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Themne (KʌThemnɛ) is one of the two largest Sierra Leonean languages alongside Mende, with ~1.5M speakers in the northern half of the country (Bombali, Tonkolili, Port Loko, Kambia, Karene districts). Part of the Mel branch of Atlantic-Congo (Niger-Congo), it is unrelated to most other major West African languages — Mel languages are restricted to Sierra Leone, Liberia, and adjacent areas. Has a grammatical noun-class system marked by class prefixes (kʌ-, ka-, m-, etc.) typical of Atlantic-Congo. Tonal language. The Themne were one of the major pre-colonial polities of the area; today Themne speakers form an important political and cultural constituency in Sierra Leone.