Kassonke language

Kassonke
Western Maninka
Xaasongaxango
Native to	Mali
Ethnicity	Kassonke, Malinke
Native speakers	2.5 million (2009–2022)
Language family	Niger–Congo ? Mande Western Mande Manding West Manding Kassonke
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Mali
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: kao – Kassonke mlq – Western Malinke (Malinka)
Glottolog	xaas1235  Xaasongaxango west2500  Western Maninkakan

The Kassonke (Khassonké) language, Xaasongaxango (Xasonga), or Western Maninka (Malinke), is a Manding language spoken by the Khassonké and Malinke of western Mali and by the Malinke of eastern Senegal. Kassonke is an official language in Mali. Western and Eastern Maninka are 90% mutually intelligible, though distinct from the Mandinka (Malinke) of southern Senegal, which is a national language there.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t	c	k	q
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative		f	s		x		h
Trill			r
Lateral			l
Approximant				j	w

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Open		a aː

See also

• Bafoulabé
• Kayes

Further reading

• Koite-Herschel, Ute (Autumn 1981). "La translation du constituent verbal: le cas du xasonga" (PDF). Mandenkan. 2: 3–16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-07.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
• Sullivan, Terrence D. (2004). A preliminary report of existing information on the Manding languages of West Africa: summary and suggestions for future research (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. Vol. 2004–005.