FULA (Fulfulde, Pulaar, Fulani, Peul) Language Page
1 CLASSIFICATION
AND WHERE SPOKEN
Fula belongs to the northern
branch of West Atlantic and is spoken throughout West Africa. Most speakers
are found within a band running from Senegal to northern Cameroon, including
the countries of Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Burkina
Faso, northern Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. Technically, Fulfulde
or Pulaar is the name of this language, while ful'be (singular = pullo) is the
name of the people who speak Fulfulde. Fulani is the Hausa designation for these
people, while Fula is the Mandinka term, and Peul is Wolof.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
Sauvegeot (1978) cautiously estimates there are around 5 million speakers of Fula. The population statistics of the ICAO (1980-1981) are given as follows.
| Country |
Estimated
Speakers
|
Source
|
Estimated
Speakers
|
Source
(cited in Grimes 1996)
|
| Benin |
80,000
|
ICAO
|
280,000
|
Johnstone
1993
|
| Burkina Faso |
600,000
|
ICAO
|
1,038,200
|
Johnstone
1993
|
| Cameroon |
400,000
|
ICAO
|
668,700
|
"1986"
|
| Central African Republic |
156,000
|
"1996"
|
||
| Chad |
5,500
|
ICAO
|
24,000+
|
Grimes
1996
|
| Cote d'Ivoire |
100,000
|
ICAO
|
1,200
|
"1991"
(Grimes, personal
communication 1998) |
| Gambia |
1,000,000???
|
ICAO
|
214,000
|
"1995"
|
| Ghana |
7,300
|
"1991"
|
||
| Guinea |
2,100,000
|
ICAO
|
2,574,000
|
Grimes
1996
|
| Guinea Bissau |
100,000
|
ICAO
|
180,000
|
Vanderaa
1991
|
| Mali |
600,000
|
ICAO
|
1,144,700
|
Grimes
1996
|
| Mauritania |
100,000
|
ICAO
|
150,000
|
Grimes
1996
|
| Niger |
400,000
|
ICAO
|
?
|
|
| Nigeria |
5,000,000
|
ICAO
|
7,611,000
|
SIL
1991
|
| Senegal |
1,152,451
|
Vital
Statistics Senegal, 1981
|
2,046,000
|
Grimes
1996
|
| Sierra Leone |
178,400
|
"1991"
|
||
| Sudan |
90,000
|
SIL
1982
|
||
| Togo |
48,200
|
Johnstone
1993
|
||
| Total |
10,000,000+
|
.
|
16,411,700
|
.
|
3 DIALECT SURVEY
Although no dialect survey has come to our attention, Arnott (1970, p. 3) reports the following dialect areas: "Fuuta Tooro (Senegal), Fuuta Jalon (Guinea), Maasina (Mali), Sokoto and western Niger, `Central' northern Nigeria (roughly Katsina, Kano, Zaria, Plateau, Bauchi, and Bornu Provinces and eastern Niger), Adamawa." All dialects of Fula are mutually intelligible.
4
USAGE
Fula is an officially recognized national language in the following countries:
Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and
Gambia. It is one of the six national languages of Senegal, French being the
official language. It is current government policy to teach each student to
read in the prominent national language of each major region. Radio broadcasts
in Fula can be heard in the countries where it is an officially recognized language.
In addition, the USSR and Radio Cairo broadcast in Fula. Senegal has a Fula
press. Each country where it is an official language has (1) a government office
responsible for adult literacy in Fula and (2) a section in the Department of
Education responsible for introducing national languages into the school system
and radio broadcasts in Fula (Fagerberg-Diallo, personal communication, 1985).
5
ORTHOGRAPHIC STATUS
A standard orthography (based on the 1966 Bamako conference
on orthographic standardization) has been adopted in all of West Africa, Europe,
and the United States. Exceptions are Guinea and Nigeria, although Guinea has
now accepted the future use of the standard orthography (Fagerberg-Diallo, personal
communication).
6
SETS OF LEARNING MATERIALS
Despite mutual intelligibility, at least two sets of materials
(Eastern: Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and the Central African Republic;
and Western: Senegal, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Mali)
are required.
| [African Studies Center] |
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