Pulaar (in Latin: , in Ajami: ) is a Senegambian language spoken primarily in Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia. It is one of the national languages of Mauritania, Senegal and the Gambia and is spoken by more than 6 million people worldwide.
The two main speakers of Pulaar are the Toucouleur people and the Fulɓe (also known as Fulani or Peul) in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro. Pulaar is the second most spoken local language in Mauritania and Senegal, being a first language for around 22% of the latter country's population. This correlates with 23.7% of the country in which Fulbe is the population's ethnicity. There are around 28 known dialects of Fula, most of which are mutually intelligible with each other. The Fula dialects, as well as other West African languages, are usually referenced under the umbrella term ‘Fula’. Pulaar as a language, however, is not usually referenced as ‘Fula’. According to Ethnologue there are several dialectal varieties, but all are mutually intelligible.
Pulaar is not to be confused with Pular, another variety of Fula spoken in Guinea (including the Fouta Djallon region). The Pulaar and Pular varieties of Fula are to some extent mutually intelligible.
Pulaar is currently written in primarily in the Latin script. Historically, for centuries, Pulaar has a literary tradition based on the Arabic script, an orthographic tradition now known as "Ajami". More recently, Adlam script for Pulaar has been gaining ground as well (see Fula alphabets).
The word Pulaar translates to 'the language of the Fulɓe' as the stem /pul/ is the singular form of Fulɓe and the suffix /-aar/ means language. The language is believed to have formed in Fuuta Tooro when the ancestors of the Toucouleur people began speaking the language of the Fulɓe. It is then believed that the term Haalpulaar'en (which means 'speakers of the language of Pulaar') was created to apply to non-Fulɓe speakers of Fulɓe, of which the Toucouleur people are the largest demographic.
Linguistic features
Negation The negative accomplished verb form ends in -aani. (This is slightly different from Maasina Fulfulde and Pular.)
Noun classes Pulaar contains 21 noun classes. These noun classes can commonly be observed by looking at the suffix of a noun. For example, a noun that is the result of a loan word will typically end in -o (however, human singular nouns such as debbo (meaning woman) also end in -o). The class of the noun will often refer to the actual content of the noun. For example, the ɗam noun class is applied to nouns that describe a liquid. The table below shows the noun classes in Pulaar and what the class indicates the content of the noun to be: +Noun classesClassContent of nounngo curved up at edgeskistraight upright, trees, body parts, abstractionsohumans, loanwordsnge celestial bodies, bovines, abstractionsnduhollow, inflated, roundbaanimalsɗamliquids, abstractions, mass nounsɗumcertain loanwordskaobjects, abstractionskalliquids in small quantitykobody parts, plantsndeobjectsndimale animals, augmentatives, nouns that cannot be countedngalbody parts, birds, augmentatives, treesngolthings that are long and thin, action nounsngeldiminutivesnguinsects, fish, collectives, abstractionsɗe(plural) animals, objectskon(plural) diminutivesɗi(plural) animals, objectsɓe(plural) humans
Counting system The Pulaar counting system is base five (a quinary-decimal system) which is similar to the surrounding Niger-Congo languages. The number 7, for example, uses the prefix of joy (5) and the suffix ɗiɗi (2) becoming jeeɗiɗi (5+2). Other languages that use this system in West Africa include Pular, Wolof, Sereer-Sine and East Limba. These quinary-decimal counting languages can be found in the west African regions of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Gambia. Pulaar and Pular possess almost identical words for numbers, in which every number from 1 to 10 share the exact same name except for 5 (joy for Pulaar and jowi for Pular).
Vowel suffixes The Pulaar verb system contains multiple suffixes which can be added to verbs to change their cases. These suffixes include the -t suffixes, the -d suffixes, the -n suffixes, and the -r suffixes. When multiple suffixes are used in a single verb, they follow the 'TDNR' order. This means that -t suffixes go before -d suffixes which go before -n suffixes, and -r suffixes are the last in order . There are few exceptions to this rule. An example of this is the word nyaam-n-id-ii. In this word, the -n suffix goes before the -d suffix.
-t suffixes the -t suffix is added to verbs in order to change the case of the verb. The allomorphs -t or -it are added to make a verb retaliative, meaning to do in retaliation for a previous action. For example, lata (meaning ‘kick’) adds the allomorph -it to become lat-it-o (meaning ‘kick back’). The allomorphs -t, -it or -ut are added to a verb to make it reversive, meaning to do the opposite of the original verb. For example, taara (meaning ‘wind’) becomes taar-t-a (meaning ‘unwind’). The same allomorphs apply for the repetitive case, meaning the repeating of an action. There are no means of distinguishing between a reversive and a repetitious case other than by observing the context of the sentence. The allomorphs -t and -it are used to make a verb reflexive, which means to make the object of the action the same as the subject. For example, ndaara (meaning ‘look at’) becomes ndaar-t-o (meaning ‘look at oneself’). The allomorphs -t, -ut and -it are used to show that a verb is completed with intensity. For example, yana (meaning ‘fall’) becomes yan-t-a (meaning ‘fall heavily’). For words such as ‘yama (meaning ‘ask’), the intensive form becomes yam-t-a (meaning ‘interrogate’) which is also the same form the repetitive case (meaning ‘ask again’). Therefore, yam-t-a is either one of those cases and therefore cannot be distinguished without taking into account the context of the sentence it is used in.
Cultural influences on language
The Toucouleur people (also referred to as Tukulor : fulbe) are one of the largest Pulaar speaking demographics in West Africa. They are an ethnic group of the Futa Tooro region encompassing the middle of the Senegal River. The Toucouleur people are heavily influenced by Islam, being one of the first black African groups to embrace Islam in the 11th century. Therefore, the Pulaar language has influences from Islam. This influence has led to Arabic words being integrated into the Pulaar language. The vocabulary of the Pulaar language is also influenced by the conservative, family-oriented culture of Pulaar. There are Pulaar words which describe relationships between people. The phrase (literally translated to "following maternal milk") is used to talk about the responsibilities that one has to maintain their relationship with their family. The word is used to describe one's blood relationship to a family. Pulaar's noun classes also indicate the influence of the agricultural lifestyle of Fula people. For example, the nge class of nouns refers to bovines including cow () and heifer (), and the ki class of nouns refer to trees or objects that are straight upright. The noun classes relating to themes of agriculture and farming relate to the Toucouleur economy, which consists mainly of raising of stock, crop cultivation and fishing. The Fulɓe people are known for being a semi-nomadic pastoralist group who have a history of cattle-herding, justifying the bovine noun class.
Orthography
Pulaar today is primarily written in Latin alphabet, with orthographic conventions that are in common for all indigenous languages of Senegal. The Latin alphabet has been standardized in various Senegalese government decrees, the latest of which was issued in 2005.Gouvernement du Sénégal, Décret N° 2005-990 du 21 octobre 2005.
However, historically, similar to other indigenous languages of the region, such as Wolof language, its first writing system was the adaption of the Arabic Script. The Arabic script is used today as well, albeit in a smaller scale, and only mostly limited to Islamic school teachers and students. The Arabic-based script of Pulaar was set by the government as well, between 1985 and 1990, although never adopted by a decree, as the effort by the Senegalese ministry of education was to be part of a multi-national standardization effort.
+ Pulaar Latin alphabetRépublique du Sénégal, Décret no 2005-988 relatif à l’orthographe et la séparation des mots en pulaar, 21 octobre 2005 A a Aa aa B b Mb mb Ɓ ɓ C c D d Nd nd Ɗ ɗ E e Ee ee F f G g Ng ng H h I i Ii ii J j Nj nj ~ ~ ~ K k L l M m N n Ñ ñ Ŋ ŋ O o Oo oo P p R r S s T t U u Uu uu W w X x Y y Ƴ ƴ ’
+ Pulaar Ajami alphabet Arabic(Latin)[IPA] ( – / ’ / Aa aa )// (B b) (P p) (Ɓ ɓ) (T t) (C c)~ Arabic(Latin)[IPA] (S s) (J j) (Ƴ ƴ) (H h) (K k)() (D d) Arabic(Latin)[IPA] (J j)() (R r) (J j)() (S s) (S s)() (S s) Arabic(Latin)[IPA] (L l) (Ɗ ɗ) (J j) (- / ’ ) (G g) (Ŋ ŋ) Arabic(Latin)[IPA] (F f) (Q q) (K k) (G g) (L l) (M m) Arabic(Latin)[IPA] (N n) (Ñ ñ) (H h) (W w/Oo oo/Uu uu)// (Y y/Ee ee/Ii ii)//
+Vowel at the beginning of a word A E I O UShort Vowels Long Vowels Aa Ee Ii Oo Uu +Vowel at the middle or end of a word a e i o u ∅Short Vowels Long Vowels aa ee ii oo uu
Prenasalized consonants are written as a digraph (combination of two consonants). While historically, there were single letter alternatives, these letters are no longer used. Prenasalized consonants are constructed using meem (م) or noon (ن) in combination with other consonants. The letter meem (م) appears in pairs with beh (ب), whereas the letter noon (ن) appears in pairs with dal (د), jeem (ج), and geh (گ).
Prenasalized consonants cannot take the zero-vowel diacritic sukun (◌ْ). If they are at the end of the word and have no vowels, they will take the gemination diacritic shadda (◌ّ).
Some consider these digraphs as their own independent letters.
+Pulaar Ajami prenasalized Consonant DigraphsFormsSound representedLatin equivalentIsolatedFinalMedialInitial mb nd nj ng
Sample Text Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Pulaar, United Nations Information Centre, Senegal https://www.ohchr.org/en/human-rights/universal-declaration/translations/pulaar
Translation Latin Script Ajami (Arabic) Script All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Innama aadeeji fof poti, ndimɗidi e jibinannde to bannge hakkeeji. Eɓe ngoodi miijo e hakkilantaagal ete eɓe poti huufo ndirde e nder ɓ iynguyummaagu.
Decline