Languages of Sierra Leone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sierra Leone is a multilingual country.[1] English is the de facto official language, and Krio is the most widely spoken.[2][3][4]

Other major languages include Mende, which is spoken by 31% of the population as a mother tongue and as a lingua franca in southern Sierra Leone, and Temne, which is spoken by 37% as a mother tongue and also as a lingua franca in the northern province, north Western province, and other part of Sierra Leone and some part of the Capital and the Western Area. Other languages include Kono, Kissi, Kuranko, Limba, Fula (Pular), Mandingo and Susu.

Although English, as the official language, is spoken in schools, government administration and the media, Krio is spoken as a lingua franca in virtually all parts of Sierra Leone. Krio, an English-based creole language, is the mother tongue of 10.5% of the population but is spoken by 90% of Sierra Leoneans.[5]

In 2002, some News media claimed that after the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the Sierra Leone Civil War under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, the government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared Bengali an honorary official language in December 2002.[6][7][8][9] But this information is not supported by any official declaration from Sierra Leone.

See also[]

  • Sierra Leonean Sign Language

References[]

  1. ^ Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2014. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Seventeenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. (Page on "Sierra Leone.)
  2. ^ "Sierra Leone languages", Joshua Project
  3. ^ "Krio Translation Services". Language9.com. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  4. ^ Oyètádé, B. Akíntúndé; Fashole-Luke, Victor (15 February 2008). "Sierra Leone: Krio and the Quest for National Integration". Language and National Identity in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 122–140.
  5. ^ "Republic of Sierra Leone" (in French). Trésor de la langue française au Québec. 18 June 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  6. ^ "How Bengali became an official language in Sierra Leone". The Indian Express. 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-03-22.
  7. ^ "Why Bangla is an official language in Sierra Leone". Dhaka Tribune. 23 Feb 2017.
  8. ^ Ahmed, Nazir (21 Feb 2017). "Recounting the sacrifices that made Bangla the State Language".
  9. ^ "Sierra Leone makes Bengali official language". Pakistan. 29 Dec 2002. Archived from the original on 27 September 2013.
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