Languages

The inventory below of Dogon languages is based partially on our own work and partially on the literature, primarily the SIL survey (Hochstetler et al. 2004) and the survey work by Roger Blench (Blench nd, Blench 2005). Bangime is not a Dogon language genetically, and at least in the West African context it is a language isolate. See also the "typology" documents in the bibliography for typological profiles. Blench's remarks on Bangime can be found in Blench 2005 and Blench 2007.

There is some evidence for a binary genetic split between eastern Dogon and western Dogon subgroups. Some genetically "western" languages (Yanda Dom, Tebul Ure) are now spoken rather far to the east because of migrations. Some outlier languages such as Toro Tegu (far north) and Tomo Kan (far south) fit uneasily into these binary categories.

Where possible we base the names of languages and dialects on endonyms (the names given by speakers to their own language, in their own language) rather than on exonyms (language and sub-ethnicity names used by others, including other Dogon). However, many "languages" (as understood by linguists) are unnamed, as Dogon in many areas (especially Toro So, Tengou-Togo, and Najamba-Kindige) use more precise labels denoting what linguists consider to be "dialects." For example, "Najamba-Kindige" is our concatenation of Najamba and Kindige, which denote two distinct speech varieties (and sub-ethnicities), while "Bondu" is the exonym used by other Dogon and Fulbe. Other exonyms include "Kolu" corresponding to our "Mombo," and "Duleri" corresponding to our "Tiranige."

Several of the terms in common use in the literature are compounds ending in Kan, So, Dom, or Tegu. These are nouns meaning 'speech, language'. Where the compound initial is the name of a village (e.g. Beni, Pergue, Ibi), a zone (e.g. Toro 'mountain'), or of a surname (Togo), the compound final is useful. Where the compound initial is an ethnic name or a high-visibility greeting (Jamsay), the final is unnecessary; compare the fluctuation between "Indonesian" and "Bahasa Indonesia" as a language name.