Palaka is a central Senufo

Senufo languages

The Senufo or Senufic languages comprise ca. 15 languages spoken by the Senufo in the north of Côte d'Ivoire, the south of Mali and the southwest of Burkina Faso. An isolated language, Nafaanra, is also spoken in the west of Ghana. The Senufo languages are generally considered a branch of the Gur...

 language spoken by approximately 8 000 people in northern Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire

The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...

. It is bordered to the south by Djimini

Djimini language

Djimini is a southern Senufo of Ivory Coast. Blacksmiths among the Djimini once spoke Tonjon, a Mande language....

, a southern Senufo language, and to the west by Nyarafolo

Nyarafolo language

Nyarafolo , one of a cluster of languages called Senari, is a Senufo language of Ivory Coast....

, another Senufo language. North and east of the Palaka area live Dioula people.

Palaka constitutes a separate branch of the Senufo languages on its own, being rather different from them in morphology and phonology. It has been tentatively linked to Nafaanra language

Nafaanra language

Nafaanra is a Senufo language spoken in northwest Ghana, along the border with Côte d'Ivoire, east of Bondouko. It is spoken by approximately 61,000 people. Its speakers call themselves Nafana; others call them Banda or Mfantera. Like other Senufo languages, Nafaanra is a tonal language...

, an isolated Senufo language spoken in Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

. Palaka has been separated from the other Senufo languages at least since the fourteenth century AD.