Comparative lexical database of Mande languages
by Valentin Vydrin
imported from Toolbox database october 28, 2024
My work on the comparative lexical database of Mande languages began in 1980s. At the initial stage, forms were written by hand on cards. In 1999-2000, I started my work on a comparative dictionary in the Toolbox format, and little by little all my data migrated from the cards to the electronic file. Ever since, I have been adding further data from new sources. This is a work in progress: new sources of lexical data for various Mande languages keep appearing, and also, further cognates continue to be found when old sources are explored more thoroughly.
The Comparative Database was first posted on line in November 2024.
The data in the Database are organized in entries; one entry represents one comparative series. In other words, an entry represents one presumable Proto-Mande root and its reflexes in the contemporary Mande languages; eventually, it may contain reconstructions of proto-languages of groups. Entries vary greatly by the degree of their elaboration; some entries may contain cognate forms from only two or three languages, others may have many dozens of cognates representing all the groups of the Mande family.
In the Database I also include loans from non-Mande languages, especially when they represent some interest for the historical comparative study of Mande. Of course, I do not mean that such loans are reconstructible to the Proto-Mande level (or at some intermediary proto-levels).
As of November 2024, the entire number of entries in the Database is 3939.
The Comparative lexical database of Mande languages will be updated regularly as new data will be added.
According to (Vydrin 2009), the language of the Mande family are subdivided into 11 groups which form two branches:
1. Western branch
1.1. Southwestern Mande
1.2. Susu-Jalonke
1.3. Jogo-Jeri
1.4. Vai-Kono
1.5. Mokole
1.6. Manding
1.7. Soninke-Bozo
1.8. Bobo
1.9. Samogho
2. Southeastern branch
2.1. Eastern Mande
2.2. Southern Mande.
By January 2025, the groups that are best elaborated in the Database are Southwestern, Manding, Soninke-Bozo and Southern (and yet, further improvement is necessary even for these groups). As a rule, group-level reconstructions are provided for:
the Southwestern group, mainly based on (Vydrine 1989; Kastenholz 1997; Vydrin 2006);
Manding, based on (Creissels 1979; Pozdniakov & Vydrine 1986; Pozdniakov & Vydrin 1988; Kastenholz 1997);
the Southern group, based on (Vydrin 2007).
Work on Proto-Soninke-Bozo reconstruction is on-going; hopefully, the reconstructions for this group will be available in 2025.
Occasionally, tentative reconstructions for other groups may be provided as well; in particular, Proto-Eastern reconstructions by Schreiber (2008), although questionable, are regularly given. If no source is indicated for a reconstruction, it means that it is my own.
The degrees of elaboration of the other Mande groups vary greatly.
The data are systematically provided with references to the sources of information. The full list of sources is available in Sources (on the Homepage). If no reference is given, it means that the data or the reconstruction is my own.
References
Creissels, Denis. 1979. Etude comparative du consonantisme de deux parlers manding (mandinka - bambara). Bulletin de phonétique de Grenoble 8. 99-155.
Kastenholz, Raimund. 1997. Sprachgeschichte im West-Mande. Methoden und Rekonstruktionen. Köln: Rödiger Köppe Verlag.
Pozdn kov, Konstantin & Valentin Vydrin. 1988. Rekonstruktion des phonologischen Systems des Pramanden. Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 41(3). 353-371.
Pozdniakov, Konstantin & Valentin Vydrine. 1986. Die Entwicklung des phonetischen Systems des Pramanden: Nasalität und Entwicklung des phonologischen Systems des Manden-Sprachen. Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 39(5). 549-561.
Schreiber, Henning. 2008. Eine historische Phonologie der Niger-Volta-Sprachen (Mande Languages and Linguistics / Langues et Linguistique Mandé 7). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Vydrin, Valentin. 2006. K rekonstrukcii fonologicheskogo tipa i imennoj morfologii pra-mande (К реконструкции фонологического типа и именной морфологии пра-манде) [Toward reconstruction of the phonological type and nominal morphology of Proto-Mande]. In Nikolaj Kazanskiy (ed.), Mandeica Petropolitana (Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Trudy Instituta lingvisticheskikh issledovanij RAN (ACTA LINGUISTICA PETROPOLITANA. Труды Института лингвистических исследований РАН) [Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. Transaction of the Instiute for linguistic studies] II (2)), 3 246. St. Petersburg: Nauka. https://alp.iling.spb.ru/static/alp_II_2.pdf.
Vydrin, Valentin. 2007. South Mande reconstruction: Initial consonants. In Anna V. Dybo, Vladimir A. Dybo, Oleg A. Mudrak & George S. Starostin (eds.), Aspects of comparative linguistics (Orientalia et Classica. Papers of the Institute of Oriental and Classical Studies XI), vol. 2, 409-498. Moscow: Russian State University for the Humanities.
Vydrin, Valentin. 2009. On the problem of the Proto-Mande homeland. Journal of language relationship 1. 107 142.
Vydrine, Valentin. 1989. Reflection of the nominal classification in Manden and South-Western Mande: the classification category. Zeitschrift f r Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 42(1). 90 101.
Vydrine, Valentin. 1989. Reflection of the nominal classification in Manden and South-Westren Mande: the classification category. Zeitschrift für Phonetik, Sprachwissenschaft und Kommunikationsforschung 42(1). 90 101.
From intent to impact: Investigating the effects of open sharing commitments. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.14846800
How to cite: Vydrin, Valentin. 2024. Comparative lexical database of Mande languages. http://cormand.huma-num.fr/mandecomp/interface.php [Data set]. [Data set]