Wolof is a language spoken
in Senegal
, The Gambia
, and Mauritania
, and is the native language of the ethnic group of
the Wolof people. Like the
neighboring language
Fula, it belongs
to the
Atlantic branch of the
Niger-Congo language family.
Unlike most other languages of
Sub-Saharan Africa, Wolof is not a
tonal language.
Wolof is the most widely spoken language in Senegal, spoken not
only by members of the Wolof ethnic group (approximately 40 percent
of the population) but also by most other Senegalese. Wolof
dialects may vary between countries (Senegal
and the Gambia) and the rural and urban areas.
"Dakar-Wolof", for
instance, is an urban mixture of Wolof, French, Arabic, and even a little English - spoken in Dakar
, the capital
of Senegal.
"Wolof" is the standard spelling, and is a term that may also refer
to the Wolof ethnic group or to things originating from Wolof
culture or tradition. As an aid to pronunciation, some older French
publications use the spelling "
Ouolof"; for the
same reason, some English publications adopt the spelling
"
Wollof", predominantly referring to Gambian
Wolof. Prior to the 20th Century, the forms "Volof", and "Olof"
were used.
Unlike most African languages, Wolof has had some influence on
Western European languages.
Banana is a Wolof word in
English, and the English word
yam is believed to be derived from
Wolof/
Fula nyami, "to eat
food."
Hip or
hep (e.g.,
jazz
musicians' now cliched "hip cat") is believed by many etymologists
to derive from the Wolof
hepicat, "one who has his eyes
open". Some etymologists reject this, however, and in late 2007
adopted the pun "to
cry
Wolof" as a general dismissal or belittlement of etymologies
they believe to be based on "superficial similarities" rather than
documented attribution.
Geographical distribution
About 40 percent (approximately 3.2 million people) of Senegal's
population speak Wolof as their mother tongue. Increased mobility,
and especially the growth of the capital Dakar, created the need
for a common language: today, an additional 40 percent of the
population speak Wolof as a second or acquired
language.
In the whole region from Dakar to Saint-Louis
, and also west and southwest of Kaolack
, Wolof is
spoken by the vast majority of the people. Typically when
various ethnic groups in Senegal come together in cities and towns,
they speak Wolof. It is therefore spoken in almost every regional
and departmental capital in Senegal. The official language of
Senegal is French.
In
The
Gambia, about 15 percent (approximately 200,000 people) of
the population speak Wolof as a first language, but Wolof has a
disproportionate influence because of its prevalence in Banjul
, The
Gambia's capital, where 50 percent of the population use it as a
first language. In Serrekunda
, The
Gambia's largest town, although only a tiny minority are
ethnic Wolofs, approximately 90 percent of the population speaks
and/or understands Wolof. Wolof is increasingly the mother
tongue of young people of mixed ethnicity. Overall, Wolof is
gaining influence in The Gambia, partly due to its association with
the popular
mbalax music and Senegalese
popular culture.
In Banjul and Serrekunda, Wolof has gained lingua
franca status and is already more widely spoken than Mandinka. The official language of
the Gambia is English; Mandinka (40 percent), Wolof (15 percent)
and Fula (15 percent) are as yet not used in formal
education.
In
Mauritania, about 7 percent (approximately 185,000 people) of
the population speak Wolof. There, the language is used only
around the southern coastal regions. Mauritania's official language
is Arabic; French is used as lingua franca.
Example phrases
This paragraph uses the exact orthography developed by the CLAD
institute, which can be found in Arame Fal's dictionary (see
bibliography below). For the literal translation please note that
Wolof does not have
tense in the
sense of the
Indo-European
languages, like for example the
present progressive Tense in English;
rather, Wolof marks
aspect and
focus of an action (and every translation into an English tense is
just an approximation of the original meaning). The literal
translation given in the table below is an exact word-by-word
translation in the original word order, where the meaning of the
single words are separated by dashes.
To listen to some wolof words' pronunciation,
click here
| Wolof |
English |
Literal translation into English |
| (As)salaamaalekum !Response:
Maalekum salaam !The previous greeting is not
Wolof—it is Arabic (used by Arabic speakers), but is commonly
used. |
Hello!Response: Hello! |
(Arabic) peace be with youResponse: and with
you be peace |
| Na nga def ? / Naka nga def ?
/ Noo def?Response: Maa ngi fii
rekk |
How do you do? / How are you doing?Response: I am
fine |
How - you (already) - doResponse: I/me here - be -
here - only |
| Naka mu ?Response: Maa ngi
fii |
What's up?Response: I'm fine |
How is it?Response: I'm here |
| Numu demee? / Naka mu
demee?/Response: Nice /
Mu ngi dox |
How's it going?Response: Fine / Nice / It's going |
How is it going?Response: Nice (from English) / It's
walking (going) |
| Lu bees ?Response: Dara
(beesul) |
What's new?Response: Nothing (is new) |
What is it that is new?Response: Nothing/something (is
not new) |
| Ba beneen (yoon). |
See you soon (next time) |
Until - other - (time) |
| Jërëjëf |
Thanks / Thank you |
It was worth it |
| Waaw |
Yes |
Yes |
| Déedéet |
No |
No |
| Fan la ... am ? |
Where is a ...? |
Where - that which is - ... - existing/having |
| Fan la fajkat am ? |
Where is a physician/doctor? |
Where - the one who is - heal-maker - existing/having |
| Fan la ... nekk ? |
Where is the ...? |
Where - it which is - ... - found? |
| Ana ...? |
Where is ...? |
Where is ...? |
| Ana loppitaan bi? |
Where is the hospital? |
Where is - hospital - the? |
| Noo tudd(a)* ? / Naka nga tudd(a)
?Response: ... laa tudd(a) /
Maa ngi tudd(a) ...(* Gambian Wolof uses the 'a'
at the end usually) |
What is your name?Response: My name is .... |
What you (already) - being called?
Response: ... I (objective) - called / I am called
... |
|
Orthography and pronunciation
Note: Phonetic transcriptions are printed between brackets
[] following the rules of the
International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA).
The
Latin-based
orthograhy of Wolof in Senegal was set by
government decrees between 1971 and 1985. The language
institute "
Centre de
linguistique appliquée de Dakar" (CLAD) is widely acknowledged
as an authority when it comes to spelling rules for Wolof.
Wolof is most often written in this orthography, in which phonemes
have a clear, one-to-one correspondence to
graphemes.
(A traditional
Arabic-based
transcription of Wolof called
Wolofal dates
back to the pre-colonal period and is still used by many
people.)
Vowels
Wolof adds some diacritic symbols to the vowel letters to
distinguish between open and closed vowels. Example:
"
o" [ɔ] is open like English "often",
"
ó" [o] is closed similar to the o-sound in
English "most" (but without that u-sound at the end).
Single vowels are short, geminated vowels are long, so Wolof
"
o" [ɔ] is short and pronounced like "o" in
English "soft", but Wolof "
oo" [ɔ:] is long and
pronounced like the "a" in English "call". If a closed vowel is
long, the diacritic symbol is usually set only above the first
vowel, e.g. "
óo", but some sources deviate from
this CLAD standard and set it above both vowels, e.g.
"
óó".
The very common Wolof letter "
ë" is pronounced
[ə], if not stressed.
Consonants
The characters (U+014B) Latin small letter eng "
ŋ"
and (U+014A) Latin capital letter eng "
Ŋ" are used
in the Wolof alphabet.
The characters (U+00F1) Latin small letter n with tilde
"
ñ" and (U+00D1) Latin capital letter n with tilde
"
Ñ" are also used.
Grammar
Notable characteristics
Pronoun conjugation instead of verbal conjugation
In Wolof, verbs are unchangeable words which cannot be conjugated.
To express different tenses or aspects of an action, the personal
pronouns are conjugated - not the verbs. Therefore, the term
temporal pronoun has become established for this part of
speech.
Example: The verb
dem means "
to go" and
cannot be changed; the temporal pronoun
maa ngi
means "
I/me, here and now"; the temporal pronoun
dinaa means "
I am soon / I will soon / I will
be soon". With that, the following sentences can be built now:
Maa ngi dem. "
I am going (here and now)."
-
Dinaa dem. "
I will go (soon)."
Conjugation with respect to aspect instead of tense
In Wolof, tenses like present tense, past tense and future tense
are just of secondary importance, they even play almost no role. It
is the aspect of an action from the speaker's point of view, which
is of crucial importance. The most important aspect is, whether an
action is perfective, i.e. finished, or imperfective, i.e. still
going on, from the speaker's point of view, regardless, whether the
action itself takes place in the past, present or future. Other
aspects are, whether an action takes place regularly, whether an
action will take place for sure, and whether an action wants to
emphasize the role of the subject, predicate or object of the
sentence. As a result, conjugation is not done by tenses, but by
aspects. Nevertheless, the term
temporal pronoun became
usual for these pronouns to be conjugated, although
aspect
pronoun might be the better term.
Example: The verb
dem means "
to go"; the
temporal pronoun
naa means "
I
already/definitely", the temporal pronoun
dinaa means "
I am soon / I will soon / I will
be soon"; the temporal pronoun
damay means
"
I (am) regularly/usually". Now the following sentences
can be constructed:
Dem naa. "
I go already / I
have already gone." -
Dinaa dem. "
I will
go soon / I am just going to go." -
Damay
dem. "
I usually/regularly/normally go."
If the speaker absolutely wants to express that an action took
place in the past, this is not done by conjugation, but by adding
the suffix
-(w)oon to the verb. (Please bear in
mind, that in a sentence the temporal pronoun is already used in a
conjugated form besides the past marker.)
Example:
Demoon naa Ndakaaru. "
I already went
to Dakar."
Action verbs versus static verbs and adjectives
Consonant harmony
Gender
Wolof lacks
gender-specific
pronouns: there is one word encompassing the English 'he',
'she', and 'it'. The descriptors
bu góor (male /
masculine) or
bu jigéen (female / feminine) are
often added to words like
xarit, 'friend', and
rakk, 'younger sibling' in order to indicate the person's
gender.
For the most part, Wolof does not have noun concord ("agreement")
classes as in Bantu or Romance languages. But the markers of noun
definiteness (usually called "definite articles" in grammatical
terminology) do agree with the noun they modify. There are at least
ten articles in Wolof, some of them indicating a singular noun,
other a plural noun. In "City Wolof" (the type of Wolof spoken in
big cities like Dakar), the article
-bi is often
used as a pro-article when the actual article is not known.
Any loan noun from French or English uses
–bi –-
butik-bi, xarit-bi, 'the boutique, the friend'
Most Arabic or religious terms use
–ji --
jumma-ji,
jigeen-ji, 'the mosque, the girl'
Nouns referring to person typically use
-ki --
nit-ki,
nit-ñi, 'the person, the people'
Miscellaneous articles:
si, gi, wi, mi, li, yi.
Numerals
Cardinal numbers
The Wolof numeral system is based on the numbers "5" and "10". It
is extremely regular in formation, comparable to
Chinese.
Example:
benn "
one",
juróom "
five",
juróom-benn "
six" (literally,
"five-one"),
fukk "
ten",
fukk ak
juróom benn "
sixteen" (literally, "ten and five
one"),
ñett-fukk "
thirty" (literally,
"three-ten"). Alternately, "thirty" is
fanweer,
which is roughly the number of days in a lunar month (literally
"fan" is day and "weer" is moon.)
| 0 |
tus / neen /
zéro [French] / sero /
dara ["nothing"] |
| 1 |
benn |
| 2 |
ñaar / yaar |
| 3 |
ñett / ñatt /
yett / yatt |
| 4 |
ñeent / ñenent |
| 5 |
juróom |
| 6 |
juróom-benn |
| 7 |
juróom-ñaar |
| 8 |
juróom-ñett |
| 9 |
juróom-ñeent |
| 10 |
fukk |
| 11 |
fukk ak benn |
| 12 |
fukk ak ñaar |
| 13 |
fukk ak ñett |
| 14 |
fukk ak ñeent |
| 15 |
fukk ak juróom |
| 16 |
fukk ak juróom-benn |
| 17 |
fukk ak juróom-ñaar |
| 18 |
fukk ak juróom-ñett |
| 19 |
fukk ak juróom-ñeent |
| 20 |
ñaar-fukk |
| 26 |
ñaar-fukk ak juróom-benn |
| 30 |
ñett-fukk / fanweer |
| 40 |
ñeent-fukk |
| 50 |
juróom-fukk |
| 60 |
juróom-benn-fukk |
| 66 |
juróom-benn-fukk ak juróom-benn |
| 70 |
juróom-ñaar-fukk |
| 80 |
juróom-ñett-fukk |
| 90 |
juróom-ñeent-fukk |
| 100 |
téeméer |
| 101 |
téeméer ak benn |
| 106 |
téeméer ak juróom-benn |
| 110 |
téeméer ak fukk |
| 200 |
ñaari téeméer |
| 300 |
ñetti téeméer |
| 400 |
ñeenti téeméer |
| 500 |
juróomi téeméer |
| 600 |
juróom-benni téeméer |
| 700 |
juróom-ñaari téeméer |
| 800 |
juróom-ñetti téeméer |
| 900 |
juróom-ñeenti téeméer |
| 1000 |
junni / junne |
| 1100 |
junni ak téeméer |
| 1600 |
junni ak juróom-benni téeméer |
| 1945 |
junni ak juróom-ñeenti téeméer ak ñeent-fukk ak
juróom |
| 1969 |
junni ak juróom-ñeenti téeméer ak juróom-benn-fukk ak
juróom-ñeent |
| 2000 |
ñaari junni |
| 3000 |
ñetti junni |
| 4000 |
ñeenti junni |
| 5000 |
juróomi junni |
| 6000 |
juróom-benni junni |
| 7000 |
juróom-ñaari junni |
| 8000 |
juróom-ñetti junni |
| 9000 |
juróom-ñeenti junni |
| 10000 |
fukki junni |
| 100000 |
téeméeri junni |
| 1000000 |
tamndareet / million |
|
Ordinal numbers
Ordinal numbers are formed by adding
the ending
–éélu (pronounced ay-lu) to the
cardinal number.
For example two is
ñaar and second is
ñaaréélu
The one exception to this system is “first”, which is
bu
njëk (or the adapted French word
premier:
përëmye)
| 1st |
bu njëk |
| 2nd |
ñaaréélu |
| 3rd |
ñettéélu |
| 4th |
ñeentéélu |
| 5th |
juróoméélu |
| 6th |
juróom-bennéélu |
| 7th |
juróom-ñaaréélu |
| 8th |
juróom-ñettéélu |
| 9th |
juróom-ñeentéélu |
| 10th |
fukkéélu |
|
Personal pronouns
Temporal pronouns
Conjugation of the temporal pronouns
|
Situative (Presentative)(Present
Continuous) |
Terminative(Past tense for action
verbs or present tense for static verbs) |
Objective(Emphasis on Object) |
Processive (Explicative and/or
Descriptive)(Emphasis on Verb) |
Subjective(Emphasis on Subject) |
Neutral |
|
Perfect |
Imperfect |
Perfect |
Future |
Perfect |
Imperfect |
Perfect |
Imperfect |
Perfect |
Imperfect |
Perfect |
Imperfect |
| 1st Person singular "I/me" |
maa ngi(I am+ Verb+ -ing) |
maa ngiy |
naa(I + past tense action verbs or present
tense static verbs) |
dinaa(I will ... /
future) |
laa(Puts the emphasis on the Object of the
sentence) |
laay(Indicates a habitual or future
action) |
dama(Puts the emphasis on the Verb or the
state 'condition' of the sentence) |
damay(Indicates a habitual or future
action) |
maa(Puts the emphasis on the Subject of the
sentence) |
maay(Indicates a habitual or future
action) |
ma |
may |
| 2nd Person singular "you" |
yaa ngi |
yaa ngiy |
nga |
dinga |
nga |
ngay |
danga |
dangay |
yaa |
yaay |
nga |
ngay |
| 3rd Person singular "he/she/it" |
mu ngi |
mu ngiy |
na |
dina |
la |
lay |
dafa |
dafay |
moo |
mooy |
mu |
muy |
| 1st Person plural "we" |
nu ngi |
nu ngiy |
nanu |
dinanu |
lanu |
lanuy |
danu |
danuy |
noo |
nooy |
nu |
nuy |
| 2nd Person plural "you" |
yéena ngi |
yéena ngiy |
ngeen |
dingeen |
ngeen |
ngeen di |
dangeen |
dangeen di |
yéena |
yéenay |
ngeen |
ngeen di |
| 3rd Person plural "they" |
ñu ngi |
ñu ngiy |
nañu |
dinañu |
lañu |
lañuy |
dañu |
dañuy |
ñoo |
ñooy |
ñu |
ñuy |
|
In urban Wolof it is common to use the forms of the 3rd person
plural also for the 1st person plural.
It is also important to note that the verb follows certain temporal
pronouns and precedes others.
Literature
The
New Testament was translated into
Wolof and published in 1987, second edition 2004, and in 2008 with
some minor typographical corrections.
[14267]
The 1994 song '
7 seconds' by
Youssou N'Dour and
Neneh Cherry is partially sung in Wolof.
References
- Holloway, Joseph E. The Impact of African Languages on American
English. Slavery in America. Retrieved on 2006.10.05.
- e.g. Grant Barrett, " Humdinger of a Bad Irish Scholar", in "The
Lexicographer's Rules", 2007.11.09
Bibliography
- Omar Ka: Wolof Phonology and Morphology. University
Press of America, Lanham, Maryland, 1994, ISBN 0-8191-9288-0.
- Mamadou Cissé: « Graphical borrowing and African realities
» in Revue du Musée National d'Ethnologie d'Osaka, Japan, June
2000.
- Mamadou Cissé: "Revisiter "La grammaire de la langue wolof"
d'A. Kobes (1869), ou étude critique d'un pan de
l'histoire de la grammaire du wolof.", in Sudlangues[14268] February 2005
- Leigh Swigart: Two codes or one? The insiders’
view and the description of codeswitching in Dakar, in Carol
M. Eastman, Codeswitching. Clevedon/Philadelphia: Multilingual
Matters, ISBN 1-85359-167-X.
- Fiona McLaughlin: Dakar Wolof and the configuration of an
urban identity, Journal of African Cultural Studies 14/2,
2001, p. 153-172
- Gabriele Aïscha Bichler: Bejo, Curay und Bin-bim?
Die Sprache und Kultur der Wolof im Senegal (mit
angeschlossenem Lehrbuch Wolof), Europäische
Hochschulschriften Band 90, Peter Lang Verlagsgruppe, Frankfurt am
Main, Germany 2003, ISBN 3-631-39815-8.
- Pathé Diagne: Grammaire de Wolof Moderne. Présence
Africaine, Paris, France, 1971.
- Pape Amadou Gaye: Wolof - An Audio-Aural Approach.
United States Peace Corps, 1980.
- Amar Samb: Initiation a la Grammaire Wolof. Institut
Fondamental d'Afrique Noire, Université de Dakar, Ifan-Dakar,
Sénegal, 1983.
- Michael Franke: Kauderwelsch, Wolof für den Senegal - Wort
für Wort. Reise Know-How Verlag, Bielefeld, Germany 2002, ISBN
3-89416-280-5.
- Michael Franke, Jean Léopold Diouf, Konstantin Pozdniakov:
Le wolof de poche - Kit de conversation
(Phrasebook/grammar with 1 CD). Assimil, Chennevières-sur-Marne,
France, 2004 ISBN 978-2-7005-4020-8.
- Jean-Léopold Diouf, Marina Yaguello: J'apprends le Wolof -
Damay jàng wolof (1 textbook with 4 audio cassettes).
Karthala, Paris, France 1991, ISBN 2-86537-287-1.
- Michel Malherbe, Cheikh Sall: Parlons Wolof - Langue et
culture. L'Harmattan, Paris, France 1989, ISBN 2-7384-0383-2
(this book uses a simplified orthography which is not compliant
with the CLAD standards; a CD is available).
- Jean-Léopold Diouf: Grammaire du wolof contemporain.
Karthala, Paris, France 2003, ISBN 2-84586-267-9.
- Fallou Ngom: Wolof. Verlag LINCOM, Munich, Germany
2003, ISBN 3-89586-616-4.
- Mamadou Cissé: Dictionnaire Français-Wolof,
L’Asiathèque, Paris, 1998, ISBN 2-911053-43-5
- Arame Fal, Rosine Santos, Jean Léonce Doneux: Dictionnaire
wolof-français (suivi d'un index français-wolof). Karthala,
Paris, France 1990, ISBN 2-86537-233-2.
- Pamela Munro, Dieynaba Gaye: Ay Baati Wolof - A Wolof
Dictionary. UCLA Occasional Papers in Linguistics, No. 19, Los
Angeles, California, 1997.
- Peace Corps The Gambia: Wollof-English Dictionary, PO
Box 582, Banjul, The Gambia, 1995 (no ISBN, available as PDF file
via the internet; this book refers solely to the dialect spoken in
the Gambia and does not use the standard orthography of CLAD).
- Nyima Kantorek: Wolof Dictionary & Phrasebook,
Hippocrene Books, 2005, ISBN 0-7818-1086-8 (this book refers
predominantly to the dialect spoken in the Gambia and does not use
the standard orthography of CLAD).
- [Senegal, Government of], Décret n° 71-566 du 21 mai 1971
relatif à la transcription des langues nationales, modifié par
décret n° 72-702 du 16 juin 1972.
- [Senegal, Government of], Décrets n° 75-1026 du 10 octobre 1975
et n° 85-1232 du 20 novembre 1985 relatifs à l'orthographe et à la
séparation des mots en wolof.
- [Senegal, Government of], Décret n° 2005-992 du 21 octobre 2005
relatif à l'orthographe et à la séparation des mots en wolof.
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