The Republic of Guinea is a multilingual country, with over 40 languages spoken. The official language is French.
Several indigenous languages have been given the status of national languages: Fula (or Pular); Malinké (or Maninka); Susu; Kissi; Kpelle (also known in French as Guerzé) and Loma.
Guinea is a Francophone country, where, as of 2024, 4,11 million (27.83%) out of 14.76 million people speak French.[1]
French is the language of state and of official institutions. It is used as a second language by 15% to 25% of the population, and as a first language by a negligible portion of the population.[2] At the end of the Ahmed Sékou Touré regime, French was the only language used in business and schools.
Fula (34.6%) is mostly spoken in Middle Guinea, where the major city is Labé. It dominates in the Labé and Mamou regions where it is spoken by 94.5% and 92.4% of the populations respectively.[3]
Malinké (24.9%) is mostly spoken in Upper Guinea, where Kankan is the major city. It dominates the Kankan Region where it is spoken by 87.1% of the population.[4] The Kankan variety of the language was used by Solomana Kante for the development of N'Ko, a standardized unified written Manding language, which is increasingly used in literacy education and publishing books and newspapers in Guinea and neighboring countries.[5] [6]
Susu (17.7%) is mostly spoken in Guinée maritime, where the capital is Conakry.[7] It dominates the Kindia Region where it is spoken by 54.9% of the population and the plurality (37%) of Conakry also speaks it.[8]
Koniaka (4.5%), Kissi (4.1%) and Kpelle (4%) are spoken in Guinée Forestière. More specifically, Kpelle is spoken in Nzérékoré and Yomou. Kissi is spoken in Guéckédou and Kissidougou. Kono is a language used in the south of Guinea, mostly in Lola.[9]
According to a report by Alpha Mamadou Diallo,[10] the first language of inhabitants of the city of Conakry in decreasing order was: pular 42%, susu 20%, maninka with koniaka 19%, Kissi 4%, Guerzé 4%, French 2% and Toma 2%.