N'Ko language

{{Short description|Standardized Manding koiné of West Africa}}

{{Distinguish|N'Ko script|Nkɔ language}}

{{Infobox language

| name = N'Ko

| region = Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, West Africa

| speakers =

| ref = e18

| familycolor = Niger-Congo

| fam1 = Niger–Congo

| fam2 = Mande

| fam3 = Western Mande

| fam4 = Central Mande

| fam5 = Manding–Jogo

| fam6 = Manding–Vai

| fam7 = Manding–Mokole

| fam8 = Manding

| iso2 = nqo

| iso3 = nqo

| nativename = {{lang|nqo|ߒߞߏ}}

| script = NKo script

| glotto = nkoa1234

}}

N'Ko{{efn|Sometimes spelled "N'Ko", "N'ko" or "Nko".}} ({{lang|nqo|ߒߞߏ}}) is a standardized unified koiné form of several Manding languages written in the N'Ko alphabet. It is used in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and some other West African countries, primarily, but not exclusively, in written form, whereas in speech the different varieties of Manding are used: Maninka, Bambara, Dyula and others.

It is a literary register with a prescriptive grammar known as ߞߊ߲ߜߍ ({{Transliteration|nqo|kángbɛ}}, kán-gbɛ "language-manner") codified by Solomana Kante, with the {{lang|man|màninkamóri}} variety, spoken in Kante's native Kankan region, serving as the mediating compromise dialect.{{Cite web |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI10681364/ |title=Donaldson, Coleman (2017) Clear Language: Script, Register and the N'ko Movement of Manding-Speaking West Africa. Doctoral Dissertation, Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania. |date=January 2017 |pages=1–303 |access-date=2019-02-21 |archive-date=2019-02-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190221224128/https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI10681364/ |url-status=live |last1=Donaldson |first1=Coleman }}{{Cite journal |url=https://repository.upenn.edu/gse_grad_pubs/2/ |title=Donaldson, Coleman (2017) "Orthography, Standardization and Register: The Case of Manding." In Standardizing Minority Languages: Competing Ideologies of Authority and Authenticity in the Global Periphery, edited by Pia Lane, James Costa, and Haley De Korne, 175–199. Routledge Critical Studies in Multilingualism. New York, NY: Routledge. |journal=Gse Graduate Student Research |date=January 2017 |access-date=2019-02-21 |archive-date=2020-06-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601132727/https://repository.upenn.edu/gse_grad_pubs/2/ |url-status=live |last1=Donaldson |first1=Coleman |issue=2 }}{{Cite journal|last=Donaldson|first=Coleman|date=2019-03-01|title=Linguistic and Civic Refinement in the N'ko Movement of Manding-Speaking West Africa|journal=Signs and Society|volume=7|issue=2|pages=156–185; 181|doi=10.1086/702554|s2cid=181625415|issn=2326-4489}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.fakoli.net/nko/tutorial/intro.html |title=N'Ko Language Tutorial: Introduction |access-date=2018-12-01 |archive-date=2021-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610124342/http://www.fakoli.net/nko/tutorial/intro.html |url-status=live }}

Valentin Vydrin in 1999{{Cite book|title=Manding-English Dictionary : (Maninka, Bamana)|last=Vydrin|first=Valentin|year=1999|isbn=9780993996931|location=Lac-Beauport|pages=8|oclc=905517929|author-link=Valentin Vydrin}} and Coleman Donaldson in 2019 indicated that the popularity of writing Manding languages in the standardized N'Ko form is growing. This standardized written form is increasingly used for literacy education among the speakers of different varieties.Oyler, Dianne White (1994) Mande identity through literacy, the NKo writing system as an agent of cultural nationalism. Toronto : African Studies Association. It is also commonly used in electronic communication.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/magazine/everyone-speaks-text-message.html|title=Everyone Speaks Text Message|last=Rosenberg|first=Tina|date=2011-12-09|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-05-24|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=2022-02-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202051936/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/magazine/everyone-speaks-text-message.html|url-status=live}}

The standard strives to represent all Manding languages in a way that attempts to show a common "proto-Manding" phonology and the words' etymology, including when the actual pronunciation in modern spoken varieties is significantly different. For example, there is at least one such convention, for representing velars between vowels: {{IPA|[ɡ]}}, {{IPA|[k]}}, {{IPA|[ɣ]}}, {{IPA|[x]}} or zero may be pronounced, but the spelling will be the same. For example, the word for "name" in Bambara is {{IPA|[tɔɡɔ]|lang=bm}} and in Maninka it is {{IPA|[tɔɔ]|lang=man}}, but the standard written N'Ko form is {{lang|nqo|ߕߐ߮}} tô. In written communication each person will write it in a single unified way using the N'Ko script, and yet read and pronounce it as in their own linguistic variety.

On June 27, 2024, N'Ko was added to Google Translate.{{Cite web |url=https://blog.google/products/translate/google-translate-new-languages-2024/ |title=110 new languages are coming to Google Translate |access-date=2024-06-27 }}{{Cite web |url=https://support.google.com/translate/answer/15139004?visit_id=638550958236798747-1807070892&p=TranslateNewLanguages2024&rd=1 |title=What’s new in Google Translate: More than 100 new languages |access-date=2024-06-27 }}