8–9M
Speakers
Approximately 8–9 million speakers worldwide, with the majority concentrated in Mali, Niger, Benin, and Nigeria.
Welcome to Songhay Online
A gateway to
the Songhay
language
A comprehensive, evolving platform dedicated to documenting the Songhay language and its environment — for speakers, learners, and researchers.
Tomb of Askia Mohamed
Gao, Mali · UNESCO World Heritage Site
Linguistics
The Songhay Language
A language spoken primarily in West Africa along both banks of the Niger River valley and across the Sahara, with several major dialects reflecting the geographic and historical distribution of its speakers.
Nilo‑Saharan
Language Family
Usually classified within the Nilo‑Saharan family, and sometimes treated as a linguistic isolate.
Latin
Script Tradition
Traditionally written in Arabic Ajami, today commonly represented using a standardized Latin-based script.
Geography
Where Songhay is Spoken
Songhay is classified into two groups: Southern Songhay along the Niger River, and Northern Songhay across the Sahara — with an additional community in the Tabelbala oasis, south-western Algeria.
Niger
Largest concentration — Tillabéri, Niamey, Dosso, and northern regions.
Mali
Timbuktu, Gao and Menaka regions; also Djenné, Hombori in the Mopti region.
Benin
Dendi dialect along the Niger River and around Djougou.
Burkina Faso
Established communities in the northern and northeastern regions.
Nigeria
Zarma-Dendi communities in the northwest, often bilingual with Hausa.
Diaspora
Sudan, neighbouring countries, Europe, North America, and beyond.
Tools & Resources
What this platform offers
Lexicon
Dictionaries
Four bilingual dictionaries, with over 80,000 entries.
Archive
Library
Academic and literary publications, and online lessons.
Reference
Encyclopedia
A collection of plants, animals, and cultural images.
Interactive
Virtual Keyboard
On‑screen keyboard for typing Songhay’s special characters.
Tools
Applications
Open‑source utilities for writing and typing, plus a drawing tool.
Scholarship
History of Language Research
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15th centuryManuscript Era
Early Arabic manuscripts reveal scattered traces of written Songhay using the Ajami tradition — no systematic linguistic study existed yet.
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Late 19th – Early 20th c.Early Colonial Period
Hacquard and Dupuis-Yakouba produced the first structural and lexicographic studies of the Timbuktu dialect. Delafosse and Ardant du Picq extended research eastward to Zarma.
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1950sDialect Classification
Prost's La langue soŋay et ses dialectes (IFAN, 1956) provided the first systematic classification, with a central reference dialect.
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1970s – 1990sInstitutional Expansion
DNAFLA in Mali and the IRSH in Niger led Songhay documentation, producing dictionaries and educational materials alongside international scholars.
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2000s – PresentDigital Revitalisation
Research extends into digital tools, open-source localisation, and multimedia lexicons.
Get Involved
Join the Localisation Team
Despite significant research over the past century, Songhay remains underrepresented online. Help change that by contributing to open-source projects and community-driven translation efforts.
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