As in, from Mali, the country. Population 24 million, more than 13 languages having some form of official status—out of 80 spoken—aside from the official language, French.
For a creative project of mine, I’m looking for distinctly Malian profanity. Swear words and interjections. But not in French, or even Arabic.
Trying to search Bambara and Tamasheq glossaries and language guides myself have been slow going, and not very fruitful.
So, I’m outsourcing the problem to people better in the know. What’s something you’d blurt out if you were from Mali, had a couple of broken ribs, and bumped your side into a wall, not in polite company?
The exact language out of the 13-80 noted above is up for grabs, luckily enough—the specifics of the work I’m tinkering with allow a lot of leeway to work with what’s available, or what sounds the best.
Can anyone help me out?