Afro-Asiatic languages

• Arabic
  • Literary Arabic
    Literary Arabic
    Modern Standard Arabic , Standard Arabic, or Literary Arabic is the standard and literary variety of Arabic used in writing and in most formal speech....
    
     is the official language.
  • Hassaniyya is the local and oral form of Arabic. It is close to the language used by the Bedoins. It is the language used by the majority of the Mauritanian population. It is also the language of the Imraguen
    Imraguen
    The Imraguen are an ethnic group or tribe of Mauritania and Western Sahara. Estimated at around 5,000 in the 1970s, most members of the group live in fishing villages on the Banc d'Arguin National Park on the Atlantic coast of Mauritania....
    
     who also use elements of Soninké
    Soninke language
    The Soninke language is a Mande language spoken by the Soninke people of West Africa. The language has an estimated 1,096,795 speakers, primarily located in Mali, and also in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Ghana...
    
    .

• Berber
  Berber languages
  The Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert...
  
  
  • Zenaga
    Zenaga language
    Zenaga is a Berber language spoken by some 200 people between Mederdra and the Atlantic coast in southwestern Mauritania. The language shares its basic structure with other Berber languages, but specific details are quite different; in fact, it is probably the most divergent surviving Berber...
    
    : Still used in the south of the country, close to the River Sénégal, the last vestige of the Berber
    Berber people
    Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
    
     identity in Mauritania. Those who use it are known are Zenaga, after the language they speak. Otherwise, most of the Moor population speak Berber languages. Islamisation and Arabisation of the population have meant that much of this population have lost all ties with this world. In 1978, even the term Arabo-Berber to designate the Moors
    Moors
    The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
    
     was replaced by Arab.
  • Tamasheq: Tamasheq (language of the Touaregs) is present in the extreme south-east of the country, close to the Malian border.

French

Due to colonialism, European languages are often present in the African continent. Mauritania is no exception to this rule. Mauritania is a member of Francophonie. Most of the population speak French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

. The historic ties with France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 are still present, although Mauritania has also become more Arabised.

Niger-Congo languages

• Wolof
  Wolof language
  Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, and Mauritania, and is the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger–Congo language family...
  
  
• Soninké
  Soninke language
  The Soninke language is a Mande language spoken by the Soninke people of West Africa. The language has an estimated 1,096,795 speakers, primarily located in Mali, and also in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Ghana...
  
  
• Pulaar
  Pulaar
  Pulaar is a Fula language spoken primarily as a first language by Fula people and Tukolor in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro, and further south and east...
  
  is spoken in Mauritania by the Fula
  Fula people
  Fula people or Fulani or Fulbe are an ethnic group spread over many countries, predominantly in West Africa, but found also in Central Africa and Sudanese North Africa...
  
   and the Toucouleur
  Toucouleur
  The Toucouleurs are a Fula agricultural people who live primarily in West Africa: the north of Senegal in the Senegal River valley, Mauritania, and Mali.-History:...
  
  .
• Bambara
  Bambara
  The Bambara are a Mandé people living in west Africa, primarily in Mali but also in Guinea, Burkina Faso and Senegal. They are considered to be amongst the largest Mandé ethnic groups, and are the dominant Mandé group in Mali, with 80% of the population speaking the Bambara language, regardless of...
  
  

External links=

• Linguistic map of Mauritania at Muturzikin.com