खासोंके

Xaasongaxango (also Khassonké, Xaasonga, Western Manding) is the Manding language of the Khasso region in western Mali, closely related to Bambara (bm), Maninka, and Dyula (dyu) within the Manding cluster of Western Mande. The Khasso were a 19th-century Bambara-speaking polity centered at Médine on the Senegal River, conquered by the French in 1857. Today Xaasongaxango is recognized by Mali as a national language alongside other Manding varieties, with bilingual education programs since 1985. Mutual intelligibility with Bambara is high, and many sources treat Khassonké as a dialect of Bambara, though distinct phonological features (notably tonal patterns and vowel system) and cultural identity warrant separate treatment.