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Cebaara, Nyarafolo, Senara, Syenara
The term "Senufo" refers both to a language (Senari) and a branch of Gur (Voltaic) that includes four distinct languages: Palaka, Dymini-Tagwana, Central Senufo (Senari), and Northern Senufo (including the dialects of Suppire and Minianka) (Voegelin and Voegelin 1977). Senari, which means "the (Senufo) language," also stands for the language spoken in northern Côte d'Ivoire and a small part of Mali. The related language of Suppire (Minianka) is listed separately. (Webbook)
Ethnologue (Language tree) and Wikipedia list six groups of Senufo: Karaboro, Kpalaga, Nafaanra, Senari, Suppire-Mamara, and Tagwana-Djimini. Of these, Senari and Suppire have the most speakers. This page deals only with the Senari group.
Northern Côte d'Ivoire and a small part of southern Mali. (Webbook)
Korhogo in Côte d'Ivoire is the major center for Cebaara. Nyarafolo is centered to the east around Ferkessedougou. Syenara is spoken around Kadiolo, Mali, and Senara is spoken in Leraba Province, Burkina Faso (neither should be confused with "Senari," of which they are part).
The map below shows the geographic distribution of the Senufo language groups, including Senari:
(Source: Wikipedia; map created by Mark Dingemanse of Vormdicht under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License)
According to information compiled from Ethnologue:
Manessy (1981) reports four principal dialects of Senari: Nya'a folo, Nafara, Tyebara (Cebaara), and Nowolo. Detailed dialect survey work is currently being carried out by the SIL in the area. (Webbook) [see below]
According to information compiled from Ethnologue:
Senufo is a local first language. (Webbook)
Literacy rates according to according to Ethnologue:
Senufo languages in Côte d'Ivoire use the official orthography developed for all languages in that country. (Webbook) This is Latin-based with extended characters and diacritics (not clear if the latter are required).
Alphabet as reported by Hartell (1993) and presented in Systèmes alphabétiques: http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/AfficheTableauOrtho2N.php?choixLangue=senoufo+%28senari%29
Sample texts are shown on the "Language Museum" site as follows (these may or may not reflect current standards and use):
Unicode fonts with extended Latin ranges should cover the needs of this language. (8-bit legacy fonts should be avoided.)
Not aware of any.
Not aware of any localisation efforts.
(No specific ISO 639-1 or ISO 639-2 codes)
Senoufo, Cebaara
Senoufo, Nyarafolo
Sénoufo, Senara
Senoufo, Syenara
Localisation might logically focus first on Korhogo Cebaara.
There is a question how to treat the dialects not part of either the Senari or the Suppire groups. Might it be possible to develop localisation strategies for the larger Senufo group including this and Suppire/Minianka?
Chanard, Christian (2006), Systèmes alphabétiques des langues africaines, LLACAN, CNRS, http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/
Dwyer, David (1997), Webbook of African Languages, http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/hiermenu.html (page on "Senufo (Senari)," http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/Senufo_root.html )
Hartell, Rhonda L. ed. 1993. The Alphabets of Africa/Alphabets de Langues Africaines. Dakar: UNESCO & SIL.
SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Senoufo, Cebaara," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=sef
______, "Language Family Trees: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, North, Gur, Senufo," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=91018
______, "Senoufo, Nyarafolo," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=sev
______, "Sénoufo, Senara," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=seq
______, "Senoufo, Syenara," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=shz
SIL International, "ISO 639 Code Tables," http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp
U.S. Library of Congress, "ISO 639.2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages: Alpha-3 codes arranged alphabetically by the English name of language," http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php
Wikipedia, "Senari languages," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senari_languages
______, "Senufo languages," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senufo_languages
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