Soninke is a Mande language spoken by the Soninke people, who primarily reside in West Africa, particularly in countries such as Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. It is a Niger-Congo language and belongs to the larger Manding language group. The Soninke language serves as a crucial part of the cultural identity of the Soninke people and is spoken in both rural and urban settings.

Soninke uses the Latin alphabet with additional diacritic marks to represent specific sounds. It has a complex grammatical structure, featuring subject-verb-object word order and agglutination, where affixes are added to the root words to convey meaning.

Culturally, the Soninke language is intertwined with the rich history, traditions, and social structures of the Soninke people. Oral traditions, storytelling, and griot performances (griot being traditional West African storytellers, praise-singers, and musicians) play a significant role in preserving and transmitting the language across generations.

Despite facing challenges from the influence of dominant languages and globalisation, efforts are underway to promote and maintain the use of the Soninke language. Initiatives include language education programmes, cultural events, and community-based projects aimed at sustaining the vitality of the Soninke language within the broader linguistic landscape of West Africa.