Dogon languages

The Dogon languages are a small, close-knit language family spoken by the Dogon people of Mali, which may belong to the larger Niger–Congo family. There are about 600,000 speakers of a dozen languages. They are tonal languages – most, like Dogul, having two tones; some, like Donno So, having three. The basic word order is subject–object–verb.

Dogon
EthnicityDogon people
Geographic
distribution		Mali
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
  • (unclassified)
    • Dogon
Subdivisions
Glottologdogo1299[1]
Map of the Dogon languages
  Bangime (likely language isolate)
  Plains Dogon – Jamsai, Toro Tegu, Western Plains (Togo Kan, Tengu Kan, Tomo Kan)
  Escarpment Dogon – Toro So, Tommo So, Donno So
  West Dogon – Duleri, Mombo, Ampari–Penange, Budu
  North Plateau Dogon – Bondum, Dogul
  Nanga languages – Nanga, Bankan Tey, Ben Tey, Yanda
  Tebul Dogon (+ Tebul Sign Language)
  Ana Dogon

Classification

The evidence linking Dogon to the Niger–Congo family is weak, and their place within the family, assuming they do belong, is not clear. Various theories have been proposed, placing them in Gur, Mande, or as an independent branch, the last now being the preferred approach. The Dogon languages show no remnants of the noun class system characteristic of much of Niger–Congo, leading linguists to conclude that they likely diverged from Niger–Congo very early.

Roger Blench comments,[2]

Dogon is both lexically and structurally very different from most other [Niger–Congo] families. It lacks the noun-classes usually regarded as typical of Niger–Congo and has a word order (SOV) that resembles Mande and Ịjọ, but not the other branches. The system of verbal inflections, resembling French is quite unlike any surrounding languages. As a consequence, the ancestor of Dogon is likely to have diverged very early, although the present-day languages probably reflect an origin some 3–4000 years ago. Dogon languages are territorially coherent, suggesting that, despite local migration histories, the Dogon have been in this area of Mali from their origin.

and:[3]

Dogon is certainly a well-founded and coherent group. But it has no characteristic Niger–Congo features (noun-classes, verbal extensions, labial-velars) and very few lexical cognates. It could equally well be an independent language family.

The Bamana and Fula languages have exerted significant influence on Dogon, due to their close cultural and geographical ties.

Blench (2015) suggests that Bangime and Dogon languages may have a substratum from a "missing" branch of Nilo-Saharan that had split off relatively early from Proto-Nilo-Saharan, and tentatively calls that branch "Plateau".[4]

Languages

The Dogon consider themselves a single ethnic group, but recognise that their languages are different. In Dogon cosmology, Dogon constitutes six of the twelve languages of the world (the others being Fulfulde, Mooré, Bambara, Bozo and Tamasheq).[5] Jamsay is thought to be the original Dogon language, but the Dogon "recognise a myriad of tiny distinctions even between parts of villages and sometimes individuals, and strive to preserve these". (Hochstetler 2004:18)

The best-studied Dogon language is the escarpment language Toro So (Tɔrɔ sɔɔ) of Sanga, due to Marcel Griaule's studies there and because Toro So was selected as one of thirteen national languages of Mali. It is mutually intelligible with other escarpment varieties. However, the plains languages—Tene Ka, Tomo Ka, and Jamsay, which are not intelligible with Toro so—have more speakers, and Jamsay and Tommo so are most conservative linguistically.

Calame-Griaule appears to have been the first to work out the various varieties of Dogon. Calame-Griaule (1956) classified the languages as follows, with accommodation given for languages which have since been discovered (new Dogon languages were reported as late as 2005), or have since been shown to be mutually intelligible (as Hochstetler confirmed for the escarpment dialects). The two standard languages are asterisked.

Douyon and Blench (2005) report an additional variety, which is as yet unclassified:

Blench noted that the plural suffix on nouns suggests that Budu is closest to Mombo, so it has been tentatively included as West Dogon above. He also notes that Walo–Kumbe is lexically similar to Naŋa; Hochstetler suspects it may be Naŋa. The similarities between these languages may be shared with Yanda. These are all extremely poorly known.

Pre-Dogon language

Bangime language (aka Baŋgɛri mɛ), formerly considered a divergent branch of Dogon, turns out not to be Dogon at all, and is possibly a language isolate (Blench 2005b). Blench believes that it is a remnant of the pre-Dogon languages of the area; the Dogon appear to have been in the area for many thousands of years.

Additionally, Blench (2015)[6] suggests that there is a Nilo-Saharan substratum in the Dogon languages, with the Nilo-Saharan substrate being a currently extinct branch of Nilo-Saharan that Blench tentatively refers to as "Plateau."

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:[7]

Language12345678910
Dogulu Dom (1)tɔ̀mɔ̀nééɡètáándùkɛ́ɛ́sɔ̀ǹókúlèsɔ́ɔ́wɛ̀sèèlétùùwɔ́pɛ́ɛ̀l
Dogul Dom Dogon (2)tomonɛiɡetaandukɛɛson'nɔkuloisɔɔiseeletuwɔpɛɛl
Tommo So Dogontíí (túmɔ́ as a modifier)néétààndúnǎyǹnɔ́kúlóysɔ́yɡáɡìràtúwwɔ́pɛ́l
Donno So Dogontí (for counting), túrulɛ̀ytàːnunàynùmoro / nnɔkúlóy / kuleisɔ̀yɡàɡaratùo / tuɡɔpɛ́lu
Jamsay Dogontúrúlɛ̌y / lɛ̀ytǎːn / tàːnnǎyⁿ / nàyⁿ *nǔːyⁿ / nùːyⁿkúróysûyⁿɡáːràláːrúwà / láːrwàpɛ́rú
Toro So Dogon (1)tíì (for counting), túrúlɛ́jtàánúnàjínùmɔ́r̃ɔ́kúlòjsɔ́jɡááràtúwɔ́pɛ́rú
Toro So Dogon (2)tíírú (for counting), túrúléítáánúnáínúmɔ́rɔ́nkúlóísɔ́íɡáɡárátúwɔ́pɛ́lú
Toro Tegu Dogontúrúlɛ̌ytǎːlínǎyⁿ *nǔːyⁿkúréysóyⁿɡáːràláːràpɛ́ró
Bankan Tey Dogontùmájǒjtàːnínìŋŋějⁿnùmmǔjⁿkúròjsíjⁿɔ̀jⁿɡáːràjtèːsúmpɛ́ːrú
Ben Tey Dogontùmɔ́:yěytàːnúnǐːyⁿnùmǔyⁿkúròysúyⁿɔ̀yⁿɡáːràytèːsǐmpɛ́rú
Mombo Dogonyɛ̀ːtáːŋɡù / tíːtà (in counting)nɛ́ːŋɡátáːndìkɛ́ːjɔ́núːmùkúléyⁿsɔ́ːlìséːlètóːwàpɛ́ːlù
Najamba-Kindigekúndénôːjtàːndîːkɛ́ːdʒɛ̀jnùmîːkúlèjswɛ̂jsáːɡìːtwâjpíjɛ́lì
Nanga Dogontùmâwǒjtàːndǐːnɔ̌jⁿnìmǐːkúrêsújɛ̂ɡáːrɛ̀tèːsǐːpɛ́ːrú
Togo Kan Dogon (1)tílɔ́ytàán, tàánúnǎyⁿnúnɛ́ɛ́ⁿkúréésɔ́ɔ̀sìláàtúwáàpɛ́rú
Togo Kan Dogon (2)tílɔ́yìtánnnáɲìnúmɛ̀kúlènsɔ́sílàtúwàpɛ́lì
Yanda Dom Dogontùmá:nɔ́ː / nótáːndùcɛ́zɔ̀nûmkúléswɛ́ːsáːɡètwâːpíyél
gollark: I do not think search is a significant issue, and the logreading thing can be fixed.
gollark: I mean, you could shunt it to an archive channel via webhook things after however long, but that would have its own issues.
gollark: The precise time is tunable, after some amount of time it would probably cease to be discussed. And why should they *not* exist? The logreading issue is fixable as I said, search... maybe less so, but I'm not sure how many search queries actually turn up that stuff *now* and how big an issue it would be.
gollark: For logreading, it could probably put in a divider of some kind.
gollark: It could be semiautomated based on keywords (or, indeed, the criteria used to decide whether to have a conversation or not under your proposal), and disable it after, say, 15 minutes of no activity.

See also

Notes
  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Dogon". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. Dogon Languages Archived June 15, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Retrieved May 19, 2013
  3. Roger Blench, Niger-Congo: an alternative view
  4. Blench, Roger. 2015. Was there a now-vanished branch of Nilo-Saharan on the Dogon Plateau? Evidence from substrate vocabulary in Bangime and Dogon. In Mother Tongue, Issue 20, 2015: In Memory of Harold Crane Fleming (1926-2015).
  5. The last is not mentioned in Hochstetler's sources.
  6. Blench, Roger. 2015. Was there a now-vanished branch of Nilo-Saharan on the Dogon Plateau? Evidence from substrate vocabulary in Bangime and Dogon. Mother Tongue, Issue 20, 2015: In Memory of Harold Crane Fleming (1926-2015).
  7. Chan, Eugene (2019). "The Niger-Congo Language Phylum". Numeral Systems of the World's Languages.

References
  • Bendor-Samuel, John & Olsen, Elizabeth J. & White, Ann R. (1989) 'Dogon', in Bendor-Samuel & Rhonda L. Hartell (eds.) The Niger–Congo languages: A classification and description of Africa's largest language family (pp. 169–177). Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America.
  • Bertho, J. (1953) 'La place des dialectes dogon de la falaise de Bandiagara parmi les autres groupes linguistiques de la zone soudanaise,' Bulletin de l'IFAN, 15, 405–441.
  • Blench, Roger (2005a). "A survey of Dogon languages in Mali: Overview". OGMIOS: Newsletter of Foundation for Endangered Languages. 3.02 (26): 14–15. Retrieved 2011-06-30..
  • Blench, Roger (2005b) 'Baŋgi me, a language of unknown affiliation in Northern Mali', OGMIOS: Newsletter of Foundation for Endangered Languages, 3.02 (#26), 15-16. (report with wordlist)
  • Calame-Griaule, Geneviève (1956) Les dialectes Dogon. Africa, 26 (1), 62-72.
  • Calame-Griaule, Geneviève (1968) Dictionnaire Dogon Dialecte tɔrɔ: Langue et Civilisation. Paris: Klincksieck: Paris.
  • Heath, Jeffrey (2008) A grammar of Jamsay. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
  • Hochstetler, J. Lee; Durieux, J.A.; E.I.K. Durieux-Boon (2004). Sociolinguistic Survey of the Dogon Language Area (PDF). SIL International. Retrieved 2011-06-30.
  • Plungian, Vladimir Aleksandrovič (1995) Dogon (Languages of the world materials vol. 64). München: LINCOM Europa
  • Williamson, Kay & Blench, Roger (2000) 'Niger–Congo', in Heine, Bernd and Nurse, Derek (eds) African Languages – An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University press, pp. 11–42.
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