MAC - Wolof

UNIVERSITE GASTON BERGER Mr.
BALDE
UFR Civilisation, Religions, Arts et communication Année académique 2024-2025
Section: MAC
Licence 2
A historical product of French colonization, the Senegalese state formulated a hegemonic project,
primarily linguistic, of disseminating a literate and French-speaking “high culture”. This ideology has
become commonplace, from top to bottom, following the development of the postcolonial state.
However, this is only one side of national sentiment in Senegal, because the routinized and daily
reproduction of a national imagination has also taken the vernacular path of “low culture” conveyed
by the language, Wolof. In the space of a few decades, this language originally spoken by less than
half of the population of Senegal has undergone a process of devernacularization, until it became the
commonplace vehicular language of almost all citizens, finally become vernacularized, that is to say
once again becoming the support of a specific cultural identity, but this time extended to almost the
entire population, and which can therefore be described as national.
When Senegal gained independence in 1960, French, declared the sole official language, seemed well
placed to become the vehicle for national integration. But it is the Wolof language, kept aside by the
Senghorian state, which has gradually established itself as the language of national unification. The
exogenous and colonial origin of French is not a determining element in its failure to play this role,
because we know that several countries in Africa, Asia, or Latin America have reappropriated the
imported language, which has managed to become commonplace, certainly sometimes by becoming
creolized. In Senegal, three main reasons explain why the ordinary language prevailed over the
language of the State in the call for the identity of the postcolonial nation under construction.
Firstly, sociolinguistic surveys have clearly shown the existing divide in representations between
French, perceived as the language of social distinction, officiality, formality, the rigidity of the norm,
hierarchy, and verticality, and Wolof experienced as a language of horizontal sociability, spontaneous
communication, informality, linguistic and identity flexibility. The social and cultural prestige of
French has also been its handicap, making it incompatible with the sphere of everyday life, and
excluding it from convivial situations. French as a “working language” has suffered from its
officiality, from its inability to become commonplace by leaving the gangue of formality and
discipline. “In Wolof, we are not afraid of making mistakes, no one corrects you”: this remark on the
appeal of urban Wolof, an oral language above all, also implicitly reveals the disadvantages of French,
a written and official language. Mastery of Wolof has thus become a “guarantee of urban integration”,
perceived both as more “modern” than other Senegalese languages, and more flexible than official
French.
Exercise 1 Answer the following questions.
1-Give a title to the text.
2- Give the opposite of the underlined words.
3- Why is Wolof a means of urban integration?
4- Find in the text the synonyms of the following words:
a) assurance b) ordinary c) obviously d) summit e) whole f) source

Exercise 2 Say whether these statements are true or false; justify by quoting the text.
1-Senegalese people are very simple as far as the way they speak Wolof is concerned.
2- Wolof has nothing to do with socialization.
3- Wolof and French are equally spoken in Senegal.
4- French has become commonplace to the detriment of Wolof.
5- French is accessible to everyone, which is why it has become commonplace.
Exercise 4 Put the sentences into interrogative and interro-negative form
1- We are afraid of making mistakes.

2- This language originally spoken by the half of the Senegalese population
3- Wolof experienced as a horizontal sociability
4- The ordinary language prevailed over the language of the state
Exercise 3. Discussion.
1- Find other reasons why Wolof has prevailed over the French.
2- What could be the threat to the extension of the Wolof language?

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UNIVERSITE GASTON BERGER Mr.

UFR Civilisation, Religions, Arts et communication Année académique 2024-2025

Exercise 1 Answer the following questions.

1-Give a title to the text.

2- Give the opposite of the underlined words.

3- Why is Wolof a means of urban integration?

4- Find in the text the synonyms of the following words:

a) assurance b) ordinary c) obviously d) summit e) whole f) source

2- Wolof has nothing to do with socialization.

3- Wolof and French are equally spoken in Senegal.

4- French has become commonplace to the detriment of Wolof.

5- French is accessible to everyone, which is why it has become commonplace.

Exercise 4 Put the sentences into interrogative and interro-negative form

1- We are afraid of making mistakes.

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