Puneet Varma (Editor)

Koyraboro Senni

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Native to
  
Mali

Ethnicity
  
850,000 (2007?)

Region
  
East of Timbuktu, Gao

ISO 639-3
  
ses

Koyraboro Senni

Native speakers
  
430,000 (2007) 300,000 monolingual (2007)

Language family
  
Nilo-Saharan? Songhay Southern Koyraboro Senni

Koyraboro Senni (or Eastern Songhay, or Koroboro Senni, or Koyra Senni) is a member of the Songhay languages of Mali and is spoken by some 400,000 people along Niger River from Gourma-Rharous, east of Timbuktu, through Bourem, Gao, and Ansongo to the Mali–Niger border.

The expression "koyra-boro senn-i" denotes "the language of the town dwellers" as opposed to nomads like the Tuareg people and other transhumant people.

Although Koyraboro Senni is associated with settled towns, it is a cosmopolitan language which has spread east and west of Gao, to the Fulani or Fula people living at the Mali–Niger border and to the Bozo people of the Niger River. East of Timbuktu, Koyra Senni gives way relatively abruptly to the closely related Koyra Chiini.

References

Koyraboro Senni Wikipedia