Koyra Chiini (koyra ciini / كࣷيْرَ ٺِينِ)

Koyra Chiini is a Southern Songhay language spoken by about 200,000 people along the Niger River in southern Mali. In particular, it is spoken in the city of Timbuktu and in the towns of Diré, Tonka, Goundam and Niafunké in the Tombouctou Region of Mali, and also in Arouane, a village in the Taoudénit Region of Mali to the north of the Tombouctou Region.

Koyra Chiini is also known as Western Songhay, Koyra Chiini Songhay, Timbuktu Songhay or Songai. It has two dialects Koyra Chiini (koyra ciini / كࣷيْرَ ٺِينِ) and Djenné Chiini (jenne ciini / جٜنّٜ ٺِينِ), which is

There are ways to write Koyra Chiini with the Latin alphabet and the Arabic alphabet. The Latin alphabet was standardized by the Direction Nationale de l'Alphabétisation Fonctionnelle et de la Linguistique Appliquée (DNAFLA), the national literacy agency in Mali. The Arabic (Ajami) alphabet for Koyra Chiini was standardized in 1987.

Latin alphabet for Koyra Chiini

Latin alphabet for Koyra Chiini

Arabic alphabet for Koyra Chiini

Arabic alphabet for Koyra Chiini

Download alphabet charts for Koyra Chiini (Excel)

Sample text (Latin alphabet)

surgu di yo saa di kaa na i šintii hisa ka din gandoo alkaasu, i faraandi gi nda laamu, i din alkaasu di hal i hisa ka faraandi boro di yo saa di i hantum i se i koy hamdallaay, i har seeku se a ma faaba ŋgiye nda, ka yenje surgu di yo. seeku, a gar ŋgu wane taalib foo kaa se i-i har 'aamadu samburu koolado dursudi'. ŋga wane taalib foo kaa a-a hisa ka naaney ga, seeku har a se kaa aywa maa na a-a baa?

Translation (Arabic script)

سُرْݝُ‎ دِ يࣷ سَا دِ كَا نَ اِ شِنْتِي هِسَ كَ دِنْ ݝَنْدࣷ اَلْكَاسُ، اِ ڢَرَاندِ ݝِنْدَ لَامُ، اِ دِنْ اَلْكَاسُ دِ حَل اِ هِسَ كَ فَرَاندِ بࣷرࣷ دِ يࣷ سَا دِ اِ هَنْتُمْ اِ سٜ اِ كࣷيْ حَمدَلَّايْ،‌ اِ هَرْ سٜيكُ سٜ اَ مَ فَابَ ݗْݝِيٜ نْدَ، كَ يٜنْجٜ سُرݝُ دِ يࣷ. سٜيكُ، اَ ݝَر ݗْݝُ وَنٜ طَالِب فࣷو كَا سٜ اِئِ هَر «آمَدُ سَمْبُرُ كࣷولَدࣷ دُرسُدِ».ݗْݝَ وَنٜ طَالِب فࣷو كَا اَأَ هِسَ كَ نَانٜي ݝَ، سٜيكُ هَرْ اَ سٜ كَا اَيْوَ مَا نَ اَأَ بَا؟

Translation

The Tuaregs, when they began — They took a great deal of this land's taxes, they oppressed them (=local people) with their iron rule. They took taxes to the point that they oppressed the people very much. So, they (=people) wrote to them (=distant leaders). They went to Hamdullahi, They told (=asked) Sékou (=a leader) to help them fight the Tuaregs. Sékou, he found one of his (own) pupils, whom they called 'Amadou Sambourou Kolado Doursoudi'. A pupil of his whom he had much confidence in. Sekou asked him (=Amadou), well, what did he (=Amadou) want?

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyra_Chiini_language#Sample_text

Sample videos

Links

Information about Koyra Chiini
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koyraboro_Senni
https://www.koeppe.de/titel_a-grammar-of-koyraboro-koroboro-senni
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/koyr1242
https://www.songhay.org/en/
https://www.everyalphabet.com/koyra-chiini
https://www.scribd.com/doc/164193128/Grammar-of-Koyra-Chiini-Mouton-Grammar-Library-pdf

Songhay languages

Dendi, Humburi Senni, Koyra Chiini, Koyrasboro Senni, Tadasahak, Zarma

Languages written with the Arabic script

Adamaua Fulfulde, Aer, Afrikaans, Arabic (Algerian), Arabic (Bedawi), Arabic (Chadian), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Gulf), Arabic (Hassaniya), Arabic (Hejazi), Arabic (Lebanese), Arabic (Libyan), Arabic (Modern Standard), Arabic (Moroccan), Arabic (Najdi), Arabic (Sudanese), Arabic (Syrian), Arabic (Tunisian), Arwi, Äynu, Azeri, Balanta-Ganja, Balti, Baluchi, Beja, Belarusian, Bosnian, Brahui, Chagatai, Chechen, Chittagonian, Comorian, Crimean Tatar, Dameli, Dargwa, Dari, Dhatki, Dogri, Domari, Gawar Bati, Gawri, Gilaki, Hausa, Hazaragi, Hindko, Humburi Senni, Indus Kohistani, Kabyle, Kalkoti, Karachay-Balkar, Karakalpak, Kashmiri, Katë, Kazakh, Khowar, Khorasani Turkic, Khwarezmian, Konkani, Koyra Chiini, Koyraboro Senni, Kumzari, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lezgi, Lop, Luri, Maasina Fulfulde, Maba, Maguindanao, Malay, Malay (Terengganu), Mandinka, Marwari, Mazandarani, Mogholi, Morisco, Mozarabic, Munji, Noakhailla, Nubi, Ormuri, Palula, Parkari Koli, Pashto, Persian/Farsi, Punjabi, Qashqai, Rajasthani, Rohingya, Salar, Saraiki, Sawi, Serer, Shabaki, Shina, Shughni, Sindhi, Somali, Soninke, Tatar, Tausūg, Tawallammat Tamajaq, Tayart Tamajeq, Ternate, Torwali, Turkish, Urdu, Ushoji, Uyghur, Uzbek, Wakhi, Wanetsi, Wolof, Xiao'erjing, Yidgha

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 28.07.26. Last modified: 08.09.26

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