Chiini

ISO 639-3 code

  • khq

Notation

  • khq

In other languages

  • songhay

    French

  • Koyra Chiini

    German

  • koyra chiini

    Italian

  • Portuguese

  • koyra chiini

    Spanish

URI

http://lexvo.org/id/iso639-3/khq

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