The Senufo or Senufic languages has around 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Ivory Coast, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the west of Ghana. The Senufo languages constitute their own branch of the Atlantic–Congo sub-family of the Niger–Congo languages. Garber (1987) estimates the total number of Senufos at some 1.5 million; the Ethnologue, based on various population estimates, counts 2.7 million. The Senufo languages are bounded to the west by Mande languages, to the south by Kwa languages, and to the north and east by Central Gur languages.
The Gur languages, also known as Central Gur, belong to the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 70 languages belonging to this group. They are spoken in the Sahelian and savanna regions of West Africa, namely: in Burkina Faso, southern Mali, northeastern Ivory Coast, the northern halves of Ghana and Togo, northwestern Benin, and southwestern Niger. Additionally, a single Gur language, Baatonum, is spoken in the extreme northwest of Nigeria.
The Senufo people, also known as Siena, Senefo, Sene, Senoufo, and Syénambélé, are a West African ethnolinguistic group. They consist of diverse subgroups living in a region spanning the northern Ivory Coast, the southeastern Mali and the western Burkina Faso. One sub-group, the Nafana, is found in north-western Ghana.
Nafaanra is a Senufo language spoken in northwest Ghana, along the border with Ivory Coast, east of Bondoukou. It is spoken by approximately 61,000 people. Its speakers call themselves Nafana, but others call them Banda or Mfantera. Like other Senufo languages, Nafaanra is a tonal language. It is somewhat of an outlier in the Senufo language group, with the geographically-closest relatives, the Southern Senufo Tagwana–Djimini languages, approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the west, on the other side of Comoé National Park.
The Ligbi people speak a Mande language in Ghana, in the north-west corner of the Brong-Ahafo Region. Ligbi is spoken by approximately 10,000 speakers. It is fairly closely related to Jula, Vai and Kono. A small population of Ligbi speakers is reported to live in Ivory Coast. Ligbi is also known as Wela (Hwela) or Numu. The latter of these refers to a subsection of the Ligbi people; Numu is Dyula for 'blacksmith'.
Supyire, or Suppire, is a Senufo language spoken in the Sikasso Region of southeastern Mali and in adjoining regions of Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, where it is known as Shempire (Syenpire). In their native language, the noun sùpyìré means both "the people" and "the language spoken by the people".
Sucite is a Senufo language spoken in southwestern Burkina Faso by approximately 35,000 people. Sucite is a close neighbour of Supyire, spoken in southeastern Mali. Sucite is sometimes regarded as the northern extension of Supyire. The two dialects are, according to Garber (1987), ‘quite mutually intelligible’. Sometimes speakers of Sucite will even refer to themselves as speaking Supyire. Another closely related lect is Mamara.
Minyanka is a northern Senufo language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mali. It is closely related to Supyire. Minyanka is one of the national languages of Mali.
Nanerige is a Senufo language spoken in south-western Burkina Faso.
Palaka is a central Senufo language spoken by approximately 8,000 people in northern Ivory Coast. It is bordered to the south by Djimini, a southern Senufo language, and to the west by Nyarafolo, another Senufo language. North and east of the Palaka area live Dioula people.
The Suppire–Mamara languages form the northern branch of the Senufo language family and are mainly spoken in Mali. They comprise five different languages, totalling approximately 750,000 speakers. The Northern Senufo languages are separated from the Central Senufo languages by a small band of Mande speaking people. To the east and west, they are also bordered mainly by Mande languages like Bambara and Dioula, and they have been influenced considerably by those languages in both vocabulary and grammar.
The Nafana are a Senufo people living in the north-west of Ghana and the north-east of Côte d'Ivoire, in the area east of Bondoukou. They number about 45, 000 and they speak Nafaanra, a Senufo language. They are surrounded by Gur speakers to the north, the isolated Mande speaking Ligbi people to the east, and the Akan speaking Abron to the south.
The Atlantic–Congo languages are a major division constituting the core of the Niger–Congo language family of Africa, characterised by the noun class systems typical of the family. They comprise all of Niger–Congo except Mande, Dogon, Ijoid and the Katla and Rashad languages. Mukarovsky's West-Nigritic corresponded roughly to modern Atlantic–Congo.
The Senari languages form a central dialect cluster of the Senufo languages. They are spoken in northern Ivory Coast, southern Mali and southwest Burkina Faso by more than a million Senufo. Three varieties can be distinguished,
Ivory Coast is a multilingual country with an estimated 78 languages currently spoken.
The Savannas languages, also known as Gur–Adamawa (Adamawa–Gur), is a branch of the Niger–Congo languages that includes Greenberg's Gur and Adamawa–Ubangui families.
Djimini (Jinmini) is a southern Senufo language of Ivory Coast. Blacksmiths among the Djimini once spoke Tonjon, a Mande language.
Cebaara (Tyebala), one of a cluster of languages called Senari, is a major Senufo language, spoken by a million people in Ivory Coast.
Nyarafolo (Niafolo), one of a cluster of languages called Senari, is a Senufo language of Ivory Coast.
Senara (Niangolo), one of a cluster of languages called Senari, is a Senufo language of Burkina Faso and Mali.
