Jola (Joola) or Diola is a dialect continuum spoken in Senegal, the Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. It belongs to the Bak branch of the Niger–Congo language family.
Name The name Jola is an exonym, and may be from the Mandinka word joolaa 'one who pays back'.Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. There is no widespread endonym used by all of the Jola speakers.
Languages The primary branches of Jola proper and to some extent Central Jola are not mutually intelligible. The main varieties are:
Bayot Jola proper Kwatay (Kuwaataay), spoken along the coast south of the Casamance River. Karon–Mlomp Karon, spoken along the coast of Casamance south of Diouloulou. Mlomp Central Jola Jola-Fonyi (Kujamatay), spoken around Bignona. The official standard. Bandial, spoken in a small area south of the Casamance River. Gusilay, spoken in the village of Thionck Essyl. Jola-Felupe (Ediamat), spoken in a handful of villages south of Oussouye in Oussouye Department. Kerak may be a dialect. (Jola) Kasa, spoken around Oussouye.
Bayot Bayot, spoken around Ziguinchor, is grammatically Jola, apart from a non-Jola pronominal system. However, perhaps half its vocabulary is non-Jola and even non-Atlantic. It may therefore be a language isolate with substantial Jola borrowing (relexification). In any case, Bayot is clearly distinct from (other) Jola languages.
Reconstruction Some Proto-Joola reconstructions of stable lexical roots by Segerer (2016) are:Segerer, Guillaume. 2016. The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages. Towards Proto-Niger-Congo: Comparison and Reconstruction, 2nd International Congress. Paris, September 1-3, 2016.
Gloss Proto-Joola to take *-ŋar to speak *-lɔb rain *-lʊb belly *-ar eye *-kil knee *-juul nose *-ɲend fat *-tɔf to die *-kɛt liver *-iɲ to bite *-rʊm mouth *-tum
References
External links Kujamaat Jóola Folklore and Language materials