Koyraboro Senni

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

Koyraboro Senni
Native toMali
RegionEast of Timbuktu, Gao
Ethnicity850,000 (2007?)[1]
Native speakers
430,000 (2007)[2]
300,000 monolingual (2007)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ses
Glottologkoyr1242
Location of Songhay languages[3]

Northwest Songhay:

  Korandje
  Koyra Chiini
  Tadaksahak
  Tasawaq
  Tagdal

Eastern Songhay:

  Tondi Songway Kiini
  Humburi Senni
  Koyraboro Senni
  Zarma language
  Dendi

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 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.

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless (p) t k (ʔ)
voiced b d ɡ
Affricate voiceless t͡ʃ
voiced d͡ʒ
Fricative voiceless f s (ʃ) h
voiced z (ʒ)
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Lateral l
Trill r
Approximant w j
  • /p/ is uncommon, occurring mainly from loanwords.
  • [ʃ ʒ] only occur as a palatalization of fricatives /s z/ preceding front vowels /e i/.
  • /ʔ/ only occurs as a result of unassimilated Arabic words.

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

Nasalized realizations of vowel sounds may also occur, but they are rare among different dialects.

References
  • Jeffrey Heath: Grammar of Koyraboro (Koroboro) Senni, the Songhay of Gao. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Köln 1999. ISBN 978-3-89645-106-4
  1. Koyraboro Senni at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
  2. Koyraboro Senni at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  3. This map is based on classification from Glottolog and data from Ethnologue.
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