Palaka (or 'Kpalaga') is a central Senufo language spoken by approximately 8,000 people in northern

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. It is bordered to the south by Djimini, a southern Senufo language, and to the west by Nyarafolo, another Senufo language. North and east of the Palaka area live Dioula people. Palaka constitutes a separate branch of the Senufo languages on its own, being rather different from them in morphology and phonology. It has been tentatively linked to

Nafaanra language Nafaanra (sometimes written Nafaara, pronounced ), also known as Nafanan or Nafana, is a Senufo language spoken in northwest Ghana, along the border with Ivory Coast, east of Bondoukou. It is spoken by approximately people. Its speakers call t ...

, an isolated Senufo language spoken in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

. Palaka has been separated from the other Senufo languages at least since the fourteenth century AD.

References

;Notes ;Sources * Laughren, Mary (1977) "Le 'nom' en palaka", ''Bulletin de l'Institut Francophone de l'Afrique Noire, série B,'' 557–567. Senufo languages Languages of Ivory Coast {{senufo-lang-stub