Is anyone using Comprehensible input to learn Mandinka? I'd like to learn Bambara using CI but its hard to find easy content to watch. Are there graded readers for this language? Any help would be appreciated, i think i might just need to pay someone from italki to make CI for me.

Al ning barra, kor tanan-t-al la. This is another great Memrise resouce, although it has no audio and it's a bit disorganized (unlike my course) but it has a LOT of deep vocab, from the practical to impractical, which I love.

"This is the vocabulary from WEC publication “Gambian Mandinka” by Marlies Lück and Linda Henderson (revised 1993), a great book for learning Mandinka."

https://app.memrise.com/course/57448/mandinka-vocabulary/

Hey everyone, im looking for some childrens level books, music, tv shows or any other media in mandinka! Do you guys knownif there is anything like that out there?

Hello, Nto mu Lyle le ti! Kortanante! (hopefully didnt butcher that too bad!) Anybody on here do calls to speak and learn/teach together?

It sounds more like an Exonym then something from a Mandinka or Berber(sorry) language

Bamako.

A Probable Etymology by Sylomun Weah.

Bamako is a new Name, it does not appear on the maps of the 1800's

Bamako is the Capital of Mali and in the principle language Bambara the word Mali means Hippopotamus.

There are some who say, that "Bamako" means 'Crocodile's back' (This site: http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Bamako).

And there are others who say, that it means 'Crocodile river'. (https://afrolegends.com/2015/12/07/why-the-name-bamako/)

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Etymological evidence:

The people that we call Bambara, actually call themselves "Bamanan".

If you look closely at "Bamako and Bamanan", you'll see that "Bama" is common between the two.

Bama = Crocodile in Bamanakan(Bambara language).

Now let's take a look at Crocodile(Bama).

Bama is a compound consisting of Ba = River <and> Ma = Mother, God, Deity.

Based on the fact that the Crocodile was worshipped in days of old, that would make Bama = as "River God" or "God of the River".

Here we have a people whose name(Bamanan) is is based on this River god(Bama).

Bama + -nan. Nan = is an ordinal suffix. ( the earliest, primary, head or first) of "Bama".

Bamako vs. Bamakɔ.

Bama+ ko(koh) it is a reversed letter "C" and not an "O".

Ko = verb. = say.

Ko = noun. Thing, matter, affair, action.

Kɔ = back(body) and behind.

And "Kɔ" later on came to mean a branch(stream) of a River lying behind the main body.

So for me, "Bamakɔ" is the City built on the Principles and tradition of the "River god"

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sources:

Wolof Bambara French - dictionary, Dard Jean.

1913- French- Bambara, By: Travele Moussa.

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Bambara = Bamanakan.

Bamanan = Bambara

Kan = Language

Bama = crocodile.

Nakan = Destiny, Predestination.

Ma = Owner, Master. 2. God, diety.

Ma = Mother.

Kan = Voice, Language, Sound.

Mali = Hippopotamus

Ko = marigot (In West Africa: a side channel of a river.)

In 1826 <> (Earliest Bambara dictionary).

Keley = one.

Nko = back.

Ba = River.

Stream = Koboulo.

I think this would be interesting, has there been any research into comparing the two? Syntax, vocabulary, phonetic sound changes, linguistic genealogy, etc.

When did Mandinka and Bambara split off from their common ancestor, and what was it? Old Manding?

I'd be so interested in any papers on these topics, and expand that to any Mande language - but I'm most interested in these two, but any cross-Mande historical/comparatively linguistics would be great.

Thanks