Fulakunda, also called Fulani or Fulacunda, is a dialect in the Fula language continuum. Fulakunda is primarily spoken in southern Senegal, specifically the Casamance region, the Gambia, and northern Guinea Bissau. This region is often referred to as Fuladou. It is spoken by the Fulakunda people, a sub-group of the Fulani or Fulbe. It is noted for the presence of many loanwords from Mandinka, although the two are not mutually intelligible.
Fulakunda is mutually intelligible with all other Fula dialects in Senegal, although it shares more similarities with Pulaar (also called Pulaar du Nord, the dialect of Fula spoken in the Senegal River Valley) than with Pula Futa, despite the latter's closer geographical range.
Linguistic features
Negation and tenses There are three verb forms, each of which have their own forms of negation, which vary by tense. Double negatives are a common part of the Fulakunda language, as in phrases like "mi annda heyhunde", or "I don't know nothing". The future and present habitual are conjugated the same, with the difference detectable by context. In present progressive affirmative, and for static verbs, long-form pronouns are used. +Example verb conjugation and negationClassSimple Past AffirmativeSimple Past NegativePresent Habitual /Future AffirmativePresent Habitual/ Future Negative root + ude/de verbs (active)root + iiroot + aani (frequently shortened to a)Root + atRoot + ataaRoot + aade verbs (semi-reflexive)root + iimaroot + aakiRoot + otoRoot + otaako -eede verbs (reflexive)root + aamaroot + aakaRoot + eteRoot + etaake
Noun classes Fulakunda 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. However, Fulakunda is a heavily irregular language, and so noun class will commonly break these rules and both observation and the general grouping of nouns should not be relied upon. A noun's determiner is the noun class, with the definite article form occurring after the noun (boggol ngol, the rope) and the demonstrative pronoun occurring before the noun (ngol boggol, this rope). The table below shows the noun classes in Fulakunda and what the class indicates the content of the noun to be: +Noun classesClassContent of nounngocurved up at edgeskistraight upright, trees, body parts, abstractionsohumans, loanwordsngecelestial 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 Fulakunda 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, Pular, and Fulakunda 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, jowi for Pular, and jooyi for Fulakunda).
Verb suffixes The Fulacunda verb system contains multiple suffixes which can be added to verbs to change their cases. These suffixes include the -an suffixes, the -d suffixes, the -oy suffixes, and the -ir suffixes. Typically, multiple suffixes are not used in verbs, differentiating it from Pulaar. +Common Fulakunda suffixesSuffixMeaningExampleMeaning -anto do foryahde→yahandeto go for (as a favor) -dto do with (a person)yahde → yahdudeto go → to go with -oyto go and donamde→ namoydeto eat →to go (somewhere) and eat -ondirto do to each otherAnndude→ anndondirdeto know → to know each other -irto do by/with (tool or technique)dogde → dogirdeto run →to run with (sneakers, etc) -into make someone dojangude → jangindeto read/study→to make someone read or study (also to teach)
Pronouns
Consonant mutation Fulakunda has a significant amount of consonant mutation in the language, in many situations. For almost all plurals, the first consonant in the verb or noun will be transformed. Additionally, for verbs, when the pronoun is in post position, consonant transformation will take place. When speaking casually, occasionally speakers will transform consonants for no clear reason. These transformations will be applied to loan words as well. In some cases, particularly in the h → k and f → p pairs, the mutation will be bi-directional. S and t are also fully interchangeable in all instances, as are t and r, but s and r are not fully interchangeable. +Fulakunda consonant mutation guideInitialTransformedvowelsng+vowelsj/ynjscrd/ndW+(a/e/i/u) mbw(o)mb/nghkfplnd
Orthography Fulakunda today is primarily written in the Latin alphabet, with orthographic conventions in common with 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 the Wolof language, its first writing system was the adaption of Arabic script. Arabic script is used today as well, albeit in a smaller scale, and mostly limited to Islamic school teachers and students. The Arabic-based script of Pulaar, to be used for all Fula dialects within Senegal, 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. +Fulakunda Latin alphabetRépublique du Sénégal, Décret no 2005-988 relatif à l’orthographe et la séparation des mots en pulaar, 21 octobre 2005A aAa aaB bMb mbƁ ɓC cD dNd ndƊ ɗE eEe eeF fG gNg ngH hI iIi iiJ jNj nj~~~K kL lM mN nÑ ñŊ ŋO oOo ooP pR rS sT tU uUu uuW wX xY yƳ ƴ’ +Pulaar Ajami alphabetArabic (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 wordAEIOUShort vowelsLong vowelsAaEeIiOoUu+Vowel at the middle or end of a wordaeiou∅Short vowelsLong vowelsaaeeiioouu 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 equivalentIsolatedFinalMedialInitialmbndnjng
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 TranslationLatin scriptAjami (Arabic) scriptAll 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.
References