Mende language
| Mende | |
|---|---|
| Mɛnde yia 𞠗𞢱 𞡓𞠣 | |
| Native to | Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea |
| Region | South central Sierra Leone |
| Ethnicity | Mende people |
Native speakers | 2.5 million (2020–2021) |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin Mende Kikakui script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | men |
| ISO 639-3 | men |
| Glottolog | mend1266 |
Mende /ˈmɛndi/ (Mɛnde yia) is a major language of Sierra Leone, with some speakers in neighboring Liberia and Guinea. It is spoken by the Mende people and by other ethnic groups as a regional lingua franca in southern Sierra Leone.
Mende is a tonal language belonging to the Mande language family. Early systematic descriptions of Mende were by F. W. Migeod and Kenneth Crosby. Ethel Aginsky decoded the language in her doctoral work.