Home to 5 dialects represented on Dialect Atlas, spanning 5 language families.
A Bedouin-descended Arabic variety spoken across Mauritania, Western Sahara, and adjacent parts of the Sahel. Carries deep Berber substrate and a strong oral poetic tradition.
The French of Francophone West Africa — used in administration, education, and media. Strong contact features from Wolof, Bambara, and other regional languages.
An Atlantic Niger-Congo language and the lingua franca of Senegal and the Gambia. The most-spoken African language of urban Senegal, used widely alongside French in Dakar.
also: Fula, Fulfulde, Pulaar
An Atlantic Niger-Congo language spoken by Fulani (Peul) communities across the Sahel from Senegal to Sudan. One of the most geographically spread African languages, with 25-30 million speakers.
A Mande Niger-Congo language of the historical Ghana Empire region. Spoken across Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, and the Gambia, with a long oral and Ajami-script tradition.