.mw-parser-output .hidden-begin{box-sizing:border-box;width:100%;padding:5px;border:none;font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .hidden-title{font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .hidden-content{text-align:left}You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (October 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 5,973 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Siamou]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template ((Translated|fr|Siamou)) to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.
Siamou
Sɛmɛ
Native toBurkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali
Native speakers
(40,000 cited ca. 1999)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sif
Glottologsiam1242

The Siamou language, also known as Seme (Sɛmɛ), is a language spoken mainly in Burkina Faso. It is part of the Kru languages or unclassified within the proposed Niger–Congo languages. It is also spoken in Ivory Coast and Mali, and could likely be a language isolate.

The speakers call themselves Seme. The Dioula language exonym is Siamou.[2]

Classification

Siamou is traditionally classed as Kru. However, according to Roger Blench (2013) and Pierre Vogler (2015), the language bears little resemblance to Kru.[3][2] Güldemann (2018) also leaves out Siamou as unrelated to Niger-Congo and considers it a language isolate.[4] Glottolog considers it a language isolate on that basis.

Siamou word order is SOV, like the Senufo languages, but unlike the SVO Central Gur languages.[4]

Geographical distribution

In 1999, it was spoken by 20,000 people in western Burkina Faso and another 20,000 in the Ivory Coast and Mali.[1] In Burkina Faso, it is mainly spoken in the province of Kénédougou, around the provincial capital Orodara and the surrounding villages of Bandougou, Didéri, Diéri, Diéridéni, Diossogou, Kotoudéni, Lidara, and Tin.[2] Siamou has one major dialect, Bandougou. In addition, there are minor dialectal differences among the Siamou spoken in Orodara and in surrounding villages. It is also spoken in Toussiana Department of Burkina Faso.

See also

Further reading

Notes

  1. ^ a b Siamou at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c Vogler, Pierre. 2015. Le sèmè/siamou n’est pas une langue kru.
  3. ^ Blench (2013:50)
  4. ^ a b Güldemann, Tom (2018). "Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa". In Güldemann, Tom (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of Africa. The World of Linguistics series. Vol. 11. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 58–444. doi:10.1515/9783110421668-002. ISBN 978-3-11-042606-9. S2CID 133888593.

References

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