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Article published In:
Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 30:2 (2015) ► pp.189–224

Explaining Korandjé

Language contact, plantations, and the trans-Saharan trade

| LACITO (CNRS — Paris III — INALCO)

The intense Berber-Songhay language contact that produced Northern Songhay cannot be understood adequately without taking into account the existence of a Northern Songhay language outside the Azawagh valley — Korandjé, in Algeria — showing few, if any, signs of Tuareg contact. This article proposes a new explanation based on linguistic, epigraphic, and historical data: Western Berber-speaking Masūfa, present throughout northern Mali around 1200, founded Tabelbala to facilitate a new trade route; they chose Northern Songhay speakers, already a distinct group, for their experience in oasis farming and possibly copper mining. As Masūfa influence waned, the language was reoriented towards North Africa.

Keywords: language genesis, mixed languages, Songhay, Berber, trans-Saharan trade, language contact, historical linguistics, Tabelbala
Published online: 2 October 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.30.2.01sou
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