Jeri language explained

Jeri
Region:Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso
Ethnicity: (1990)
Speakers:2,000
Date:1990–1995
Ref:e18
Familycolor:Niger-Congo
Fam1:Niger–Congo
Fam2:Mande
Fam3:Western
Fam4:Central
Fam5:Manding–Jɔgɔ
Fam6:Jɔgɔ–Jeri
Dia1:Jeri Kuo
Dia2:Jalkunan
Lc1:jek
Ld1:Jeri Kuo
Lc2:bxl
Ld2:Jalkunan
Glotto:jeri1241
Glottorefname:Jeri

Jeri is a cover term for two Mande language of northwestern Ivory Coast and southwestern Burkina Faso. The two had been thought until recently to be dialects of a single language, but they are now known to be clearly distinct. The Burkina language is Jalkunan (Blé, Dyala, Dyalanu, Jalanu), and the Ivory Coast language is Jeri Kuo (Celle, Jeli Kuo). Jeri Kuo is spoken by people who traditionally constituted a caste-like minority within an otherwise mostly Senufo-speaking zone. The language is thought to be endangered, with 90% of ethnic Jeri having shifted to regionally dominant languages. The Jalkunan-speaking people of the Blédougou village cluster are not people of caste, although nearby villages of other ethnicities have entire sections populated by blacksmith and leatherworker castes. Jalkunan is being replaced by Jula (Dioula), but it is not immediately threatened by extinction.