What is Bambara language?
{{Infobox language |name=Bambara |nativename=Bamanankan |states=[[Mali]] |region=central southern Mali and neighboring areas |speakers=2.8 million |date=1995 |ref=e16 |speakers2=Spoken to varying degrees by 80% of the population of Mali |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam1=[[Niger–Congo languages|Niger–Congo]] ? |fam2=[[Mande languages|Mande]] |fam3=Western Mande |fam4=... |fam5=[[Manding languages|Manding]] |fam6=East Manding |fam7=Bambara–Dyula |iso1=bm |iso2=bam |iso3=bam |script=[[N'Ko]], [[Latin script|Latin]] }} '''Bambara''' is a [[language]] from [[Mali]]. More than 6 000 000 people (including second language users) speak it. It is called '''Bamanankan''' in Bambara. Bambara is very similar to [[Dioula language|'''Dioula''']]. [[Dioula language|Dioula]] is not spoken by as many people, but it is used in [[Burkina Faso]], [[Côte d'Ivoire]], and [[Gambia]]. The Bambara language is spoken mainly by people in the [[Bambara]] racial group. About 2,700,000 people are in this group, but Bambara is also used by other racial groups in [[Mali]]. Bambara is in the [[Manding languages|Manding]] language family. These languages are similar to each other. This family of languages is in a larger language group. This group is called the [[Mande languages|Mandé]] group. It is an [[Subject Object Verb|SOV]] language ([[Subject]]-[[Object]]-[[Verb]]) and it has two [[tone (tonal language)|tones]] (pitches). There are seven vowels: a, e, {{IPA|ɛ}}, i, o, {{IPA|ɔ}} and u. Writing started during the [[French colonial empire|period of French rule]]. There is not much written work, but there is a lot of [[oral history|oral literature]], which is often stories about kings and heroes. The people who tell these stories are called ''[[Griot]]''. They also sing religious songs. Many of their songs are very old and some people think the songs are as old as the old [[Mali Empire]]. Bambara is a national language of [[Mali]], and it is also the most widely understood language in [[Mali]]. Bambara has many local [[dialect|d