Maasina Fulfulde

Maasina Fulfulde is a variety of the Fula language. It is spoken mainly in Mali with smaller number of speakers residing in Ivory Coast, and Ghana. It is spoken by 1.6 million people. The language has several mutually intelligible dialects albeit with some differences. The variety is named after the Macina region in Mali.

Maasinankoore is the most widely spoken dialect of Fula spoken in Mali and is a national language of the country.

According to Ethnologue there are two dialects - Western and Eastern - and "There are some dialect differences, but popular opinion is that all dialects in Mali are inherently intelligible."

It is written in a modified Latin alphabet but historically was written in the Arabic script.

Maasina Fulfulde is grammatically basically the same as other varieties of Fula, with some particularities. For instance there are some slight differences in some verb endings.

The counting system retains an interesting recapitulation of older systems historically used by other groups in what is now Mali. Tens from 60-90 have alternative versions not used in other varieties of Fula. In the table the general form, which would be understood by any Fulaphone person (basically counting by tens) and Maasina variant.

A progressive verbal expression is formed by inserting the word ni before the verb in the non-accomplished voice. For example, omo ni wara = she/he is coming (right now).