Tags: Language.
Koyra Chiini ([kojra tʃiːni] literally town language) or Western Songhay is a variety of Songhai in Mali spoken by about 200000 people (as of 1999) along the Niger River in Timbuktu and upriver from it in the towns of Diré Tonka Goundam and Niafunké as well as in the Saharan town of Araouane to its north. In this area Koyra Chiini is the dominant language and the lingua franca although minorities speaking Hassaniya Arabic Tamashek and Fulani are found.