Côte d'Ivoire is a multilingual country. According to Ethnologue , there are 80 languages in Côte d'Ivoire.
The official language, French , was introduced in the colonial period. This language is taught in schools and serves as the lingua franca in the country. 70 or so indigenous languages can be divided into 5 main branches of the Niger-Congolese family. The kwa languages are located in the southeastern sector, some such as baule and anyin (2-3 million and 1 million people), part of the dialect continuum with the Akan language in Ghana , and others, such as Attiy (half a million) are more at odds. The baule is spoken in the east of Lake Kossu and in the capital of the country, Yamoussoukro , and in anyi along the border with Ghana. In the southwestern sector, there are Kru languages , such as Bete and Ve (gure / wobe), half a million each, and a dyde (250,000) attributed to the languages of Liberia . In the north-west, along the border with Guinea and across Lake Kossu in the center of the country, there are Mande languages such as Dan (one million speakers) and Guro (half a million, on the lake). The lake and the Bandama River divided the east of the country of Kwa languages from the West of the Kru and Mande languages. Through the center and north, various senufo languages are located, such as the senari (one million speakers). A quarter of a million speakers live in the northwestern corner of nearby Comoe National Park , such as Dyula , a lingua franca from neighboring Burkina Faso . Practical spelling adopted in 1979 is used to record the languages of the peoples of Côte d'Ivoire.
There are also about 3,000,000 speakers of immigrant languages (American Gesture, Bis (63,000), East Karaboro (5610), Vietnamese, Glaro-Twabo, Jenama-bozo, Dogoso, Khe, Maasina-Fulfulde (1200), Malba-Birifor , moore, nafaanra, siamu, sisite-senufo, soninke (100,000), turk, southern tussky) mainly from neighboring countries and primarily from Burkina Faso . Ethnic tensions in the north between immigrants and local Ivorians, as well as between Mande / Senufo in the north and Cru / qua in the south, have been many times in the Côte d'Ivoire Civil War.
Deaf education in Côte d'Ivoire uses American sign language , introduced by deaf and dumb missionary Andrew Foster.
Links
- Languages of Côte d'Ivoire on Ethnologue
- Joshua Project (all peoples, languages, etc.)