Jola languages
| Jola | |
|---|---|
| Diola | |
| Geographic distribution | The Gambia, Senegal (esp. Casamance) and Guinea-Bissau |
| Linguistic classification | Niger–Congo?
|
| Subdivisions |
|
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | nucl1345 (Nuclear Jola)bayo1255 (Bayot) |
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
[edit]The name Jola is an exonym, and may be from the Mandinka word joolaa 'one who pays back'.[1] There is no widespread endonym used by all of the Jola speakers.
Languages
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]Some Proto-Joola reconstructions of stable lexical roots by Segerer (2016) are:[2]
| 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
[edit]- ^ Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
- ^ 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.
