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Kassonke
Kassonke
Western Maninka
Xaasongaxango
Native to	Mali
Ethnicity	Kassonke, Malinke
Native speakers	2.5 million (2009–2022)
Language family	Niger–Congo ? Mande Western Mande Manding West Manding Kassonke; ; ; ; ;
Official status
Recognised minority; language in	Mali
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either:; kao – Kassonke; mlq – Western Malinke (Malinka)
Glottolog	xaas1235 Xaasongaxango; west2500 Western Maninkakan

The Kassonke (Khassonké) language, Xaasongaxango (Xasonga), or Western Maninka (Malinke), is a Manding language spoken by the Khassonké and Malinke of western Mali and by the Malinke of eastern Senegal. Kassonke is an official language in Mali. Western and Eastern Maninka are 90% mutually intelligible, though distinct from the Mandinka (Malinke) of southern Senegal, which is a national language there.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t	c	k	q
Stop	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative		f	s		x		h
Trill			r
Lateral			l
Approximant				j	w

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Open		a aː

^[2]

References

^ Kassonke at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
Western Malinke (Malinka) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ Koite-Herschel, Ute (1982). Le systeme phonologique du Xasonga. In Bulletin de l'Institut de phonétique de Grenoble, vol. 10-11, 1981-1982: Institut de phonétique de Grenoble. pp. 201–249.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)