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A Wolof speaker, recorded in Taiwan. Wolof (/ ˈ w oʊ l ɒ f / WOH-lof; [2] Wolof làkk, وࣷلࣷفْ لࣵکّ) is a Niger–Congo language spoken by the Wolof people in much of the West African subregion of Senegambia that is split between the countries of Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania.
Senegal is a Francophone country, where, as of 2024, 5.13 million (27.73%) out of 18.50 million people speak French. [2] In terms of usage, Wolof is the lingua franca and the most widely spoken language in Senegal, as a first or second language (80%). [3] Mande languages spoken include Soninke, and Mandinka.
Wolof (/ ˈ w ɒ l ɒ f /) is a language of Senegal, the Gambia, and Mauritania, and the native language of the Wolof people. Like the neighbouring languages Serer and Fula, it belongs to the Senegambian branch of the Niger–Congo language family. Unlike most other languages of Sub-Saharan Africa, Wolof is not a tonal language.
It is used in particular for the writing of the Wolof language, spoken mostly in Senegal, although that language is more often written in the Latin alphabet and to a lesser extent in the Arabic (Wolofal) alphabet. It is written from right to left, and distinguishes letter case.
It is basically the name of a West African Ajami script as used for that language. Wolofal was the first script for writing Wolof. Although the Latin alphabet is the primary official script of the language in today's Senegal , Wolofal is still used by many people as a symbol of Islamic Wolof culture.
The prevalence of the Wolof both linguistically and politically has continued to increase throughout the years; this tendency has been called the "wolofisation" of Senegal. [6] The Fula, those who speak the Fula language, are the second most populous group, representing 27.5% of the country's population.
Wolofization or Wolofisation is a cultural and language shift whereby populations or states adopt Wolof language or culture, such as in the Senegambia region. In Senegal, Wolof is a lingua franca [1] [2] [3] The Wolofization phenomenon has taken over all facets of Senegal and encroaching on Gambian soil. [3]
The Serer Division is headed by Professor Souleymane Faye.Together with his team, they work towards standardizing the Serer language. [3] [4] Faye, a professor of linguistics at the Cheikh Anta Diop University [5] who has authored and co-authored several books and papers pertaining to the Serer and Cangin languages [4] [6] is one of the current professors of the Centre (as of 2012).