Editing Mandinka language (section)

==Phonology==

Mandinka is here represented by the variety spoken in [[Casamance]].<ref>Maŋ Lafi Dramé (c. 2003) ''Parlons Mandinka''</ref> There is little dialectical diversity.

===Tone===
Mandinka has two tones, high and low. Unmodified nouns are either high tone on all syllables or low tone on all syllables. The definite suffix ''-o'' takes a low tone on high-tone nouns and a falling tone on low-tone nouns. It also assimilates any preceding short vowel, resulting in a long /oo/ with either low or falling tone. It shortens a preceding long high vowel (''ii'' > ''io'', ''uu'' > ''uo''; ''ee'' optionally > either ''eo'' or ''ee'') or assimilates itself (''aa'' remains ''aa'') leaving only its tone:
:/búŋ/ 'a room' > /búŋò/ 'the room'
:/tèŋ/ 'a palm tree' > /tèŋô/ 'the palm tree'
:/kídí/ 'a gun' > /kídòò/ 'the gun'
:/kòrdàà/ 'a house' > /kòrdáà/ 'the house'

In Senegal and Gambia, Mandinka is approaching a system of [[pitch accent]] under the influence of local non-tonal languages such as [[Wolof language|Wolof]], [[Serer language|Serer]], and [[Jola languages|Jola]].

The tonal system remains more robust in the Eastern and Southern Mandinka dialects (Tilibo) spoken in the Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Eastern Senegal. These conservative dialects merge into other conservative Manding languages like [[Maninka language|Maninka]], the once official language of the [[Mali Empire]], [[Bambara language|Bambara]], and [[Susu language|Susu]]. All of these preserve the typical West African terraced downstep in tonality that is only lightly alluded to in the Western Mandinka dialects spoken in much of Gambia and Senegal.

===Vowels===
Vowel qualities are {{IPA|/i e a o u/}}. All may be long or short. There are no [[nasal vowel]]s; instead, there is a coda consonant /ŋ/. Long vowels are written double: ''aa'', ''ee'', ''ii'', ''oo'', ''uu''.

===Consonants===
The following table gives the consonants in the Latin orthography, and their IPA equivalent when they differ.
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
! colspan=2| 
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- 
! colspan=2 | [[nasal consonant|Nasal]] 
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
| {{IPA link|ɲ}} {{angle bracket|ñ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|-
! rowspan=2|[[stop consonant|Stop]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| ({{IPA link|p}}){{efn|name=French loans|/g/ and /p/ are found in French loans.}}
|  {{IPA link|t}}
|  {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}} {{angle bracket|c}}
|  {{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
! {{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}} {{angle bracket|j}}
| ({{IPA link|g}}){{efn|name=French loans}}
|
|-
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! {{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
| {{IPA link|f}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|- 
! colspan="2" | [[Approximant]]
| {{IPA link|w}}
| {{IPA link|l}} ({{IPA link|r}}){{efn|/r/ is only found initially in loans and onomatopoeia. Otherwise [r] is the intervocalic allophone of /d/.}}
| {{IPA link|j}} {{angle bracket|y}}
|
|
|}
{{Notelist}}

Syllabic nasals occur, such as in ''nnààm'' 'yes!' (response), ''ŋte'' "I, me". Word-initial ''mb, nd, ndy, ng'' occur but are not particularly common; it is not clear whether they should be considered syllabic nasals or additional consonants.

Consonants may be geminated in the middles of words (at least /pp, tʃtʃ, dʒdʒ, kk, ll, mm, nn, ɲɲ/). The only other consonant found at the ends of syllables in native words is {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, which assimilates to the following consonant, e.g. /ŋs, ŋtʃ, ŋb/ → [ns, ɲtʃ, mb]. Syllable-final /r/ and /s/ are found in French loans (e.g. /kùrtù/ 'pants').