The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.
SIL code: TEJ
ISO 639-2: tem
| Population | 1,200,000 first language speakers, or 29.8% of the population (1989 J. Kaiser TISLL). 240,000 second language users (1981 D. Cranmer). |
| Region | Northern Province, west of Sewa River to Little Scarcie. |
| Alternate names | TEMNE, TIMNE, TIMENE, TIMMANNEE, TEMEN |
| Dialects | BANTA, KONIKE, YONI, BOMBALI, WESTERN TEMNE (PIL), SANDA, RIBIA, KHOLIFA, KOYA, MASINGBI, MALAL. |
| Classification | Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Atlantic, Southern, Mel, Temne, Temne-Banta. |
| Comments | The people claim to understand all dialects. Lexical similarity between Masingbi and Malal is 74%; between Konike and western varieties 70%. 25% use Krio, 5% use English as second language. A number of monolinguals. Used as a second language in parts of neighboring tribes. The primary language of central Sierra Leone. Trade language. Literacy rate in second language: 6%. Taught as an elective from primary to college level. Agriculturalists: rice. Traditional religion, Muslim, Christian. NT 1868-1955. |
