Songhay languages back to home page
The languages of the Songhay family are the following. Indented names denote varieties that are, or could be considered to be, offshoots or dialects of the language above them. Chiini and Senni (and variants) mean ‘talk (n), language’. † = extinct.
Glottolog ISO-636-3
a. western
Koyra Chiini koyr1240 khq
Djenné Chiini
b. eastern
Koyraboro Senni (or Koroboro Senni) koyr1242 ses
Fulankirya Senni
Humburi Senni humb1243 hmb
Marensé
Tondi Songway Kiini (TSK) tond1249 tst
Zarma group, contains the following languages/dialects: zarm1239 dje
Zarma
Kaado (or Songhay-Kaado)
Dendi (riverine only, near Nigeria border)
Dendi (urban), consists of dend1243 ddn
Dendi of Djougou city
Dendi of Kandi city
c. northern
Tadaksahak tada1238 dsq
Tasawaq tasa1240 twq
Tagdal & Tabarog tagd1238 tda
Kwarandzyey (~ Korandje) kora1291 kcy
†Emghedesie — —
Western and northern Songhay are S-infl-V-X (X includes objects). Eastern Songhay is generally a mix of S-infl-O-V-X (for canonical transitives (‘make’, ‘hit’, ‘cut’, etc.) alongside S-infl-V-X (X includes objects) for non-impact transitives (‘see’, ‘hear’, ‘have’, ‘obtain’, etc.). The exception is that TSK is strictly S-infl-O-V-X, so that the non-impact transitives have merged syntactically with the canonical transitive type (possibly under Dogon or Bozo influence). When S and O threaten to be adjacent (i.e. in S-infl-O-V-X when “infl” is the zero perfective positive indicative), a bidirectional case marker such as na is inserted between them.
The Songhay family is therefore remarkable in having both strict SVO (weatern/northern), strict SOV (TSK), and mixed SVO/SOV (most eastern) languages,. Yet all signs point to a relatively recent breakup (a few hundred years). Most basic vocabulary is cognate across western and eastern, and the cognates show only minor phonological divergences. The eastern mixed SVO/SOV type is likely archaic (Proto-Songhay), since neither its bidirectional case marker (in the SOV construction) nor its 3Sg/3Pl object suffixes (in the SVO construction) appear to be recent innovations.
Since S-(infl)-O-V-X is the standard pattern in Mande languages, it’s a good bet that Proto-Songhay reflects language shift from some form of Mande to an overlaid non-Mande language that brought its basic vocabulary with it. However, we do not know where this overlaid language came from. One view is that it was a stray Nilo-Saharan language, but a convincing demonstration of this has not yet been given.
Geographically, Koyra Chiini, Koyraboro Senni, and Zarma-Kaado (all varieties) are riverine or subriverine. Those in Mali are on or (like Timbuktu) very close to the Niger River. Those in Niger fan out somewhat in both directions from the river. Djenné Chiini, Fulankirya Senni, and urban Dendi are Songhay pockets or enclaves in towns or villages well south of the river. Humburi Senni and TSK are montane, in inselbergs well south of the river. Northern Songhay varieties are spoken in oases and mountainous areas well north of the river, in Mali, Niger, and in one case western Algeria. Fulankirya and some northern Songhay are partially nomadic. Northern Songhay languages are deeply imbued with Tuareg vocabulary and correlated phonotactics. Fulankirya are ethnically Fulbe. Some of the main riverine languages (Koyra Chiini, Koyraboro Senni, Zarma) have absorbed some populations of other ethnicities (Fulbe, Soninke, Bozo).
I have worked on Malian Songhay languages (western, eastern from Koyraboro Senni down to TSK, and briefly Tadaksahak in northern Songhay), plus brief work in Niger and Benin.
books
@2015 Dictionary, Humburi Senni (Songhay of Hombori, Mali) - English - French. Language Description Heritage Library. Electronic publication.
http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-0029-B0ED-4
http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/117646
DOI: 10.17617/2.2249192
@2014 A grammar of Humburi Senni (Songhay, Mali). Language Description Heritage Library. Electronic publication.
http://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-001A-2A8B-8
http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/117647
2005a Tondi Songway Kiini (montane Songhay, Mali): Reference grammar and TSK-English-French Dictionary. CSLI (distributed by University of Chicago Press).
ISBN 157586505X
1999 Grammar of Koyraboro (Koroboro) Senni (Songhay of Gao). Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
ISBN 978-3-89645-106-4
1998a A Grammar of Koyra Chiini, the Songhay of Timbuktu. Mouton de Gruyter (Mouton Grammar Series). pp. xv, 453.
ISBN 978-3-11-080485-0
1998b Texts in Koyra Chiini (Songhay of Timbuktu, Mali.) (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen, 5.) Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. pp. viii, 389. [facing English translations; includes material from Timbuktu, Niafunké, and Djenné]
ISBN 978-3-89645-260-3
1998c Texts in Koroboro Senni (Songhay of Gao, Mali). (Wortkunst und Dokumentartexte in afrikanischen Sprachen, 6.) Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. pp. viii, 283. [facing English translations; includes material from Gao and Bamba]
ISBN 978-3-89645-261-0
1998d-f Dictionnaire Songhay-Anglais-Français – Songhay-English-French Dictionary. Paris: l’Harmattan
vol 1: Koyra Chiini. Pp. 264
ISBN 2-7384-6726-1
vol. 2: Djenné Chiini. Pp. 202
ISBN 2-7384-6727-X
vol. 3: Koroboro Senni. Pp. 344
ISBN 2-7384-6728-8
articles
*2007b Bidirectional case-marking and linear adjacency. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 25:83-101.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11049-006-9000-y
*2011a Innovation of head-marking in Humburi Senni (Songhay, Mali). Diachronica 28(1):1-24.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/dia.28.1.01hea
2011b Le songhay. In: Emilio Bonvini, Joelle Busuttil & Alain Peyraube (eds.), Dictionnaire des langues, pp. 190-6. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
I have unpublished notes (mostly lexical) on Tadaksahak, Dendi, and dialects of Songhay-Kaado spoken in Ayorou and Tilabéri upriver from Niamey. My work on Tadaksahak is largely superceded by the grammar by Regula Christiansen-Bolli. Important work on other northern Songhay varieties has been done by Lameen Souag, Maarten Kossmann, Alimata Sidibé, and Carlos Benitez-Torres.
[last update Oct 2017]