Ethnicity Mankanya ISO 639-3 knf | Native speakers 75,000 (2006) | |
Native to Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and the Gambia Region Southwest Senegal coast Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic–Congo
Bak–Bijago
Bak proper
Jola–Papel
Manjaku–Papel
Mankanya | ||
The Mankanya language is spoken by approximately 70,000 people in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Gambia primarily belonging to the ethnic group of the same name. It belongs to the Bak branch of the Niger–Congo language family.
The language has status as an official language in Senegal, and an orthography has recently been developed for writing it. Mankanya is known as "Uhula" by the people themselves (the Mankanya people, or "Bahula"). The name 'Mankanya' ('Mancagne' in French) is thought to have been conferred upon the people and their language by colonialists who mistook the name of their chief at the time of colonisation for the name of the people-group itself.
The language contains many loanwords from Kriol. There is also extensive bilingualism in Mandjak, a closely related language which is largely mutually comprehensible, as well as in other minority languages spoken in the area, such as Mandinka and Jola. Finally, Mankanya speakers in Senegal also know French, and those in Gambia know English.