The Manding languages (sometimes spelt Manden)[2][3] are a dialect continuum within the Niger-Congo family spoken in West Africa.

Varieties of Manding are generally considered (among native speakers) to be mutually intelligible – dependent on exposure or familiarity with dialects between speakers – and spoken by 9.1 million people in the countries Burkina Faso, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Liberia, Ivory Coast and The Gambia.

In addition, the nomenclature is a mixture of indigenous terms and words applied by English and French speakers since before the colonisation of Africa, which makes the picture complex and even confusing.

The differences between the western and eastern branches manifest themselves primarily phonetically.

While dialects of the western group usually have 10 vowels (5 oral and 5 long/nasal), the eastern group, typified by Bambara, has 14 vowels (7 oral and 7 nasal): In addition, Sininkere (Burkina Faso) is of an unclear placement within Manding.