Loko language

Not to be confused with Loko language (Nigeria).
Loko
Landogo
Pronunciation/læn.dɔɣɔ/
Native toSierra Leone
EthnicityLoko people
Native speakers
210,000 (2019)[1]
Dialects
  • Landogo
  • Logo
African reference alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3lok
Glottologloko1255

Loko, or Landogo, is a Southwestern Mande language spoken by the Loko people, who primarily live in Northern Sierra Leone. There are two known dialects, Landogo and Logo, which are mutually intelligible. Ethnic Loko outnumber native Loko speakers due to the linguistic encroachment of Temne and Krio and urbanization to Freetown, where Loko is internally and externally seen as a low-prestige language.[2]

Citations

  1. ^ Loko at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Speed, Clarke Karney. Swears and Swearing Among Landogo of Sierra Leone: Aesthetics, Adjudication, and the Philosophy of Power. University of Washington, 1991.

References

  • Kimball, Les. 1983. A description of the grammar of Loko. Freetown. Institute for Sierra Leonean Languages.
  • Innes, Gordon. 1964. An outline grammar of Loko with texts. African Language Studies, pp. 115-178.


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