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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