Guinea - Guinée (GN)

1. Language information / Données sur les langues

1.1 Languages spoken / Langues parlées

a) Official / Officielle(s) :

French

b) National, indigenous / Nationale(s), indigène(s) :

Fula (Pular), Maninka, and Susu have the largest numbers of speakers.

Over 30 languages are listed. Ethnologue has an extensive list at http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=GN

Here is a map from a study by Pioneer Bible Translators at http://www.sil.org/silesr/2003/silesr2003-016.pdf showing the approximate areas in which Guinean languages are spoken:

c) Relevant pages in the Major Languages section of this report / Pages appropriées dans la section de ce rapport sur les Langues principales :

Fula (Pular), Manding, Susu, Kpelle (Guerze)

1.2 Language policy / Politique de langue

a) Laws/legislation / Lois/législation :

The site L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde has a page on Guinea at http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/guinee_franco.htm

b) Agencies / Agences :

Academie des Langues, CONAKRY
(Source: UNESCO, 1985)

Centre d'Études des Langues Guinéennes (CELG) de l'Université de Conakry

c) Languages in education/literacy / Langues dans l'éducation/l'alphabétisation :

Policy with regard to language(s) of instruction has varied over the 3 decades since independence. [need more details]

UNDP (2006) gives a literacy figure (without reference to which language[s]) of: 29.5%

1.3 Writing in national/indigenous languages / Ecriture en langues nationales/indigènes

a) Orthographies / Orthographes :

Before colonisation and still to a some degree today the Arabic script was/is used to write national languages.

After independence, Guinea adopted orthographies based on the simple Latin alphabet. In the mid-1980s [verify date] this was replaced with one using modified letters (extended characters) similar to that used in neighboring countries. This is described at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthography_for_languages_of_Guinea_%28pre-1985%29.

A chart showing the extended Latin characters and diacritics used in some Guinean languages is available at: http://www.bisharat.net/A12N/GUINEE-table.htm

In upper Guinea in the late 1940s, Souleyman Kante invented an alphabet called N'ko that was intended particularly for Mande languages, such as his native Maninka (Malinké). Use of this alphabet has increased. It has recently been encoded in Unicode.

b) Print publications / Editions imprimées :

1.4 Other comments / Autre commentaire :

The Stratégie de Réduction de la Pauvreté (SRP) has produced some documents (glossaries) in Guinean national languages (see http://www.srp-guinee.org/bibliotheque.htm ). The GTZ funded Appui à la Stratégie de Réduction de la Pauvreté (ASRP) has involved work in national languages.

There is an association of authors writing in Guinean languages: Association Guinéenne pour l'écriture et la lecture en langues nationales (AGUIPELLN)

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2. ICT situation / Situation des TIC

2.1 Infrastructure / Infrastructure

a) Telephones / Téléphones :

• Fixed lines: Telephone mainlines:
  • 3 per 1000 people (APC)
  • Telephones - main lines in use: 26,200 (2003) (CIA)
• Mobile subscriptions:
  • 112,000 (1.4 per 100 people) (ITU 2004 cited in Vodafone 2005)
  • Telephones - mobile cellular: 189,000 (2005) (CIA)
  • GSM companies & coverage : http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_gn.shtml

b) Radio stations / Stations de radio :

Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 5, shortwave 3 (2006) (CIA)

c) Connectivity / Connectivité :

• International internet bandwidth / Bande passante internationale d'internet :
• ISPs / FSI :
• Internet hosts :
  • 367 (2006) (CIA)
  • 10 on .gn domain (ISC 2007)
• Geographic coverage / Couverture géographique :

2.2 Computer & internet access / Accès aux ordinateurs et à l'internet

a) Computers & points of access / Ordinateurs et lieux d'accès :

• Number of computers / Nombre d'ordinateurs: 4 per 1000 people (APC)
• Cybercafés / Cybercafés:
• Project telecentres / Télécentres de projets:
  • An NGO named ENTIS in 2005 (seeking updated info):
    • presented a project proposal to ACSIS for "Centres Communautaires d'Accès à la Technologie" (CCAT) in 2005
    • responded to a call by ADEN for telecentre proposals

b) Internet / Internet :

• Dial-up subscribers / Abonnés par ligne téléphonique :
• Internet users / Utilisateurs de l'internet : 46,000 Internet users as of Sept/05, 0.6% of the population, per ITU (Internet World Stats)

c) Other / Autre :

• Digital Opportunity Index (DOI): 0.16 (ITU 2006)

2.3 ICT policy / Politique de TIC

NICI (National Information and Communications Infrastructure) plan: "Plan de développement de l’infrastructure nationale d’information et de communication de la République de Guinée 2001 – 2004" http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/Documents/PLAN%20NICI%20GUINEE.doc

Information on Benin's NICI policy is available via

• http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/Guinea/guinea.htm
• http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/country_profiles/Guinea/guineapol.htm

The APC page, "ICT Policy in Guinea " has some information and links:

• In English: http://rights.apc.org/africa/index.shtml?apc=s21828e_1
• En français: http://afrique.droits.apc.org/index.shtml?apc=s21828e_1

2.4 ICT4D/E & ICT training / TIC pour le développement/éducation, et formation en TIC

WikiEducator has a table on enabling and constraining factors for ICTs in education at http://www.wikieducator.org/ICT4Africa/Country_Report_Guinea

2.5 Resources / Ressources

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3. Localisation situation / Situation de localisation

3.1 Country web content / Contenu web du pays

3.2 Web content in indigenous languages / Contenu web en langues indigènes

(See also specific language pages.)

3.3 Software localisation / Localisation de logiciel

Not aware of any software localisation activities.

(See also specific language pages.)

3.4 Projects & organisations / Projets et organisations

3.5 Localisation policy / Politique de localisation

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4. References / Références

APC, "ICT Policy in Guinea," Africa ICT Policy Monitor, http://rights.apc.org/africa/index.shtml?apc=s21828e_1 ("Politiques de TIC en/au Guinée," Observatoire des politiques des TIC en Afrique, http://afrique.droits.apc.org/index.shtml?apc=s21828e_1 )

International Telecommunications Union (ITU). 2006. World Information Society Report 2006. Geneva: ITU. http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/worldinformationsociety/2006/wisr-web.pdf

______. 2004. African Telecommunication Indicators 2004. Geneva: ITU.

Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), "Distribution of Top-Level Domain Names by Host Country, Jan 2007" http://www.isc.org/index.pl?/ops/ds/reports/2007-02/dist-bynum.php

Internet World Stats: Africa. 2006. http://internetworldstats.com/africa.htm

Leclerc, Jacques. L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde, "Guinée-Conakry," http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/guinee_franco.htm

Pioneer Bible Translators. 2003. "Maninka Sentence Repetition Test Survey Report: An investigation into the degree of bilingualism proficiency between Maninka of Kankan and Malinké, Kuranko, Sankaran, Konyanka as well as other dialects of Maninka." (SIL Electronic Survey Reports) http://www.sil.org/silesr/abstract.asp?ref=2003-016

SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Languages of Guinea," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=GN

UNDP. 2006. ''Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis. Human Development Report 2006.'' New York: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). [Human development index Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and older) (HDI) http://hdr.undp.org/hdr2006/statistics/indicators/3.html ]

UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa. 1985. African Community Languages and Their Use in Literacy and Education: A Regional Survey. Dakar: UNESCO.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), "The World Factbook: Guinea" https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/gv.html

Vodafone. 2005. "Africa: The Impact of Mobile Phones." The Vodafone Policy Paper Series, Number 3, March 2005. http://www.vodafone.com/assets/files/en/GPP%20SIM%20paper.pdf

WikiEducator, "ICT4Africa/Country Report Guinea," http://www.wikieducator.org/ICT4Africa/Country_Report_Guinea

Wikipedia, "Communications in Guinea," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_in_Guinea

______, "Guinea," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea

______, "Guinée," http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinée

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