The
Mande languages are spoken in several countries in
West Africa by the
Mandé people and include
Mandinka,
Soninke,
Bambara,
Dioula,
Bozo,
Mende,
Susu, and
Vai. There are millions of speakers, chiefly in
Burkina Faso,
Mali,
Senegal,
the Gambia,
Guinea,
Guinea-Bissau,
Sierra Leone,
Liberia, and
Ivory Coast. The Mande languages have traditionally been considered a divergent branch of the
Niger–Congo family, though this classification has always been controversial.