Fula language

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Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other Template:SpecialChars Fula (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell),[1] also known as Fulani (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell)[1] or Fulah[2][3] (Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang".; Adlam: Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang".; Ajami: Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang"., Script error: No such module "Lang".), is a Senegambian language spoken by around 36.8 million people as a set of various dialects in a continuum that stretches across some 18 countries in West and Central Africa. Along with other related languages such as Serer and Wolof, it belongs to the Atlantic geographic group within Niger–Congo, and more specifically to the Senegambian branch. Unlike most Niger-Congo languages, Fula does not have tones.

It is spoken as a first language by the Fula people ("Fulani", Template:Langx) from the Senegambia region and Guinea to Cameroon, Nigeria, and Sudan and by related groups such as the Toucouleur people in the Senegal River Valley. It is also spoken as a second language by various peoples in the region, such as the Kirdi of northern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria.

Nomenclature

Template:Infobox ethnonym Several names are applied to the language, just as to the Fula people. They call their language Pulaar or Pular in the western dialects and Fulfulde in the central and eastern dialects. Fula, Fulah and Fulani in English come originally from Manding (esp. Mandinka, but also Malinke and Bamana) and Hausa, respectively; Peul in French, also occasionally found in literature in English, comes from Wolof.

Status

Fula is a lingua franca in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Gambia, northeastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Northern Ghana, Southern Niger and Northern Benin (in Borgou Region, where many speakers are bilingual), and a local language in many African countries, such as Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Togo, CAR, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia, numbering more than 95 million speakers in total.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Varieties

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". While there are numerous varieties of Fula, it is typically regarded as a single language. Wilson (1989) states that "travelers over wide distances never find communication impossible," and Ka (1991) concludes that despite its geographic span and dialect variation, Fulfulde is still fundamentally one language.[4] However, Ethnologue has found that nine different translations are needed Template:Citation needed span, and it treats these varieties as separate languages. Fula dialects are also often split into 4 regions, the Western area, Central area, Niger and Nigeria, and the Eastern area.[5] The dialects are as follows:

Western Area

Central Area

Niger and Nigeria

  • Borgu Fulfude
  • Nigerian Fulfude (also known as Fulfude Leydi Nigeria)
  • Niger Fulfude

Eastern Area

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
plain pal.
Nasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Plosive plain Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link ~ Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
voiced Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link ~ Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
prenasal Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Implosive Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Fricative Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Trill Template:IPA link
Approximant Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link

The two sounds Template:IPAslink and Template:IPAslink, may be realized as affricate sounds Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Mid Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link
Open Template:IPA link Template:IPA link

Short /Script error: No such module "IPA"./ vowel sounds can also be realized as [Script error: No such module "IPA".].

Morphology

Fula is based on verbonominal roots, from which verbal, noun, and modifier words are derived. It uses suffixes (sometimes inaccurately called infixes, as they come between the root and the inflectional ending) to modify meaning. These suffixes often serve the same purposes in Fula that prepositions do in English.

Noun classes

The Fula or Fulfulde language is characterized by a robust noun class system, with 24 to 26 noun classes being common across the Fulfulde dialects.[6] Noun classes in Fula are abstract categories with some classes having semantic attributes that characterize a subset of that class' members, and others being marked by a membership too diverse to warrant any semantic categorization of the class' members.[7] For example, classes are for stringy, long things, and another for big things, another for liquids, a noun class for strong, rigid objects, another for human or humanoid traits etc. Gender does not have any role in the Fula noun class system and the marking of gender is done with adjectives rather than class markers.[8] Noun classes are marked by suffixes on nouns. These suffixes are the same as the class name, though they are frequently subject to phonological processes, most frequently the dropping of the suffix's initial consonant.[9]

The table below illustrates the class name, the semantic property associated with class membership, and an example of a noun with its class marker. Classes 1 and 2 can be described as personal classes, classes 3–6 as diminutive classes, classes 7–8 as augmentative classes, and classes 9–25 as neutral classes. It is formed on the basis of McIntosh's 1984 description of Kaceccereere Fulfulde, which the author describes as "essentially the same" as David Arnott's 1970 description of the noun classes of the Gombe dialect of Fula. Thus, certain examples from Arnott also informed this table.[6][10]

Class name Meaning Example
o Script error: No such module "Lang". Person singular laam-ɗo 'chief'; also loan words
ɓe Script error: No such module "Lang". Person plural laam-ɓe 'chiefs'
ngel Script error: No such module "Lang". Diminutive singular loo-ngel 'little pot'
kal Script error: No such module "Lang". Diminutive quantities con-al 'small quantity of flour'
ngum/kum Script error: No such module "Lang". Diminutive pejorative laam-ngum/laam-kum 'worthless little chief'
kon/koy Script error: No such module "Lang". Diminutive plural ullu-kon/ullu-koy 'small cats/kittens'
nde Script error: No such module "Lang". Various, including globular objects, places, times loo-nde 'storage pot'
ndi Script error: No such module "Lang". Various, including uncountable nouns com-ri 'tiredness'
ndu Script error: No such module "Lang". Various ullu-ndu 'cat'
nga Script error: No such module "Lang". Various, including some large animals nood-a 'crocodile'
nge Script error: No such module "Lang". mainly for 'cow,' 'fire,' 'sun' 'hunger,' nagg-e 'cow'
ngo Script error: No such module "Lang". Various juu-ngo 'hand'
ngu Script error: No such module "Lang". Various ɓow-ngu 'mosquito'
ngal Script error: No such module "Lang". Various including augmentative singular ɗem-ngal 'tongue'
ngol Script error: No such module "Lang". Various, often long things ɓog-gol 'rope'
ngii/ngil Script error: No such module "Lang". Various including augmentative singular ɓog-gii/ɓog-gii 'big rope'
ka Script error: No such module "Lang". Various laan-a 'boat'
ki Script error: No such module "Lang". Various lek-ki 'tree'
ko Script error: No such module "Lang". Various haak-o 'soup'
kol Script error: No such module "Lang". 'Calf' 'foal' ɲal-ol 'calf', mol-ol 'foal'
ɗam Script error: No such module "Lang". mainly for liquids lam-ɗam 'salt', ndiy-am 'water'
ɗum Script error: No such module "Lang". Neutral maw-ɗum 'big thing'
ɗe Script error: No such module "Lang". Nonhuman plural juu-ɗe 'hands'
ɗi Script error: No such module "Lang". Nonhuman plural na'i 'cows'

Voice

Verbs in Fula are usually classed in three voices: active, middle, and passive.[11] Not every root is used in all voices. Some middle-voice verbs are reflexive.

A common example are verbs from the root -Script error: No such module "Lang". Template:Transliteration:

Consonant mutation

Another feature of the language is initial consonant mutation between singular and plural forms of nouns and of verbs (except in Pular, no consonant mutation exists in verbs, only in nouns)Template:Clarify.

A simplified schema is:

  • w ↔ b ↔ mb
  • r ↔ d ↔ nd
  • y ↔ j ↔ nj
  • w ↔ g ↔ ng
  • f ↔ p
  • s ↔ c
  • h ↔ k

Pronouns

Fula has inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns. The inclusive pronouns include both the speaker and those being spoken to, while the exclusive pronouns exclude the listeners.

The pronoun that corresponds to a given noun is determined by the noun class. Because men and women belong to the same noun class, the English pronouns "he" and "she" are translated into Fula by the same pronoun. However, depending on the dialect, there are some 25 different noun classes, each with its own pronoun. Sometimes those pronouns have both a nominative case (i.e., used as verb subject) and an accusative or dative case (i.e., used as a verb object) as well as a possessive form. Relative pronouns generally take the same form as the nominative.

Writing systems

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There were unsuccessful efforts in the 1950s and 1960s to create a unique script to write Fulfulde.[12][13][14]

Adlam script

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In the late 1980s and early 1990s, two teenage brothers, Ibrahima and Abdoulaye Barry from the Nzérékoré Region of Guinea, created the Adlam script, which accurately represents all the sounds of Fulani. The script is written from right to left and includes 28 letters with 5 vowels and 23 consonants.[12][13][14]

Arabic script

Fula has also been written in the Arabic script or Ajami since before European colonization by many scholars and learned people including Usman dan Fodio and the early emirs of the northern Nigeria emirates. This continues to a certain degree and notably in some areas like Guinea and Cameroon.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Fula also has Arabic loanwords.

Latin alphabet

File:الابجدية الفولانية بالحرف اللاتيني.jpg
Smartphone keyboard used for Fula, with the special letters D with hook (ɗ), B with hook (ɓ) and eng (ŋ).

When written using the Latin script, Fula uses the following additional special "hooked" characters to distinguish meaningfully different sounds in the language: Ɓ/ɓ Template:IPAblink, Ɗ/ɗ Template:IPAblink, Ŋ/ŋ Template:IPAblink, Ɲ/ɲ Template:IPAblink, Ƴ/ƴ Template:IPAblink. The letters c, j, and r, respectively represent the sounds [Script error: No such module "IPA".], [Script error: No such module "IPA".], and [Script error: No such module "IPA".]. Double vowel characters indicate that the vowels are elongated. An apostrophe (ʼ) is used as a glottal stop. It uses the five vowel system denoting vowel sounds and their lengths. In Nigeria ʼy substitutes ƴ, and in Senegal Ñ/ñ is used instead of ɲ.Template:Clarify

Sample Fula alphabet

a, aa, b, mb (or nb), ɓ, c, d, nd, ɗ, e, ee, f, g, ng, h, i, ii, j, nj, k, l, m, n, ŋ, ɲ (ny or ñ), o, oo, p, r, s, t, u, uu, w, y, ƴ or Template:Hamzay, [[Template:Hamza]]

The letters q, v, x, z are used in some cases for loan words.

Fula Alphabets
A B Nb Ɓ C D Nd Ɗ E F G Ng H I J Nj K L M N Ŋ Ɲ O P R S T U W Y Ƴ [[Template:Hamza]]
Lowercase
a b nb ɓ c d nd ɗ e f g ng h i j nj k l m n ŋ ɲ o p r s t u w y ƴ Template:Hamza
Phonetic value
Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Script error: No such module "IPA". Template:IPA link Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Script error: No such module "IPA". Template:IPA link Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Script error: No such module "IPA". Template:IPA link Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Script error: No such module "IPA".~
Script error: No such module "IPA". 		Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link~Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Template:IPA link Script error: No such module "IPA". Template:IPA link

Long vowels are written doubled: <aa, ee, ii, oo, uu> The standard Fulfulde alphabet adopted during the UNESCO-sponsored expert meeting in Bamako in March 1966 is as follows:[15] a, b, mb, ɓ, c, d, nd, ɗ, e, f, g, ng, h, i, j, nj, k, l, m, n, ŋ, ny (later ɲ or ñ), o, p, r, s, t, u, w, y, ƴ, Template:Hamza.

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Fula of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[16] The first line is in Adlam, the second in Latin script, the third in IPA.

Template:Fs interlinear

See also

Notes

Template:Reflist

References

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  • Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
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External links

Template:Sister project Template:Sister project Template:Wikivoyage

Fula on the web

Below are some websites from different countries that use the Latin alphabet of Fula/Fulfulde:

  • Nigeria: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Nigeria: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Nigeria: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Mauritania: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Mauritania: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Guinea: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Guinea: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Guinea: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Guinea: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Sierra Leone: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Fuuta Tooro: Script error: No such module "URL".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Template:Navboxes

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  1. ↑ a b Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ a b Template:Harvcoltxt
  7. ↑ Template:Harvcoltxt
  8. ↑ Template:Harvcoltxt
  9. ↑ Template:Harvcoltxt
  10. ↑ Template:Harvcoltxt
  11. ↑ Template:Harvcoltxt
  12. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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