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Marka

A language of Burkina Faso

ISO 639-3: rkm

Population	200,000 in Burkina Faso (1992 CMA). Population total all countries: 225,000.
Region	Kossi and Mouhoun provinces, northwest, Nouna, Dedougou areas. Also in Mali.
Language map	Burkina Faso, reference number 32
Alternate names	Marka Dafing, Meka
Dialects	Safané, Nouna, Gassan. More than 80% inherent intelligibility of the southeastern dialect around Safané, except for those in the northwestern dialect region, who have 70%. The central dialect around Dembo village is also well understood. Reportedly similar to Bambara [bam] or a variant of Jula [dyu].
Classification	Niger-Congo, Mande, Western, Central-Southwestern, Central, Manding-Jogo, Manding-Vai, Manding-Mokole, Manding, Manding-East, Marka-Dafin
Language use	All ages. Men who travel also speak Jula [dyu], but women and children do not. Comprehension of Jula ranges from 45% in a southeastern village to 85% in the northwest.
Language development	Literacy rate in L2: 5% haltingly in French, some in Jula. Radio programs. Grammar. Bible portions: 1987.
Comments	‘Marka’ is used for followers of the traditional religion, ‘Dafing’ for Muslim speakers. Different from the Marka dialect of Soninke. SOV; postpositions; genitives, articles, adjectives, numerals, relatives after noun heads; question word final; word order distinguishes subject, object, indirect object; CV. Peasant agriculturalists. Muslim, traditional religion, Christian.

Also spoken in:

Mali

Language name	Marka
Population	25,000 in Mali (1991).
Region	Koula, Diarani, Yelené, Kuna, Dialassagou, Ouenkoro, Bai village areas.
Language map	Mali, Enlarged Area
Alternate names	Dafing, Marka-Dafin, Meka
Language use	Most Pana people also speak Marka-Dafin very well.
Comments	Used for followers of the traditional religion, ‘Dafing’ for Muslim speakers. Different from the Marka name for Soninke [snk], and the Marka-Jalan who speak the San dialect of Bamanankan [bam]. Traditional religion, Muslim, Christian.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

HARRISON, Annette; HARRISON, Byron, authors. 2002. "Sociolinguistic survey report for the Marka-Dafin language."  

SULLIVAN, Terrence D., author. 2004. "A preliminary report of existing information on the Manding languages of West Africa: summary and suggestions for future research."