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Mali is a multilingual country. The languages spoken there reflect ancient settlement patterns, migrations, and its long history. ''Ethnologue'' counts 50 languages. Of these, French is the official language and Bambara is the most widely spoken. Altogether 13 of the indigenous languages of Mali have the legal status of national language. ==Language usage== French, which was introduced during the colonial period, was retained as the official language at independence and is used in government and formal education. Estimates of the number of people who actually speak French are low. Figures estimated in 1986 give a number of 386,000 speakers of French in Mali, derived from the numbers of school attendees.〔Anne Lafage. French in Africa. Carol Sanders (ed.) French Today: Language in Its Social Context. pp 215-238. Cambridge University Press (1993) ISBN 0-521-39695-6 p. 217. This cites a report by the Haut Council du Francophonie, Bull. du FIPF (1986), pp. 10-12.〕 This would mean roughly 21% of the population speak French, by 1986 figures, a number considerably lower than those who speak Bambara.〔386,000 in a population of ~ 8.2 Million in 1986, according to Data FAOSTAT, year 2005 : http://faostat.fao.org/faostat/help-copyright/copyright-e.htm (last updated 11 February 2005)〕 Almost all people who speak French in Mali speak it as a second language. 1993 estimates are that there are only around 9,000 Malian speakers of French as a first language.〔(ethnologue.com ), cites: Johnstone (1993)〕 French is more understood in urban centres, with 1976 figures showing a 36.7% "Francophone" rate in urban areas, but only an 8.2% rate in rural areas. French usage is gender weighted as well, with 1984 figures showing 17.5% percent of males speaking French, but only 4.9% of women.〔Anne Lafage (1993), p. 219, citing Perrot: 1985 for both 1974 and 1984 figures.〕 Bambara ((バンバラ語:Bamanankan)), a Manding language (in the Mande family) is said to be spoken by 80% of the population as a first or second language. It is spoken mainly in central and Southern Mali. Bambara and two other very closely related Manding languages Malinke or Maninkakan in the southwest and Kassonke (in the region of Kayes in the west), are among the 13 national languages. Bambara is used as a trade language in Mali between language groups. (Bambara is also very close to the Dyula language (; (フランス語:Dioula)), spoken mainly in Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. The name "Jula" is actually a Manding word meaning "trader.") Other Mande languages (not in the Manding group) include Soninke (in the region of Kayes in western Mali), Dogon languages (of ''Pays Dogon'' or Dogon country in central Mali), the Bozo languages (along the middle Niger). Other languages include Senufo in the Sikasso region (south), Fula ((フラニ語:Fulfulde); (フランス語:Peul)) as a widespread trade language in the Mopti region and beyond, the Songhay languages along the Niger, Tamasheq in the eastern part of Mali's Sahara and Arabic in its western part. Thirteen of the most widely spoken indigenous languages are considered "national languages." Most formal education for the deaf in Mali uses American Sign Language, introduced to West Africa by the deaf American missionary Andrew Foster. There are two other sign languages in Mali. One, Tebul Sign Language, is found in a village with a high incidence of congenital deafness. Another, Bamako Sign Language, developed in the after-work tea circles of the cities; it is threatened by the educational use of ASL. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Languages of Mali」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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