Temne language
Language spoken in Sierra Leone
title: "Temne language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mel-languages", "languages-of-sierra-leone", "temne-people"] description: "Language spoken in Sierra Leone" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temne_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Language spoken in Sierra Leone ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Temne |
| nativename | KʌThemnɛ |
| states | Sierra Leone, Guinea |
| region | Northern Sierra Leone |
| ethnicity | Temne |
| speakers | L1: million |
| date | 2021 |
| ref | e27 |
| speakers2 | L2: 240,000 (1981) |
| script | Latin |
| speakers_label | Speakers |
| familycolor | Niger-Congo |
| fam2 | Atlantic–Congo |
| fam3 | Mel |
| fam4 | Temne–Baga |
| iso2 | tem |
| iso3 | tem |
| glotto | timn1235 |
| glottorefname | Timne |
| :: |
| name = Temne | nativename = KʌThemnɛ | states = Sierra Leone, Guinea | region = Northern Sierra Leone | ethnicity = Temne | speakers = L1: million | date = 2021 | ref = e27 | speakers2 = L2: 240,000 (1981) | script = Latin | speakers_label = Speakers | familycolor = Niger-Congo | fam2 = Atlantic–Congo | fam3 = Mel | fam4 = Temne–Baga | iso2 = tem | iso3 = tem | glotto = timn1235 | glottorefname = Timne |person=a-temne |language=ka-temne |root=Temne Temne (also Themne, Timne; ) is a language of the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo language family, spoken by the Temne people. Temne speakers live mostly in the Northern Province and Western Area, Sierra Leone. Temne people can be found in a number of other West African countries as well, including Guinea. Some Temnes have also migrated beyond West Africa seeking educational and professional opportunities, especially in Great Britain, and the United States.
Phonology
Temne is a tonal language. Among consonants, Temne distinguishes dental and alveolar, but, unusually, the dental consonants are apical and the alveolar consonants are laminal (and slightly affricated), the opposite of the general pattern, though one found also in the nearby language Limba.
Consonants
::data[format=table title="Consonants"]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | Plosive | voiceless | voiced | Fricative | Affricate | Nasal | Trill | Lateral | Approximant |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Vowels
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Temne_vowel_chart.svg" caption="doi-access=free}}"] ::
::data[format=table title="Vowels"]
| Front | Mid | Back | Close | Close-mid | Open-mid | Open |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Tones
Temne has two tones: high and low.
Writing
The alphabet of Temne includes the following characters and digraphs:
::data[format=table]
| A | Ʌ | B | D | E | Ɛ | Ə | F | Gb | H | I | K | Kp | L | M | N | Ŋ | O | Ɔ | P | R | S | T | Th | U | W |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| :: |
Earlier, Ȧȧ was used instead of Ʌʌ.
Oral literature
In 1861, C. F. Schlenker, a missionary of the Church Missionary Society, published a collection of Temne fables and proverbs in Temne with a facing-text English translation. Schlenker's source was a Temne man living in Port Loko in the late 1840s; Schlenker explains that he was an old man already at that time. The book also contains some of Schlenker's translations from the Bible into Temne.
In 1916 Northcote Thomas published his Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone; Part 2 contains a Temne-English dictionary and Part 3 contains a grammar of Temne plus 27 stories told in Temne with interlinear English translation. Many of the stories are about the trickster spider, called panis in Temne; the trickster spider is a popular character in the Temne, Vai, Mende, and Limba storytelling traditions of Sierra Leone. In addition, Thomas's Specimens of Languages from Sierra Leone contains tables comparing Temne vocabulary to Kissi and other related languages.
References
Bibliography
- Elba, All. A. (1905) The second Reader: Temne and English. London: Society for promoting Christian knowledge.
- Schlenker, C.F. (1864) Grammar of the Temne language. London.
- Schlenker, C.F. (1861) A collection of Temne traditions, fables and proverbs. London.
- Schlenker, C.F. (1880) An English-Temne dictionary. London.
- Scott, J.P.L. (1956) An introduction to Temne grammar. Sierra Leone: [s.n.]. --
References
- Wilson, William André Auquier. (2007). "Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification". Peter Lang.
- {{SOWL. 23, 42
- (2010). "Temne". Journal of the International Phonetic Association.
- (1987). "Sierra Leone Temne Language Manual". Peace Corps.
- Schlenker, Christian Friedrich. (1861). "A Collection of Temne Traditions, Fables and Proverbs".
- Thomas, Northcote. (1916). "Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone, part 2: Timne-English Dictionary".
- Thomas, Northcote. (1916). "Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone, part 3: Timne Grammar and Stories".
- Kilson, Marion. (1984). "Spider and Royal Antelope in Sierra Leone". Anthropos.
- Thomas, Northcote. (1916). "Specimens of languages from Sierra Leone".
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::