Northern Songhay languages
Northern Songhay is the smaller of the two branches of the Songhay languages. It is a group of heavily Berber-influenced dialects spoken in scattered oases of the Sahara.Languages
The nomadic varieties include Tihishit in central Niger around Mazababou and Dawsahak spoken around Ménaka northeast of Gao. The sedentary varieties include Sawaq in northern Niger and Korandje far to the north, 150 km east of the Algerian–Moroccan border at Tabelbala.Classification
The main outside influence on all of these except on Korandje is the Tamasheq language cluster. Korandje appears to be influenced more by Northern Berber; in turn, the neighboring Northern Berber language Zenati shows considerable Songhay influence. Since the Berber influence in these languages extends beyond the lexicon into the inflectional morphology, Northern Songhay are sometimes viewed as mixed languages.
