Koyra Chiini (, figuratively "town language"), or Western Songhay, is a member of the Songhay languages spoken in Mali by about 200,000 people (in 1999) along the Niger River in Timbuktu and upriver from it in the towns of Diré, Tonka, Goundam, and Niafunké as well as in the Saharan town of Araouane to its north. In this area, Koyra Chiini is the dominant language and the lingua franca, although minorities speaking Hassaniya Arabic, Tamasheq, and Fulfulde are found. Djenné Chiini , the dialect spoken in Djenné, is mutually comprehensible, but has noticeable differences - in particular, two extra vowels ( and ) and syntactic differences related to focalization.