Temne (also known as 'Themne' or 'Timne') is a Southern Atlantic language spoken in Sierra Leone by about 2.7 million first language speakers, or more than 30% of the country’s population. It serves as a lingua franca for an additional 900,000 speakers. Temne is one of the four official languages of Sierra Leone. It is related to the Baga languages spoken in Guinea. Temne people live mostly in the northern region and western area of sierra leone. They are also large represnetative communities in almost all districts in sierra leone. There are small numbers of temne communities in a number of west African countries such as Guinea-conakry, Gambia, and others. A numbers of Temnes have also migrated or travel to different part of the world. Temnes are mostly traders, scholars, farmers and they are mostly Muslims.

Bibliography

• Bai-Sharka, Abou (1986) Temne names and proverbs (Stories and songs from Sierra Leone vol. 19). Freetown: People’s Educational Association of Sierra Leone.
• Turay, Abdul Karim (1989) Temne stories. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
• Wilson, W.A.A. (1961) An outline of the Temne language. London: University of London / SOAS.
• Yillah, M. Sorie (1992) Temne phonology and morphology thesis. New York: City University of New York. Ann Arbor: UMI.

External link

• Temne on the Ethnologue

Atlantic languages | Languages of Sierra Leone

Temneg | Temnische Sprache | Idioma temné