Dendi Language Benin

Dendi Primer Project

Summary

Dendi is an extended communication language from Benin, Niger and Nigeria. It belongs to the Nilo-Saharan language family. According to ethnologue.com, it is taught as a subject of instruction in education, and the number of people using it as a mother tongue varies between 10,000 and 1 million.

The Dendi are a West African people mainly settled in northern Benin, in the communes of Karimama and Malanville. However, for commercial reasons, some have settled in urban centers traditionally dominated by the Baatonum (Bariba) language, such as Kandi, Parakou and Djougou. Most Dendi people are Muslim.

Both the Dendi and the Fulani appear to be vectors for the expansion of Islam. However, since 1995, a New Testament in the Dendi language has been available, and since 2019, LEI has collaborated with the International Society of Missionaries (SIM) of Benin to develop Primers with biblical content, printed only at 500 for the test phase.

In order to reinforce the use of the Dendi Primers in learning reading, arithmetic and writing, and to promote the language among speakers, Literacy Benin, in collaboration with LEI, would like to revise and print a new edition of the Dendi Primers.

For more information please download and read the attached report. To donate to the reprinting of the Dendi language primers, click the Donate button.  Thank you.