UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
~.
l
CONSEIL AFRICAIN ET MALGACHE
I POUR L'ENSE1GNEMENT SUPERIEUil I
C. A. M. E. S. -
OUAGADOUGOU;
\\I;',L ,., 02 'j\\I\\N :\\Ij'd~, , , , i
. . . . ,," ~ {) .0 ,3 .~ .~ :
A
DISSERTATION IN LINGUISTICS
Presented to
THE FACULTIES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR, OF PHILOSOPHY
Arnadou Harnady DIOP
1989

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!.ANCUi\\C;[ CONT!\\CT,I~!\\NClJ!\\GI:l'I!\\Ni~Ii'!CJ
AND LlINGUi\\C]E l'OI,ICY:
TilE STUDY or;'TWO BfJ.JNGU!\\L. CO;\\'I,\\.IUNITIC;
IN NORTI'[:I~N SENECI!\\L,
;\\macloll
I-Ialll:lcly
Diol'
A D1SSERTAT10N
IN
UNCUISTICS
I'rc:scillcd
10
titc Facllllies or Ih,~ Ulliversity or 1'l:llllsyl',':111ia
ill I);llli;t/
1:IIII'illm(;nl or 111e: l(cqilir(;Il.(;IlIS ror ll,(; J)q;k'" or
Doctor or I'llilosophy
,
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'.. . J!;iW:,~;:, ..~,~". ~,

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·11·
coPYIliG.I:IT
Amadoll IIamady Diop
1989

---

I ·
•
IU
In loving memory or my father:
Hamady Faty Diop (1918··1989)

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1 first thank Allah, the Most High for giving me the strength'this tasl:
to its completion Then 1 would thank my wife and children, and the rest of
the family who accepted to endure loneliness and the hardships of my long
absence with grace. I also thank my many friends, in Senega!. the US and all
over the world, whose constant moral support uplifted me in the hardest
limes. Thanks are also due to FuJJbright for giving me lhis golden chance.
And, last but not leasl, 1 lhank my commitlee headed by Dr EHen Prince
whose efficient and affectionate ways of dealing with me were instrumental
in the quick completion of this work.
i,
. ,

---

-v-
ABSTRACT
LANGUAGE CONT ACT, LANGUAGE PLANNING AND LANGUAGE POLICY: THE
STUDY OF TWO BILINGUAL COMMUNITIES IN NORTHERN SENEGAL
Amadou lIamady Diop
Dr. ElIen Prince, Supervisor
The Problem
This is a study of two bilingual communities in Northern Senega!. The
geographic situation of these rural communities is such that some level of
bilingual competence in the two languages in contact was expected. The
languages are Wolof and Pulaar (a dialect of rula) Wolof is the subjects' first
language and Pulaar is the local majority language. My primary interest was
about intrasententiaJ code-mixing
A fieldwork was carried out in the two areas during the summer
vacations of 1987 and t 988. Twenty five (25) hours of recorded speech was
obtained from individual and group interviews and other forms of
recordings. The data was later statistically analyzeu,
, ,

---

-'11-
Res\\llts.
The results reveal unexpected patterns of speech. There were a c1ear-
cut difference between the young and the old people. Whereas the older
people mix primarily Wolof and Pulaar, as expected, the young have hardly
any knowledge of Pulaar. Instead, the young mix Wolof and French, the
colonial language, and presently the sole official language of Senegal.
The type of language mixing practiced by the two groups is also
different. While the olel people's speech contains, by and large, loamvords
from Pulaar, the speech of tIle young contains all kinds of code-mixing. Dy
looking at the young people's speeech, I was able to find solid evidence
about the existence of "nonce borrrowing" called in the present work lex!c,tl-
nvitching or synchronic borrowinlL
The importance of the finding is that it invalidates certain claims
regarding the violation of Pfaff's( I 979) structural contraints as well as
Sankoff ~Lill 's (1980) free morpheme constraints and equivalence
constraint. It also sheds new light on the distinction between code-switching
and nonce-borrowing,
{;Qllclu siQ.!li
The main conclusions drawn from the results are: I) the differences
noticed between the old and the young are a result of a process that dates
back to the time of the colonization of the country by France. Colonization
established the French language in the country and ensured it occupies the
official domain. This position has given the French language a guarantee for
survival even' after independence. Paradoxically, colonization also gave a
boost to the Wolof language whose speakers were the first to enter in contacl

---

-vii-
with the colonial masters 2) The speech of the young men and the apparent
progressive loss of Pulaar in the community are the direct results of the
policies, including linguistic policies, that started with colonialism and were
carriecl on after independence. As Wolof and French gained prestige nation-
wide, PuJaar lost its local prestige among these people.

---

· "
~. . '
TAIIU~ (W CONTENTS
Page
Ac I: 11(,\\V le dg l11e i11 S
IV
AI1 SI r act
v
List of Tahles
Xll
jvlap
1.0 Chapkl' onc: Langu<l,:e contact: A general ovei"view
J
\\ ",,
1.1. Defining the problem anu Review 01" the litel"atul'c
I
1 ) The Sludy
2
1j
Definitions
3.,
J 51
Cor!e-mixll1g
J
li2 CoLle-switclllng
4
I j j Lexlcal-swllching
5
I j. ''I. 1nlerfel'e nce
5
J.:ij flnrrnwing
8
I Ij Outline nf Ihe dis~erlallon
1 \\
2.0. Chaplel" 2: The Reseal'ch selling
12
2 I.
c;eograpl1Y
12
21. \\ Local ion and ad Ininisli'ative divisions
12
,
2.1.2. The
-,
area of study
, .)
213 The people
14
2.1.4. Economy
14
22. lli~lory
15
2.2.1. The pre-colnl1lal !'el'iod
15
222. The colonial period
10
223 Tile post-colonial pCl'iod
21
2.3 Summary
21
,)11. CharJlel' ,) The sOl:i"lil1gtli~tic ~itll;l(inl1 :
a I1ls(ol"lcal pel'sped/ve
~), 1. The pro-colonial period
3,2 Tile colonial period
26
33, The Pos[-colonial period
38
j l j l,anguage contact ill nal1ga an,1 :-;ec!fI
43
}5, Alllj\\1\\ the lan\\lu,tges
<i ')
i51. Pul:l<J!' and \\'V"I,,!"
.cl 5

---

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,
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-IX -
3S .1. fJllono!og\\'
46
III Pulaar
46
ai Tli(; VoIV'"
4(,
1 ,vqelil
h) The cumonanl system
47
1\\1 IV olof
48
a) The: vuwcl ~:YS1Cl\\l
h) Tlw cun~:on~\\ni sy~:ll:m
'(J
~ ,
:i ~ I 2 ilful'p!iology
~[)
.,\\ 1.2. I . ~un1l' C1I1\\1mun r(;[11 ul'e~'
511
:,S 121.1. t\\fflxalion
~(j
.;51.2.1.2. Cum puund In!{
5 i
3.'\\,1.2.1.::;. Hecluplic,!lion
52
351.21.4. Consonant altel'nation
52
3S 1.2.1 S Noun CL1~' ::/,IC niS
53
.551.2.2. Some llil'lcrenccs
55
, ~ 1 ' ~
,) ....1.,ynlax
56
.1513.1. Non-empl1atic declill'allve sentences
56
.151.3.2. Emphatic sentenc(;s and focus marking
~9
351.33 Olber constructions
6 I
.1.5.2. Cuntrasting Fr(;nch with Pulaar and Wolof
65
352 j Phonology
(J5
" ,) '/
).,'_._' 'I'
!v urp I10Iugy
66
] - 2 'z
•
t
. )
.J. :-iyn.ax
6ri
;J6 Summary
69
'i.n. Cllapter '1: Metl1Oclolngy
71
'i./ . Field wor!;
7 j
'11.1. Entering the comrnunjtiL:~;
71
4.1.2. Data collection
73
'1.1.21. The monitored COI1\\'(;rsaliom
7,)
'1,122 I nterviews anti group recordings
74
4 I.2 2,1. The inlel'views
74
41.2.22 The grDup r(;cordings
79
4.13 The subjects
3 I
4.2. T11C tlata
84
1,3 Coding
85
4.3.1. T1180retjcal assumptions
85
4,32 Faclors anti factor [,I'OUj1S
95
4.4. ~1I1111l1ary
(.Jti

---

- \\ ..
SiJ Chapter 5: (iuanlilallve: Analvsl'i
1ii iI
'i.I. The cruss-lallulaliolls
I ilD
5.1. I. Age factol' group
100
5.1.2 ~,LllI'ix ancl cmbedc\\e:d lan,(ual(cs
) 1' 1
u~
51.2.1. tdall'ix languar;cs
102
5.1.2.2. 1:ll1beclc\\ed languages
103
') J :> (;rammatical <:alegorie~;
1114
5: 1.4. Open anel closed classses
10)
)2. Tile: slalisllc<l'1 Re~lI.J1ts
107
5:2.1. [Iurrllwing
108
5:2 J. J. First rUll
)03
5212. Second fun
108
5.22 Lexical-switching
I 1(I
5221. Fir~;t run
11 :)
.'1222. SecrJncl run
11!)
52} Cocle:-swilclllng
I J2
5j Discussion of lIle l'e:~;Ulls
I I 3
)31. About the socioll)gical factor"
1 I 3
5.12 About the lingui"lic [ilc/ors
119
532.1. Lexical-slvilcl1ing
11')
S}22 Cocle-switching
J 2(,
54 Summary
12(1
(,.11. lntecprcling the resulb Ivlth cespeCl to
1" )
J_
lan\\wage planning and language poJicv
6.1. Deflll l tions
61.1. Language planlling
132
6.12 Language policy
62. Language pLlnnlng :lI1el language policy
in Senegal: a brief review
J35
6.21. '['l1e pre-colonial PCl'loc\\
US
62.2. The colonial periocl
Ill>
6.2.21.'Ihe colonial policies
1J /
(,.2.2,2 ()Ihel' C<)111jkling language planoing el'l'c<rls
US
(;2221. Tl1e )\\[uslim leacler,hip
U3
(,22.:2. The western trained inlclljgent~iia
IY)
6222..'1. Af<P ancl the language is~;ue
117
(,2.:1 The posl-colonial er,l
, .1 Cl
j
••
63'1111: OU1COI11l; or language planrlll1\\j ancl policy
IS6
['<1.1 PI'e-inelc[1endence policies and Ihe: creation or the elite
15G
6j2. The pl1enomenon or the del'c!<.'pll1enl of \\Volol'
158
i.

---

.- \\ 1-
I<)j I~JdIO broadc~l~:ling as a lool 1'01- language development
162
11.4. Tile effects of language planning on language conuCl
164
114.1. School as a vehicle 01' language policies
165
(,42 Wolof Prestige as an inhibiting factor
166
6.5 Summary
168
7.11 COI1ClilSiol1s
]71)
l1ih!Jugraphy
177
,
,, .

---

LISI' (11' I' /\\ BLES
Table
'1IIl:""l"
._'
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IOU
4.
I'Ju mber of tokens by spe<:cll-Ilm<:
1C! j
IVlalrix language <1[1,1 code-li1lxing
1112
103
7.
GrammatIcal CJlegOrJes ancl cl),le-mlX1ng
IUS
o.
Open/closed c!asses and cOele-mixing
10(,
fJ
I',orrmving' \\ SI run
1118
! 11
iOS
1\\
f,exical-swilcl1ing: I H run
I I [J
12
l.exical->wilching 2ncl run
! 10
, "
f ,J
Code - s"'/] I ch I ng
J 1 )
.~
1'1
162
15
'1'1 me of c1ally broadcasts
163

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INTfml)UCT ION
LallljUage c"nlaCl phenomena haVe h<1d <1I"J impOt'l,1Il1 place in It'lt: fie:lcl
"f linl;uistics since its inceptiun. i\\t firsl. lhe only pl1enomcnon Sllldi("d W,iS
b')['"JWing (see for exampk
Sapil' 1CJ23; Bloomfield 1933; P'lugen, 1950
ele I. TI1en, Weinreicil ( 105:11 Il1<'[«'5 a distinction hetween harrowing a-nd
I ,
"j 1\\ Le r ferc nce'.
AltlliJugh terms such as "mixll.lrc",'aclmiXlure" are founel 111 some of
thesc earlicl' wOt'l:s, they \\'-'crc generally used as alternate
term3 to
borrowing. It IS only in tile 1970s that we begin to see an increased
sophistication li\\ the dislinctlOn among the val'ious types of pl-lenomena
subsullled under the rubric of
"language contact"
In rctrospect, tbough,
some of Weimcicil's( 1953) examples 01' illlel'ference, clea:'Iy belong to wllat
is now caJleel code-mixing by some (JI' code-switching by others (sec bciow)
Tilt:
extraordinary illCt'ease of
inlerest in syntactic: issues, in the
wa~e of what one migbt call1lJe Chol\\lskyan revolution also brought ahout a
renewed inlHtot in language contact. Linguists were partiCUlarly interested
. in tl\\e: W<l'iS tl-ll' grall\\mars uf two l<lnl~u,lges accol\\ll1\\ucl,lle 10 each (jtbl~r
(Tim tl1 I97'i: Pfaff 1979; Sankofr and Pop lack 1980 intcr ,1lia ), especially
where phrase structure rules Jlrc different. lids led to questions aboul tile
constrainls on mixing 1<lllguages, bilin,lu,,1 competence and performance, and
eve,( the nature of the bijingual grammar ilseif (Tim[\\\\ 1975; Pfarf 1979;
Sankofr el a11980: Woo]fo,u 1983; Doronl983; .loshi, 1983 elc.!. At the same
time, intet'est in borrowing slarted to dwindle because Joanwords are said to
have no pilrllCular relevancc to Ihc: sludy of grammar. The argument about

---

!o<\\Il\\l,'orcls IS that
they lJave become
part and parcel of the borrowing
language system and therdore clo not, strictly spca[dng, involve the
i,
grammars of t\\l/O languages.
New terms were coined to renecl the nC\\\\.' focus of inter'25l. The terms
coue-mixlng, cocle-switching, code-shifting etc, were
conceived to describe
specific processes that involve the spontaneous mixing of the grammars of
two ur more languages by a bi- or multilingual.
1.2 The stucl~
Il is my interesl in issues such as the ones described above that led
me \\0 engage in the presenl stUdy of two bilingual communities in northern
Senegal, \\\\"est Africa. The [leople live in two areas (known respectively as
Nanga in tile west and Seclo in the eaq) Wllich are
about 100 miles ap,H't .
The t\\liO languages in contact are Woluf and Pulaar l
Wolof is the first
language of the sUbject~; and PuJaar is the majority language in the ?rea, and
the second language at' some of tile subjects.
The geographical location or these Wolof speakers is such thar
bilingualism in the two languages was, to Ill',' judgment, something natural
to
eX[leCl from tlle Wolof min()ritv 2 It was also expected that such
bilingualism woulcl engender certain language contact phenom.ena such as:
language convergence or language shift, bon'owing, interference, code-
switching f;te, (Weinreicil 1953: Poplaek 1979, 1985; Sankoff 1980; Gumperz
1082: r.,'!uugeon ~t al 1985 among others).
'The per,plc spc::aking the l:lnguagi.'s are n:spertively kllf1\\Vll as WoID] (same fl.:.~ the.
Jangu"g" I and IlaaJ-Pulaal'-8J\\ (lilct'ally, "llH'S8 '11tH, Sl,tal( Pu!a'lI." l.
CTht situation of the subjects bear some resemblance with that of the Perta Ricans in
Nt\\\\' YorJ: CilY as well as that of llle French in the Or.lario Province of Canada. studied
t,y Shana POl'lacl;.

---

However, my research soon revealed that the situation is much more
complex than expected. A clear difference appeared between the young
people and the older people. I found that only the older people are bi-lingual
in WoJof-Pulaar. The young people hardly speak Pulaar, but tend to speak
Wolof mixed with French, or tend to switch between Wolof and French.
As tile consequence of this surprising finding I decided
not only to
look al the contact phenomena but also to try and relate my observations to
the globallinguislic situation, by looking at language planning and langLlage
.l,
policy in the country.
In this project, therefore, I will be mainly looking at code-mixing
(especially code-switching, lexical-switching, interference and borrowing)
not as an end in itself but as a window on
the type of relationship that
exists between the Wolof, Pulaar and French langLlages in the
two
communities and nation-wide (See Woolard 1989). Before
that, however,
definitions of some terms used above with repect to contact phenomena are
in order. The terms language planning, language policy will be dealt with in
cha pter 6.
1.3. Definitions
1.3.1 Code-mixing
Note that the term "code-mixing" is used here as a neutral, geneflc
term (see also Mohamed,1989) simply describing the phenomenon Whereby
a given bilingual speaker uses elements from two different languages in
his/her utterances/sentences. The ter ms code-switching , borrowing, and
interference will thus be lhree distinct terms used in a technically specific
way to refer to
different types of code-mixing. Note however that some

---

'I
linguists like
Bokamba( 1988) propose an opposite view following Kachru
(1978, 1982) and Srielhar et al (1980l.
h
I personally e10 not think that any of these nametags is inherently
betler than the other. Even though reserving coele-mixing to intra-sentential
switching anel coele-switching to inter-sentential code-switching may appear
more economical, in that it does not necessitate having recourse to qualifying
terms,
it cannot he proved that such a distinction is intrinsically more
accurate than the other terms in use Le intra-sentential and inter-sentential
code-switching (see Poplack, 1979 and following; PintZllk et al (1984),
Woolford 1983; Doron 1983; Nishimura 1983; Joshi 1983 etd
As
Haugen( 1950)
notes,
the
term
code-mixing
itself
describes
inappropriately
the
phenomenon
it
is
supposed
to
describe,
since
components of a mixture are in principle unrecoverable. Clearly this is not
the case with language mixing as various components of a mixed sentence
remain identifiable and can easily he traced back to the contributing
languages. This is to say tl1at it is all a maller of convention here. The only
important thing is to make oneself clear enough so that the terminology one
uses poses no problem of conversion of terms from one model to another.
Thus I will continue to use the term coele-mixing as defined above and the
other terms to be dealt with below.
13.2. Coele-switching
For the definition of code-switching I will adopt that given by Pop lack
(1985):
"a smooth transition between Ll and L2 elements, unmarked by
false starts, hesitations or lengthy pauses." Note that we are dealing here
with intra-senlential code-switching. Such a phenomenon is characterized as
follows:

---

code-switching is a verbal skill requiring a large degree
of linguistic competence in more than one language
rather than a defect arising from deficient knowledge
of the other (Poplack, 1979,72)
Although Poplacks defil1ltion may seem a little restrictive it has the
advantage of clearly drawing a line between code-switching, limited
linguistic competence and interference (see below), jnter alia.
However, if
the leading criterion is compelence, the above quotation c10es not make
a
clear distinction belween code-switching and borrowing. It is generally
accepted that borrowing tou requires some level of competence in the two
languages on the part of the original bilingual borrowers ( Hermann
Paul,1886 quoted
by
IJaugen, 1950.21 0).
Furthermore.
the
amounl
of
competence necessary for a bilingual to qualify as a code-switcher still
remains to be determined.
133 Lexical switching,
This term is used by Vallduvj( 1987) to distinguish switching that
involves only lexical elements. I will come back to this term in more detail
in cbapter 4.
134
Interference
The use of the term "jnterfel'ence" can be traced at least as far back
as tile early 1950s. Weinreich (1953: I ) used it to refer to "those instances
of deviation from the norms of either language which occur in the speech of
bilinguals as a result of their familiarity with more than one language ......
However. the term interference
really gained prominence from the late
1950s to the late 1970s, when appliec! linguists and foreign language
teachers started to research tile elfects of [, I on L2 learning
(Lado, 1957,
I)

---

River~, 1961; Corder,1971; james,1980; Dulay, Burt, Krashen, 1982; Ellis,1985
inleLillia). In this dissertation, I am using it in a somewhat more restricted
sense, defining it as
a kind of code-mixing caused by either a limited
knowledge of the L2 or by memory lapse or other processing breakdowns;.
We see here an
important difference between interference and code-
switching in
that the former has negative connotations. It seems to indicate
the occurrence of something undesirable since it
highlights the subject's
limited control over the process.
Two opposing views regarding second language learning J acquisition
evolved from various research projects. The first is that learning a language
is a form of habit formation, and, whenever we learn new habits, the old
ones intrude, resulting in "positive transfer", i.e, "facilitation" or "negative
transfer" i.e "error". In this framework error was seen
as something
negative that must
be corrected before the learner acquires "bad habits".
This vie\\v was associated with behaviorism in psychology and structuralism
in linguistics. A second view developed in the 1970s ancl early 1980s
disputes the belief that making errors is necessaril}'
negative On the
contrary, learners' errors can be seen as a way for learn~rs to cope with
tbeir limited knowledge, a "communicative strategy" so 10 speak, a strategy
which is part and parcel of the learning process This last view is basically
cognitive, and owes a lot to Chomsky's earlier work on linguistic competence
as well as to sociolinguists like
lIymes (Eru mfit et al, eds, 1979) , for
example. When
sociolinguists interested in language contact phenomena
I.,
now lalk of interference they do not use the term with as much precision as
31 am aware of the fact that some writers might not agree with my definition of
inlcrfcrcncc hut for the problems r am dealin~ willl I feel it is the closest cover term [
C;ln USe.

---

7
the scholars from Applied Linguistics did. Nevertheless, it is sti11 the case
that interference is viewed negatively as it represents some kind of
abnormality.
As stated earlier, interference does not need to always be the result of
"deficient knowledge"; it may sometimes be the result of memory lapse, or of
other language processing problems To illustrate this, I will present a
sentence that I produced while interviewing for my field-work. I was
speaking to a group of young bilingual students (Wolof-French) with some
passive or semi-active knowledge of Pulaar. Although all these students
learned English at school, it \\vas not however a language I intended to use at
all in this context, but I found myself producing the following sentence,
which was of course immediately repaired.
I Lima begge del' rek naa leen ASK ENFlN--EUJI £[lfIfJEJ11ANfJER
ay ay ay ()[!ESTJON.-~~ POSER ay ()[llYTJ(J,;v..m'l-6/88 103 11 )
All J want to do is 10 !)sl: weII--er er ask some some some
questions, pose some questions
Here we have
an interesting mixture of three languages where the
setting
allowed only two (viz. Wolof and French). The English verb
(underlined tipper case)
popped in unexpectedly and caused me a jot of
trouble afterwards. But switching between Wolof or other nalionallanguages
and French (upper case italics) and vice-versa is a common way of speaking
for many Senegalese, especially the educated ones. The mixed Wolof is
commonly known as "Saint-Louis Wolof" (Saint-Louis was also the former
capj[;JJ of Senegal, where Wolof and French came into contact as early as the
171h century). As slaled earlier, today lhis speech mode is representative of
city speech.
\\,

---

:: ~
'l"
- ' " ,
•
,
. .~ , -;..
·r
8
The use of English here was clearly caused by interference of my
fourth language (English) into my usual mixture of my second and third
languages. This not only illustrates the difference between code~switching
and interference, but also raises the question of whether or not interference
is unidirectional, especially in the case of a person who has a reasonably
good command of the languages involved. Notice also that the phrase
"demander une question" is a direct calque of the English phrase "to ask a
question" whereas the correct French phrase is "[lOS~r un~lJestion". This is
another indication that the above sentence is undoubtedly marked by
interference. Anothet' explanation could be convergence but obviously there
is no convergence between
French and English in the area under
consideration. Let us now turn to borrowing.
13.5 Borrowing
Borrowing tS
tbe best known and probably the first studied of the
tllree phenomena. Mention of it is found in Ilermann Paul in the 19th
century (Haugen , op. till Sapir (1923) and Dloomfield (1933) have also
written about it. In fact, there is some indication that the term was used as
a generic term for the various phenomena of language mixing today
classified under separate headings. After giving the reasons why the use of
the term "mixture" is inappropriate to describe mixing the elements of two
i)
languages in a contact situation, Haugen writes:
for the reasons here given, the term "mixture" is not used
in the present discussion. It may have its place in a popularized
presentation of the IJroblem, but in technical discussion it is
more usefully replaced by the lerm "borrowing" ... (1950:211 )
In other wnrd~. fcw llaugcn the term "mixture" or mixing, as we call it
nowadays, was a laymen's term. llaugen (ibid) proceeds to define the term

---

\\{.:
,".
",' .
9
borrowing but not before noticing that in fact the term is itself as "inept" as
the term mixture is to translate lhe phenomenon
He then writes the
following:
The heart of our definition of borrowing is then THE ATTEMPTED
REPRODUCTION INONE LANGUAGE OF PATTERNS PREVIOUSLY FOUND
IN ANOTHER.
(p212) (Autho(s emphasis).
It appears from the above ljuotation that he does not distinguish
between borrowing and what otber people have called transfer/interference
or what became to he known later as code-switching. To be fair to Hallgen
however, one has to admit thal he lIses another criterion,
the lIse of the
foreign element bv monolinguats, to define borrowing; and this clearly
excludes both interference and code-switching since monolingual speakers,
by definition, know only one coele. Since this article was written, there have
been conlinuing attempts to provide the term borrowing with a more
rigorous definition
Poptack
~L_( 1984:10 I) remark
that,
apart
from
linguislic
"integration" , there is also "the sociological process of acceplation" to help
determine "borrowing".
Using ljuantitative methods Poplack et al (1984)
I)
show how borrowings can be distinguished from the other phenomena
mentioned earlier. Two criteria stand out as being particularly imporlanl: I)
frequency of use and 2) morpho-phonological integration. The first relates to
how often an element belonging to the L2 occurs in Ll discollfse. The second
has to clo wilh lhe use of lhe foreign element in a way lhat looks or sounds
like elements of the host language (i e the LI) Although these two criteria,
tugelher (Jr separately, have long heen recognized as essel1lial in identifying
horrow ings (see I1 augen ,1950; Weinreich ,1953; Scot ton, 1987 for exam pie l,
Poplack et aL
(1984) are 10 my knowledge the firsl writers to use
quantitative methods to characterize borrowing.

---

10
In this study, I have adopted these two criteria to distinguish
borrowings from the other two phenomena. The difference between my view
and that expressed in Poplack et al resides,however, in the fact that they
seem to posit both criteria as necessary conditions for their classification,
whereas it is possible to show from my data that some elements represent
examples of borrowing on the basis of frequency alone. Furthermore, certain
phrases have been found to appear in both Nanga and Sedo. A case in point
is the frequent use of the Pulaar phrase "ala e sago/ala)' sagQ" (Le. not by
will, i.e. 'like it or loathe it" or "willy nilly") in both areas. The use of this
expression and others seem to obey the principle of "Olot~juste" suggested by
~fRIC~/,y~
Poplack (1985), since 10 translate tllis expression"i1t,Wo[Of'~ne)has to use a
~'Ir
\\>:'1.
l,
whole sentence ("mu neex la mba mu naxadi la',: 1it~r.'1l11Yi'1 pl~'~ses you or
, \\
~/ ig
it displeases you"). Additionally, the criterion of integration islasimittedly the
"~9
least reliable of the tWO since integration may b~""'\\{'::.t;[,se·d~bY the younger
generation whose better or limited knOWledge of the "lending" language mal'
bring them to pronounce already borrowed elements in a way similar or
different to the natives of the language in which the borrowings originated 4
Nevertheless, no one would think of discarding such elements as legitimate
4 Note that I am referring here to a general observation not necessarily related to the
present proiecl. An example of thIS "'ould be when an educated Haal-puJaal' sal'S
"tollam assiette 0"
rather than "tottam tasa 0". The Pulaar term "tasa" is the integrated
form of tbe French word "assietle". This is a very frequent phenomenon among
educated bilinguals. I bave observed the same with Arabic borrowin~s. In Pulaar-
WoloC mixing I have fOllnclthe reverse happening with the younger people among our
sull/ects. Whereas the older people. 45 years and more. pronounce Pulaar words in a
"'ay closer to Pubar native speakers. the YOllnger people whose bdingllalism is
shifting toward Wolllf-French sometimes have a less Pulaar-like pronunciation of
Pulaar items For example. I fuund two renderings of the Pulaar expression "bolle
puyDe" = "nonsense" . One pronounced as just written. and tbe other as "boUe puyDo"
Only the first one is correct in the context The second form happened lo be produced
by a yOllnger person while the former appeared many times in the language of the
young as well as the middle aged and older people. The important point here. however,
is that regardless of Whether or not ph',n<llogical integration obtains. it is not a reliable
criterion for determining borrowing due to its potential instability.

---

· .
~
. '
~~1~~~~'~}~r~~~'~~~??~~:!;~j1t~~;{~~:i~~~~~~~fi~~~1~ifJ~?i~~~~~¥.i·~~'~·~t;
1 I
borrOWings. Note that here I am maml)' in10l"eSled in diachronic borrO'.lling.
!laving delineated the aspects of language contact that my study ,viII focus
on, let me now present a brief outline of the stud)'.
1.4. Outline of the dissertation
The study has seven chaplers. Chapter one is the present introductory
chapler. Chapler 2 js about the setting It deals mainly with geography and
history.
Chapler
3 gIVes
some
preliminary
information
about
the
sociolinguistic situation. 11 21s() contrast the systems of the three languages in
contact, ie. Wolof, Pulaar, French. Chapter 4 deals with methodology. It
describes
the
approaches followed
from
the
data
collection
to
the
preparation for the statistical study of the results. Chapter 5 presents the
quantitative analysis of the data, followed by a discussion of the results.
CI1apter 6 lool.:s at language planning and language pollcy 10 explain some of
the ohsel"v,l1ions made in chapter 5. In conclusion, Chapter 7 sums up the
findings uC the rcscMch pruJccl, and spells out its contributions

---

1.2
TIlE [{ESEA RCII SETTI NG
2.1.0cllgIMll1y:
2.1.1. L,!~,\\Li(JlUlr,-,LA,lmin!gC;l\\lVCn!'{i-~i[lll
n,is research is set in the West ,Mt'iean state of SenegaL Senegal is
l,ie,Hell between tl'le II th JnLl the 17 th llJi"allels west anLl the 12th and the
1(1\\1'1
,"hlrallL:ls nOl'th, The cl)untry spI'eads 'lOO kilonleters from nonh to
SI)lIth Jncl ()OO LilonJt:ters from east 10 west, covering a surface of about
20()()()O sqllal'e kilometers, It borLlers on Mauritania in the north, Mali in the
edst, GlIinea-Conakry in the South-East, Guinea-Iiissdu in lhe south. Also in
the SI)Ullt, the I\\epublic or 111e GJll1hi'l is wedged inlo SenegJI, JlviLling the
lattel' into two parts. In tbe west, Senegal hordel's ,)n the Atlantic ocean
along about 500 l-.:i1onlelers of coastlillC, (Dialo,l 9834)
The population of Senegal \\vas estimated in 1982 at about (),ono,ooo
IDialo, lbidJ . Over h'llf of the poulati,)n livecl in 10 towns, with the Capital
citv DaLar claiming about 2/3 of the [(ltal urban population, The cCllllllry is
verv unevenly 1"J(IIHllaled, This prn\\)ltm is compounded by the recent
tendency fur PCHX fal'l1wrs ancl jt)hless peorde to move into the big cities,
cSI-,cci"lly Dakat', in sC'lrch I)f a bdlel' life. The population is rathcr young:
mOl'e than SOl: 'lI'e under 20 veal's of age. The countl'Y compt"ises about 20
ethnic gt'ClllPS and slIl'l"gl'tJUPS ,lillClllg which three 'lI'e dominant in term of
Ilumb"rs t \\vill come: b,ld; ICI thiS issue in lhe snciolinguistic section
At least three: qU,ll't"I'S of the poplllatilln are mainly invc,[vecl In
b
sul-,sislence f'lrming, although tilt: central area was introduced
to cash
(',lUlling sineI.' thl.' I r)th ccntlll"\\' and has been, until recently, predominantly
involved In peanuI pl'oduClion, tile lHain clsll C['op of the countt'y,

---

Senegal is prese11l1y divided into ten administrative provinces. They
are: Dal:ar lalso tile national capi!al!, lhies, ~aolack, Diourbel, Saint-Louis,
Zlguinchor, TamlJa-Counda, Louga, f'atjcK and Kolcla. Each of these prL'vinces
is divided Into Depal'tments I.DellilLlements), the Departments into Districts
I, Arcondissements), and the districts into [{ura! Communities lCommunautes
1l~!LJJ',?~I, Note tllat all 'ldministl·ativ'..; ,1reas in Senega! have the names of
their cdpital t()\\\\'ns.
2.! .2. JJle Area of:2.w<'L~
We ,m, mainly concerned !lere about the Saint-Louis province which is
located In the nonb. It spreads along the River Senegal which presently
represents the natural as well as political border between Mauritania and
Senegal
The River itself, however, runs lhrough four countries: Guinea-
Conal;ry, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal. The Senegal River originates from the
llills of Fuuta .Ialon in Guinea and ends in tile Atlantic Ocean at Saint-Louis
The Saint-Louis province has four Departments: Saint-Louis, Dagana,
Podor and Matam. In tbe present study tbe focus will be on an area located
in the middle section of tbe Saint-Louis prOVInce, more commonly kno\\\\'n as
Fuula Tooro, today corresponding roughly to the Departments of Podor and
Matam. Note that traditionally ruuta Tooro is said to lie between Dagana in
Ihe lveSt and Dembanl:ane in tile East Isee ~:ane ~t aI., 1(84)
More specifically, I am interested in two groups of \\\\/olof-speaking
people who live 111 and around the two villages of Nanga and Sedo
respectively,
111
the Departments of Podor and Ivlatam (see map). Tile
intel'est t!lat Nanga and Sedu holds 1'01' us is that they are both populated by
people of \\Volor origl11 living deep inside the Fuuta '1'001'0 area, which
IS
predominantly lIaal-Pulaar. Mme WIll be said about Nanga and Sedo later.

---

I -1
2.1.) The PeoQ.]~
Tl1l'ee main ethnic groups Jive In the Saint-I_ouis province. We Ilaw
the Wolof in Ille west or StaJlo, lIle Haa1 Pulaar-en !lltenlly,
[)wre
commonly GlUed Tul:u!oOl-, in the center ai' ruulilTooro, tile Soninl-:e also
l:nown uS Saral-:holle or Sarakolle in the east or GEjaaga and Ngalam Each of
these groups is fail'ly homogeneous, and each has its own language and
CLJ1ture. Jntermarriages between them are very limited in number, especially
in the rural ureas.
2. I A. Econom)1.;
Senegal as a whole is almost exclusively agricultural.
Very few
exploit,lble minerals are found in the country. For a long time the Saint-Louis
Province was the "breadbasket" 01' the country with its two harvests a year.
The lands along the River Senegal were extremely rich and until
I'ecenll)'
were abundantly lI)undated by the overflooding of the River
1; between July and September. The seeds, comprising millet, mai7e, beans, etc,
were SO\\\\ln by the enc! of October and !Iarvestec! by February, ~'larch. During
the rainy season: July to September, other crops were planted in the high
lands l:nown as Jet'i ._away from the flooclccl areas.
This pattern of farming kept the people bUSy all year round, except
during the few monlhs tl1al sepal'Jted tlle first harvests from the planting
period of the rainy season. The area was also famous for its grazing pastures
and the importance of Its cattle population. In addition, the River was
abundantly stocked by n,)\\ure "!lIh all kinds of fish. Thus agriculture,
Glulebl'ccdll1G and fishing \\Vere people's main actiVities.
The relative abundance that the Rivet' Valley enjoyed ensured its
econ'Jmic Indcpenclencc and at the s,lme lime made illln obJect or envy from
ils neighb(lrs in the 110rlh tMaul'itanill, Moruccol ns well as those in the south

---

IS
I.lhe \\\\Tolof kingdom of jolof, In particular L However, from 1968 until 1987
the area expel'ienced a t€'rl'ible
cycle of drought that hit very hard and
changed the ecology dramatically and pel'llaps irreversibly.
2. 2.lU.~toL)I:
The llistory of what IS now known as Senegal can be divided, like the
I'cst of the :HI'ican continenl,
Into pl'e-colonial, colonial and post-colonial
times.
2.2. l. Eee-colonial neri01
The pro-colonial times could be divided between Antiquity and post-
.;ntlquity. Concel'ning the former the most compelling thesis still remains
tllal developed by the late Pr. Cheikh Anta Diop that basically relates the
I.)
111,1c!: Afl'ican Civilizations to Ancient Egypt \\see for example Diop, 1974;
197 7; 1987 which are translations of works published much earlier in
french). Diop locales the ol'lgin of the present inhabitants of Senegal in the
east. The more recent times, ie. tile middle ages, were mainly described in
Wrttings Ill' Arab and Portuguese historians and explorers (see Diop, 1987
for example; (I'ow(\\er, 10(8).
It is generally agreed that the pl'esent inhabitants of the Senega! River
Valley, tile Haal-Pulaar-en, in pal'llcular, have been the1'e for the last 2000
yeJi's. Some of these writers even suggest that t!le I-Iaal-Pulaar-en are
originally from t!lat area. For example, Kane QLJ!l (1984:1) write
that "the
lingUistic evidence also suggests tllat this I'egion may be the birthplace, of
the fulbe l people"
A slightly different vie\\\\-' 1S found in Arnott I, 1970: 1,1
",ho wrlles:
IDD\\.!£ is Ihe plural of fuLh '111d is Ij'~j1Slal(;d in Ell gljsh as rulani and sometimeS rub
rdering to the ethnic grrillp. As suggc,;18d by ArnM[ (1070), it is more accurate la
re,;erve (ile t~rm Fu!;] for the language and 1'u\\an; for the people The peuple
Lhem,;elves refer 10 Ihemselves as Fulhe andlo Iheir language as l'Jllaar or Fulfulde. The
- - - - -

---

Fllla IS Ihe lan~llage lit tile Flllani, lile nUl1ladlC call1e-
ownel's of \\V est Mrica, WllOSC unknown orJgins have
provided a fruitful field of speculation for lhuse so
inclined , and f1rol1lpled
lheories of relationship to
peoples as diverse as the Ancient Egyptians, the biblical
Phut, the Dasqucs, and the Dravidians of India. Now, after
centuries of gradual movement, mainly in an easterly
direction, from an early habilat which seems to have
been somewhere in the eastern part of what is now
Senegal or the western part of present Mali, they are
found lllroughout a wide band of West Africa, roughly
between lhe 10th ancl 15th parallels and extending from
Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea on the Atlantic, through Mali
Upper Voltal Burkina Fasol, Niger, and northern Nigeria to
Chad and Ca meroon, while the fringes of the dispersion
are to be found in southern MaurHania, northern Sierra
Leone and Ghana, in Dahomey [ Beninl, and as tar east as
the Sudan.
These various p'lints or view al)out the fulani or Haai-Pufaar-en atone
illustrate the diffictJ!l)' of wriling about. African hist.ory in general This is so
because mOSI African cultures are of oral tradition and therefore most
Africans never cam mitted their Ilistory to writing. History was stored in
peoples' memories and was passed on down, gradually diluted, if not lost in
1.1
tile mysteries of legends and esoteric stories.
For our present concern, we should simply keep in mind that in pre-
colonial times a number of kingdoms, some of them very famous, were built
lliIal~P\\llaar-ellmentioned above are a subgroup of the EJ.!l.!& with whom they share nol
only the language but also a common history. The real history of these people is still
unknowo as explaioed in the quotation by Arnolltsee next page). However, Cheikh
An la Diop (I974) claims Ihat they came from An cien I Egypl like alllh e olher Wesl
African groups. He further asserts thattbe ~and the lIaal-Pulaar-en tor Tukuloorl
of Northern Senegal are two distinct groups. Another theory is that the Haal-Pulaar~en
are the resull of intermarriage between the FlIlbeJi.e. Fulani), a fair-skinned people,
and other dark skinned populations that they found along the Senegal River, especially
the Sereer. The FlIlaoi are basically cattle~breedorsand have a nomadic life. The
Tukuloor group( a more widely used oame for the l!aat~PlIjaar~eo) however. although
inVOlved in callle breeding lOO, lead asedenlMian life and pt'actice various other
activities such as farmin~, fishing etc.

---

17
in the area under study. Among those we can mention the Empire of Ghana
from the Ist
to about I1 th centllry of the Christian era (C.E,); the Empire of
Mali in the 14th century; the Kingdom of Tekruur also written Takrur which
is said to derive its name from the Tukuloor (c. A. Diop, 1974:192), another
term of reference for the lJaal-Pulaar-en of Fuuta Tooro, as noted above.
It is not clear to me but it is probable that the area under study was
some kind of province of the above mentioned kingdoms. At any rate Diop
(1974) indicates that the Wolof Kingdom of Cayor was at a certain point in
time a province of the Ghana Empire Given the fact that our area of interest
lies half-way between Cayor and what was then the center of the Ghana
Empire, it is logical to assume that tbe whole of the northern part of the
present Senegal must have been part of the Ghana Empire. Another
argument in support of this is that tll'~ Soninke people, presently located in
norhtern Senegal and southern Mauritania, are known to be related to the
rulers, at the time, of Ghana (Calvet, 1(74)
However, Kane ~u!l (1984) also inform us .that the kingdom of Takrur
"was contemporary" to that of Ghana (op. cil., p.2); they further explain that
I)
"the Mediterranean geographers locate the Muslim state or Takrur in or close
to the middle valley in the I1 th century", which complicates the matter since
we are not quite sure whether Takrur was an independent state from or a
vassal state of Ghana and also how different the populations in Ghana and
Takrur were Further, we learn from Colvin( 1981) that Tekruur (Takrllr) was
created in the 4th century C.E. and that its king War jabi converted to Islam
in the II tll century and "launched Jihad lLe. Holy wal'l against non-muslim
nelghbors" . In her "Chronology of Important Events" we can also read that
between the 12th and 14th centuries Tekruur was absorbed by the Empire of

---

18
JoJof. Jolof was thus the first W010f Kingdom that dominated the north as
well as the Center and western parts of the present Senegal.
With the decline of the Empire of Ghana, the various provlDces must
have seceded into smaller Kingdoms. This would explain for example the fact
that from the 14th century IC.E.) Kl11gdoms such as Jolof were created (see
also Diagne,
1971: 11), 2 The Empire of Jolof was later dismembered
beginning from the end of the 15th century, with independence claimed by
the Kayoor (or Kajoorl and the Bawol on the one hand, the Waalo and the
Fuuta Tooro on the other.
As for Fuuta Tooro, the area that concerns LIS, it came under the rule
of a non-Muslim Fulalli clan known as the Denyankobe in thel6th century
(CE.) . At the same time the wealth of the area excited the appetites of
Moroccan and Mauritanian Arabo-llerbers who regularly attacked and
plundered the area for food and slaves. These various exactions inspired a
significant resistance on the part of the victimized peoples. In this respect
Kane tlJ!1 lop. cit.) comment:
The local resent ment crystallIzed in small communities
bound together by allegiance to Islamic piety and learning.
By the 1760s these groups, in the face of the exactions of
the Deenyanke and the raids from the north, organized
themselves
into
a
resistance
movement.
Under
the
leadership of Sileymani Baa!, they launched the Islamic
revolution which in turn gave birth to the regime called
the Alffij!maagill or Almamate (from Arabic al-imaam, "the
one who leads in prayer") (op cit, pJ)
2Nok that Jolof is the rc~io1\\ immediately south of Fuuta Tooro and at least one of the
groups under study, Le the people from Sedo, trace their origin to Jolof. Oral tradition
also has it thallhe people from Nanga or alleasl a party of them had sojourned in JoloC
from their original habitat in Xomaatlocated in present Maurilania, before returning
to their presenllocation

---

I ':J
From th'Jt time on FuutJ Too"o \\I/oulcl be,;11l a new era of history
marked by the iclentiricalion or the, lLl~l!-Pu!aar-en with Is!~\\nL They in fact
became the bannel' calTiers or Islam in West Mrica as illustrated by tile
establishment in the 19th century CL of Islamic states in present clay
northern Nigeria and present day Mali by two sons of Fuuta 'fooro,
I'espectively UsmaJn Uan Foclio ancl AIlIaj) Umar T<laJ. In Fuuta Tooro itself
the Islamic regime lasted, despite internal divisions, until the encl of the
19th century CE, when the tl'ium!)hant French colonia! rule was gt'adual1y
establishecl throughout the lancl,
2,2,2, The co!onlill..f,ffjod
The colonial period can also be divided into lWO pans. The first starts
with the establishment of trade posts along the AtlantIC coast backed with
some tol,:en military gal'I'isons,
The seconcl is the use of those posts to
penetl'ate the interiol' or the territnries that will lJecome the ruture colonies,
J-L de Llnessan (1886) pro",ides the landmad:s concerning
these two
i)
pU'iuds with respect to Senegal lie distinguishes the period befOl'e 1854
during whicl1 what was then known as Senegal (ie, ,1n area roughly
cOl'responding to the pl'esent Saint-Louis PI'ovince, and the Ports of GN!?e
and Da~:ar in the west I could hardly be called a colon)', since the native
people essentiall)' remained independent fl'Om the colonial administration.
[le I.anessan (op, cit.) gives
a vivid depiction of the relations between the
companies and tile indi~~ene(lus popul~1Iions. Basically, tllese
re!atlons
allowed the French tl'adeS01en dt, business under certain conditions, and
with the pr()vi~;i(ln tllat these tradesmen were tu pay certain taxes
to the
local clliefs of the areas they happened to be ill. This uneasy situation lastecl
until! &54, when in response to an IS51 memorandum to the tl1ell Mimster
of the Navy, Ducos, rl'om the cOI11pan)' owners, ol'derecl tile annexation of the

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20
major ports of call along the Senegal f{iver. The businessmen complained
about the "humiliation" and other "bad treatments" to which they were
allegedly subjected, by the indigeneOlls chiefs, and they demanded better
protection from Paris. In response, the trading post of Podor was occupied
by the French troops which subsequently fortified the place. Soon after, a
ministerial orcler was sent to the tllt,n Governor of Senegal, Louis Faidherbe,
a captain in tile engineering corps, 10 enforce the will of France on the local
populations "by persuasion" or "by rorce". The order goes as follows:
.1
We must c1ictate our wIll to the Moorish chiefs with
respect to lhe cam merce of (Arabic) gum Cancet all ports
of call (on the River Senega]) in
1854, use force if
persuasion does not work; cancel all payments of tributes
10 the states along the [{iver, except, as we please, the
LlVors we bestow, as a token of our generosity, on those
chiefs we are happy with. We musk~A'~1asters of the
.A":~ \\ti t: AmE
River ... (de Lanessan, op. eit. 'P..<,!~-tn:
1~ .iJation)3
bel:e~-14'~~~c~.
Afler this OI'c1er, more precisely
'61, the various
-
\\
n-,
-.
.
\\
political enUUes in the area were force cl into signing II'
ljes with the French
colonial administration that virtually brOllgl;tan'eil(f"l~eir independence.
Thereafter,
the new colonial power progressively established itself and
consolidaled its rule.
Onc of the means lIsed was to set up inslitulions like schools that
carried out the pacification without recourse to military means. Furthermore,
the gathering together of various political entities uncleI' a centralized rule
3 "Nous devons dlcter nos voJonles aux chefs maures pour le commerco des gommes. IJ
falll sllprrimer les escales en l854, employer la force si l'on ne pelll rien obtenir par la
persuasion; il faul ~urprinler loullribul paye par nou~ aux Hats du flouve. s3uf a
donner. quanel if HOllS rlaira. quelques rreuves de notre munificence aUK chefs dont
nOlls seront contents. NOlJ$ Jevons elre les suzerains do fleuve,,,"

---

.
,
~~~1i;$'1~t~i~4;~i-:~f~~:f3,~,~1~1;~~J~it.~J~*~0;};&~1j~~$e.:p;-,.r~\\:kt*;'V:\\~t4.;~t>jfi:'t{:,;~7tJj;c·~t:~~1:i;;i;W~iiY~'\\~1~t~1'&#"·;t~~t~i~~4J~~,~4.~~.:i~
2 1
ttlle colonial rulei, and the setllng up of varJOus econOl1llC \\'cntures not only
changed the traditional relations among the peoples in the region but also
i)
[xofoundly affecled tlwir culture;; and their destiny as we shall sec, Tile
importance of establishing
FI'enc!l Education and therefore the French
language wlllllCcome apparent in the next chapter,
\\S 1'01' the post colonial er.I, 1 'lIn not going to dwell on it here, Suffice
Jt \\0 say that it was Ileralded hI' the Second World War, in \\vhich many
pe,-,ple [I'om the Colol1ies \\Vel'e forced to participate, With this panicipation
'~,Ilne ,1')'<'I'"ne5S. II' anything, the W;\\l' helped dissipate thc myths ahout th'?
Im'lllCiblc, illmighty'master Tl1c 110st war period will he therel'orr. a pel'if)d
of sr.!I'-assertion and protl'st 11gall1st t11e injustices of colonial rule, The
movement for politIcal libcrJlllJn went into full swing CUlminating with the
independence of most colonies in the early 1\\)60s. Scncgal was granted its
independence in 1960 along with tile majority 01' tJ1e French colonies on the
AfriC<1l1 continent. Surely, independence did start a new era, but whethel' the
changes ol,tained are sllb~lanllal enough or not still remains a hotly debated
topic, For some there has been true liberation: for others independence is
simply a nel\\l name 1'01' an old dance, 1'01' colonialism continues uncier a new
guise knowr. as nco-colonialism.
n,is
cbaplet'
w"villes
a geographical
,1S
well
as
a
l1isiOricill
bacl:gr,)und te, the topic. 11 is indeed imp(lrtant to considel' both aspects in
various peoples, the co!oniJlists inducled, a11(\\ the relationship between tlieil-

---

22
languages, as a necessary corollary la the former set of relationships. Calvet
(1974:53) reflecting on the objective of his book Linguistioue et colonialisme,
writes:
The main prohlem here is to know, with respect to the
objective of this book, whether linguistics has a social or a
cognitive function. First and foremost Ideology has in
effect a social function, it is here to serve one class (the
class in power, for the dominant ideology), or one group,
whereas pure science (if such a thing exists) would have
as a function knowledge. However, with respect to this
dichotomy Linguistics is in a false position: its social
function often prevails over its cognitive function 4 (My
translation)
One may agree or disagree with the above statement but at least one
has to ad O1it that, as far as the relationship between the colonial language
and the indigeneous languages were concerned, this view is quile accurate,
as will he illustrated in the next chapter.
,
l·,
'.,
4 "Tout le probleme est id de savoir, pour ce qui concorne directement le pro jet de co
livre, si la linguistique a une fonction sociuleou Une fonction cognitive. L'ideologie a
on effet avant toul uno fonction sociale, 0110 ostIa pour 1~ "derense" d'une c1asse (la
c1asse au pouvoir, pour J'ideologie dominante) ou d'un groupe, tandis que la science
pure (si tant ost qu'elle puisse existerl aurait avant tout une fonction do connaissanco.
Mais la Jinguistique est par rapport a celle dicho!omie, dans une position fausso' sa
fonction sociale J'emporto souvont sur sa fonction cognitive.

---

CHAPTER 3
TilE SOCIOLINGUISTIC SITUATION:
A Historical Perspective
The present sociolinguistic situation cannot be comprehended without
taking a leap back into history. As suggested earlier, we do not have a
precise idea about the relationship between the native languages in terms of
which, if either, dominated, during pre-colonial1ime . But. if we agree with
Calvet that the relationship between languages in a given area are reflective
of the relationships between the people who speak those languages, we may
conceive a hypothelical picture of what those relations might have been by
looking at the history of the people. I will. in the following sections, survey
the sociolinguistic aspect of language contact from pre-colonial times to
present.
3.1 The Pre-coloniilleriog:
One could think of at least three logical possibilities obtaining during
that period: J. linguistic domination by the ruling group; Z, linguistic
accommodation by the ruling group; 3. more or less balanced co-existence
between the language of the ruling and the language(s) of the ruled,
The first case wOllld be like. the one that resulted from western
colonization in which the colonialisls' language was imposed to the detriment
of the native or local languages Calvet (op. citl notices that such a situation

---

24
leads to what he calls glottophagie, i.e. the fact that a (dominating) language
"eats up" another (dominated) language.
In the case of Senegal, as we will see later, Frellch colonial domination
did bring about the imposition of French as the official language, and it did
introduce new relations between the various native languages. However, it
never managed to replace those languages. The only thing that it managed to
do is to exclusively occupy the official domain, thus becoming the language
of an elite minority, while the bulk of the African population continued to
conduct their day to day business in their native languages.
The second case is best illustrated by what occurred 10 Northern
Nigeria where the Fulani, under the leadership of Usu maan Dan Fodio,
established an Islamic regime among the Hausa and yet never attempted to
impose their language (Fula) on their subjects. This may have been because
the Fulani have always been a minority in that area which, before the
theocratic regime, was ruled by a long line of Hausa dynasties. This and the
fact that Usumaan wanted to establish a regime based on orthodox
Islam
must have brought the Muslim leader to de-emphasize the nationalistic
aspect of his rule. There is in fact evidence that under the Islamic regime,
Arabic had become the official language of the republic as well as the ~
[ulnca
between at least some components of the society. This last point
seems to weaken the idea of assimilation lO Hausa culture but, given the fact
that Arabic was usually only known to the lettered elite, African languages
must have continued to be actively used in everyday interaction.
A
similar thing might have later happened under the Islamic regime of Al Hajj
Omar. Furthermore,
in the 15th century, in central Senegal, when a Malinke
group from Kabu established its dominion over the Sereer of Siin (central
I)

---

,
..
:l::··: ....·". /i '~;.'. ,:'.
~
. .. '
25
Senegal, now mainly in the province of FaUck), the rulers completely
assimilated to the culture of their subjects. Today these descendants of
Malinke-speaking people have Sereer as their primary language.
The third case, a more difficult one to illustrate, must apparently have
been in existence during pre-[slamic times in some of tlie political entities
that were built in western Sudan(corresponding to
present Senegal.
Mauritania and MaId. I believe that the reason
for this was that these
entities were' generally homogeneous, in that they generally concerned
people of the same culture and language living on the same territory, and
subjected to one central rule, If say a kingdom happened to extend beyond
its original area of birth, the satellite areas were usually entrusted to local
people who were hand picked by the external leaders (for example see Barry,
1985:119), More importantly, the type of domination that must have existed
then was mainly political and economical but not cultural. In other words,
the domination was not based on a supremacist'ideology as would happen
later With western colonization for example,
It is probable that bi- or multi-lingualism had always been a
characteristic trait of many Airican cultures; multi-Jingualism was therefore
never really seen as a problem in contrast to what one finds in most of the
present African states that tend to be particularly uneasy with their
"numerous' languages.
Having said this, I must add that, in the absence of reliable sources of
information on linguistic problems dating from that period, the best one can
do is infer from existing information what the situation mllst have been, I
concede therefore that this is at best but a speculative depiction at this point.

---

26
Nevertheless, the three scenarios put forward are general enough to be
likely to correspond to the various cases that must have existed.
Finally, I would like to emphasize the importance of Arabic in the life
of African Muslims. I must further point out that by t!le time of the Western
colonial rule, the majority of the SUdan area was practising Islam. There is
eviclence that people educated in Muslim schools wrote both in Arabic and in
the local languages using Arabic characters. In fact, at a certain point in time
Arabic had even become the language of diplomacy (Diagne, op. clt.; De
Lanessan op cit. among others)
I, I
32 The Colonial Period:
This period is very weJJ documented and sociolinguistic problems can
be said to renect the basic ideology and objectives of COlonialism School was
the single most important locus of cultural hegemony via the enforcement of
the exclusive use of the French language.
When the French came to Africa, they came with the intention of not
only exploiting economically but with the belief that the people they ruled
were "unciviJized" sub-humans in need of spiritual salvation. The belief was
pushed by some even to the point where certain ideologists of colonization
presented colonization as
a welcome event in the life of the natives. To
illustrate this let me quote a certain professor of law called
Lavergne.
Lavergne,
then a professor of law
at
the
University
of
Algiers,
writesi 1948:36):
Most of the races Jiving in our black Africa show an even
greater interest [compared to Arab.~ in acquiring our
culture; conversions to christianity are nu merous there.
These populations seem to allow us to believe that in a

---

'11
.
"
27
very near future, fortunate for us and llOnorable for them,
something of the soul of France will really live in the heart
and mind of the children of these people still uncultured. I
(My translation)
It is surprising that a text such as this could still be written in 1948,
but the fact that Lavergne was a professor at the University of Algiers could
give a hint about his background. He was probably one of those desperate
~ds noirs ( derogatory for Algerian Frenchmen) who staunchly opposed the
liberation of Algeria, until the last minute. Let us continue our probe of the
racist ideology of colonialism in its attempt to give itself a good conscience
by presenting colonialism as a morally justifi~ble act. To do so I will quote
once more from Lavergnelop. cit, p.37):
Let us put aside the indigenous peoples inheritors of very
old
civilizations,
such
as
the
Egyptians
who
have
conquered their independence, or the Hindus who just got
theirs, and
let us envision
the
general case of the
indigenous people who are uncultured. We do not violate a
profound instinct, a strong feeling, when we establish
among them a government, an administration worthy of
that name. Since the wodd has been the world, most of
these unorganized races have not ceased to be dominated
by for;;ign chiefs. This fact is not the result of chance. Once
we .are established on their territories, their surprise
would, on the contrary, be to see us not take care of their
ad ministration 2
I "La piu part des races pellplant notre Afriqlle noire se montrent plus desireuses
encore d'acqllerir noire culture: les conversions all christianisme y sont nomlJreuses.
Ces poplllations semblent nOlls autoriser a croire qu'un jour assez prochain, heurellx
pour nous et honorable pour dies, quelque chose de rl1me de la France vivra
reellement dans le coeur et resprit des fils de ces hommes presentement encore
incultes, "
2 "Mettons a parlles peuples indigenes heritiers d'une lres vieille civilisation, l'omme
les Egypliens qui onl conquis leur independance, ou c.omme les Hindous qui viennenl
de l'acquerir, et envisageons le cas general des populations indigenes demeurees
encore sans cullure . NO\\ls ne violons pas un inslinct profond, un sentiment vivace. en
etablissant parmi elles tin gouvernement el une administration dignes de ce nom,
Depuis que le monde est monde, la pIli part de ces races inorganisees n'ont pas cesse
d'Mre dominoes par des chefs Elrangers. CeUe regIe n'est pas un fail dll hasard, Nous
I
:.J

---

"
'~'.'" .' - "\\,
".".
'1/'
'.."""
28
As ignorant and preposterous as these ideas may be, they depict all
the same, and quite accuralely, jf not tbe form at least the content of the
cultural justification of western colonialism in general and French colonialism
in particular. Calvet (op, ciLl presents a brilliant discussion of these fallacies
and shows that in fact the attitude of the Frenchmen towards Africans as far
as cultural and linguistic aspects were concerned was not different from the
one exhibited inside
France itself with respect to some sections of the
French population, viz. the Bretons, the Basques and the Occitans. Let us nO\\lf
see how these policies were implemented at the linguistic level.
Contrary to what Lavergne asserts, whell tbe colonialists arrived in
Senegal they found Islam solidly implanted in most of the northern part of
the country. Every Muslim was customarily sent to the Islamic schools,
where they learned Koran and some rudiments of Arabic, sometimes as early
as the age of 5. Some of these Muslim students pushed further and studied
various fields of Koranic sciences and Arabic language,
At the time of the consolidation of the colonial rule, as I said earlier,
the best means of gaining the sympathy of the local populations was thought
I)
to be the teaching of French language and cultllfe. However, the coloniallsts
were faced with the reluctance of the Koranic schools to integrate some
forms of French teaching in their syllabi. These schools thus became the
main vehicle of resistance to western penetration and therefore the main
target of the repressive colonial power
voyanl elablis sur Jellr lerriloire. leur surprise serail au contralre que naus ne
prenions pas soin de Jellr adminjslr~lion!

---

I1
29
The coloniaHsts enc1eavorec1
eithE:r to gain control of the Koranic
schools or else to eliminate them altogether, for these schools were perceived
as a major obstacle on the road to the complete "assimilation" of the
Senegalese children to French culture. Let us quote for
the sake of
illustration statements by the Governor-General of French West Africa
(j\\frwue OC9flentale Erani;!ti~~ AOE) lvIr. E Chaudie, who in a circular letter of
June 22, 1897, writes (quoted
from Turcotte
1')81 b:S I, by 130kamba
19846):
Schoolis in effect the most reliable mode of action that a
civilizing
nation could
use
to win
, still
primitive
populations, to its ideas with the view of gradually raising
them up to its level. In a word, school is thE: element of
progress par excellence. It is also the surest element of
propaganda for the
French cause and language that the
government could have at its disposal. It is not the old
people holding to ancient prejudices, it is not even the
adult men, already used to other customs, that we can
hope to convert to our moral principles, our rules of law,
to our national mores. To successfully accomplish such an
action of transformation, one has to address oneself to the
young, it is the mind of the young that we need to
penetrate and only school can achIeve this.
This is to tell you, Mr Administrator, the great imparlance
I attach to the development of public education, to the
diffusion of the Fiencll language and ideas, and to the
smooth running of the schools 3 (My translation)
3 "L'ecole est. en effet, le moyen d'action le plus sur qu'une n~tion civilisatrice ail
d'acqueri,· a ses idees les populations encore primitives et de les eiever graduellement
jusqu'a elle, L'ecole est, en un mot, l'e1ement de progres par excellence. C'est aussi
l'element de prapagande de la cause et de la langue fran~aises le plus certain dont le
gouvernement puisse disposeI'. Ce ne sont pas, en effe!. les vieillards imbus des prejuges
anciens, ce ne sont meme pas les hommes faits, plies deja a d'autres coutumes, que no us
pouvons esperer convertir a nos principes de morale, it nos regles de droit, it nos
usages natianaux. Pour accompJir avec succes celle oeuvre de transformation, c'est aUK
ieunes qu'il faut s'adresser , c'est I'esprit de la jeunesse qu'il faut penetrer et c'est par
I'ecole seule, que nous arriverons.

---

K"""":~:';:_t,*,~i<!!Ja,"",~(~~~
I
30
Let us pause a filoment to comment on some of the ideas developed
above, As BolC'lmba(ibid,) points out concerning the foregoing passage: "it is
evident from the above passages that education for the colonized was not an
end in itself. but rather a means through which acculturation and servitude
were to be achieved", From that point of view then, language ceases to be
just a neutral "means of communication" and becomes a means of oppression
like other colonial institutions
Education through the colonial language becomes dubious since it is
basically not geared toward uplifting the dominated but toward reducing
them to a status of permanent tutelage vis-a-vis the ruling power. The worst
aspect of it though is the utter denial of the humanity and culture of the
I)
dominated, Again to do so, the colonialist, who in his country adheres to
certain ideals of the inalienability of the right to freedom and of the right of
the people to determine thelr destiny, had to create a seemingly moral
justification for their questionable actions by sub-humanizing the people
they submit to their rule, This is clearly illustrated in the above quote from
Lavergne which in essence says that the ideals that the European holds as
sacred cannot be extended to the non-Europeans because the latter never
had any notion of such rights,
Europeans could choose to be ignorant about I3lack Africa, mainly
because Blacks were perceived as too dit'ferent, but it is not easy to reduce
Arabs to the same fate, since the Muslims led by Arab and Moorish leaders
established a brilliant civilization on the very soil of Europe for centuries at a
-----~-----------------------_.
C'est vous dire, Monsieur I'Administl'aleur, quelle: imporlance i'attache all
developpement de I'inslrllction pllblique, lIla diffusion de la langue et des idees
fran,aises et au bon fonclionnement des 1>,;oles

---

31
time when most European countries were still in the dark ages. It is well
known that, during that period of time, no European could be considered
truly cultured or refined unless they studied in the Islamic universities of
Spain. I must also add that it was current, and still is to a certain degree, to
equate possession of a written language with civiUzation (Calvei,op. cit,),
Arabs, Jews, Ethiopians, Hindus, Chinese etc. all had written languages as far
back as one could remember and yet that did not save them from falling
under the rule of Western colonialism.
In sum, it is true that colonialism in the present context was a direct
offshoot of expanding capitalism, but at the same lime it cannot be fully
understood unless the racist component of its underlying ideology is taken
into account. It was more than a matter of class, it was also a matter of race.
The ordel' of the day was that anything that was not Whitt~ European was
inferior and therefore could not claim equal treatmeflt as was afforded the
!)
Europeans. Worse still, Western rule over other peoples of non-European
stock was presented as a "natural right", by virtue of
the Europeans'
"natural superiority" (er Lavergne above) As a consequence, anything from
the "inferior people" had to be inferior, Le. valueless. This justified replacing
it with something "better" or "higher" in nature. Ironically, however, as we
have just seen, education was not given on the basis of pure humanistic
ideals but very much as a way of creating servants for the success
of
European im per ialism.
As pointed out earlier, Senega!. at least the central and the Northern
part of it, was predominantly Muslim by the second half of the 19th century.
Koran and Arabic were widely stUdied. The traditional schools naturally
became bulwarks against the encroachment of French culture and language.

---

•
"?
J-
This led the new rulers to concoct various measures to weaken, if not
eliminate, the il1fluence of these schools. Various ordinances were passed in
this regard. For example ordinance number 96 of June 22,1857 ,"regulating
Muslim schools' in Saint-Louis, states in. its fifth article that (quoted by
fJokamba op. cit., from Turcotte, 19B 1b:3I):
Every day, the Muslim school teachers must take or send
all their students aged 12 and above to the evening classes
(either in the lay or catholic schools) 4
Bokamba comments that this measure was a failure and this explains
why another more forceful ordinance, known as ordinance number 85 of
i,
February 28, 1870 was passed. I am ~loi!lg to quote in-extenso ttlC prev.mble
of the ordinance for, as 130kamba correctly remarks, it contains extremely
revealing passages as it tries to articulate in an eloquent way the real aim of
the French colonialists,
We, Governor of Senegal and c1ependences, in reference to
the administrative order of June 22, 1857 abollt Muslim
schools; considering the fact that the objective of the
colonial administration, when regularizing, through the
above mentioned order, the institution of the Muslim
sclwols, was to try and assimilate the indigenous children;
that this objective has not been attained to this point, due
to the indifference of the school teachers;
Given that the most efficient way to achieve this goal
seems to be from no\\\\' on to demand that the teachers get
their students used to understanding and speaking the
French language;
4 "Les m"itres d'eeole musulmanes seront obliges de eonduire DU d'envoyer, tous Jes
jDurs, ala classe du soir (soil. eelle de l'eeote lalqUG, soil eelle des freres) lous les eleves
de J2 ans et all desslls.

---

,,'
.
.
~ I
~iJi~~1i~~~';i'$i!f;;;f~,i'i'~'::if@fl~i't1~;~,\\\\rit:"b' !.j;'~i.2.::i~§~~,p'Y:Jh\\jY:1~~j,,4~~;i*:i&\\!it;;;';!,r~,;;~J}~-f,~~,j;';jN:,i:~;.\\
c,; .ij,j
33
Given that it is necessary, to achieve this objective,
to
sub mit those \\l/ho want to open Arabic schools to certain
conditions;
On the suggestion of the director of the interior,
After consultation with the ~dministra1ive council,
I;
(We) have decided, and hereby decide:
)
Article
L
Nobody
can,
in
the
future,
obtain
an
authorJzation to open a Muslim school
if, in conformity
willl the orclinance of June 22,1857 he has not resided in
Saint-Louis for seven years, or has not presented <l
certificate of good conduct from the mayor of Saint.-Louis,
and does not provide a proof that be can speak French in
front of an exam boud made of
the Chief of [he second bureau of the directorate of the
interior,
the Mayor of the city,
and the Cadi, chief of the Islamic religion.
The authorJzalion will be withdrawn if lhe recipient
proves to be unworthy of it. ( Quoted frotn}'
.
if
urcoc.e,
1981b:37-8, by Bokamba op cit, pp. 4-5)5
5 Nous gouverneurdll Senegal et depelldances,
Vu l'arrNe du 22 ]uin 1857 sur le5 ecolos J11usulmanes;
Considerant que le but de l'administration de la colonie,
en regularisanl par Jedil arrMe l'institution des ecoles Inllsulmal1es,
a ete de chercher as'assimiler les enfants indigenes;
Que ce but n'a pas ete ~ttGinl jusqu'ici, par suite
de l'inihfference apporUie par le" maitres d'ecoles;
Atten:du que le moyen le plus efficace d'arriver a re resultat
parail otre d'exigcr diJsormais que ces maftres habilllent les
enfants ~ comprendre et a pader la langue fran<;aisc;
Attendu qu'il convient, dans ce but d'asrrcindre a certaines
conditions les individus qui demanderont a tenir Iles ecolos
arabes:
Sur la proposition du dirccteur d" J'interieur,
Le consei! d'administration enlendu,
Nous avons arrete el arretons:
Article Premier. Nu! ne pourra, a I'avenir. obtenir I'Jutori;;atiotl
de tenir une ecole musulmane si. en conf01'1\\1ile de la [1,"cscriplion

---

34
This quotation further jJIustrates tbe seriousness of the French rulers
about eradicating any influence other than French. When the first measure
failed to produce the expected effect, this one was taken to make sure that in
fact the very spearheads of African resistance to colonialism, i.e. the Muslim
educators, became the agents of that domination. Surely, the Muslim teacher
who, for one reason or another, accepted to learn French himself would be
less likely to discourage his students from doing so. At the same time, those
teachers who generally earned their living by teaching were given little
clwice in the long run but to accept the conditions or leave the place, or worse
still, stop teaching altogether.
Crowder (op. ciL.) informs us that eventually the French colonial
administration and Muslim leaders found a modus-vivendi
based on the
I. separation between the spiritual and the secular, with the exception maybe
-./
of the customary laws, and even with those laws were tolerated only insofar
as they did not contradict the laws of the colonialists.
At any rate the
separation belween religion and
slale was exactly what the
colonial
ad ministration was after.
As noted by 130kamba, the final aim of these measures was "to force
the Islamic community out of general education, and thereby confine it to
religious education" (op. cit., p.S). This narrowing of the field of influence of
de l'arrW, du 22 juin 1857 precitee, j] n'habite Saint-Louis
depuis sept annees, et s'j] ne produit un certificat de bonne
vie et moeurs du maire de la ville, et ne justifie savoir parler
le fran~ais devant un jury d'examen compose
du chef du 2e bureau de la direction de l'interieur,
du maire de la ville,
et du cadi, chef de la religion musulmane.
L'aulorisation sera retiree si le titulaire en devient indigne

---

..,'
.....:;";.,, J:'?~.~,_, _ ..i;...-:-...:._~ :",\\-~;~ ,
35
Islam \\Vas a strategic meaSU['e the inl[JO!tance of which is 11!ustrated by later
developments (see Crowder op, clL,
358 In At the linguistic level, this is
i 1
'
,
reflected by the marginaJization of Arabic even In post-colonial language
policies,
Calvet, op. cit, argues that the confinement of a language to the
religious domain was ll11e way the French and English central governments
started the ineluctable process of archair:izulioll and elimination of languages
like I3retotl and Welsh respectively. French occupit:d the forefront When it
came to modern and most dynamic domains of everyday life and relegated
Occitan and Dreton to the domain of the family, ethnic relations, religion, etc.
I must add that the el'fect 01' sCIBrating the spiritual and lbe secular Vias
even worse for !\\'Iuslims, Oi'1hodox Islam does nol recognize
Man's life as
CO!l1l1arlmcntalized into things that belnng to Caesar, i.e. the secular,
~nd
others tl1at belong to God, i,e, the s[liritual, as had become custom ary in tbe
western world, Belie!' and actiun <ire c\\osdy r,,\\ated, ancl the Muslim is taught
to endeavor to cOi'c31antly reflect his/her beiief in every
action, in al!
domains or liCe, as suggested by the very meaning of the term Islam itsell' (j.e
"complete submission to t!le WJlI 01' AlIah(Gocl)),
The dichotomy between the two waS in fact the very C;luse of most of
the Islamic revolutlons that took place al varil)\\Js times in various areas cf
West Africa. Orthodox leaders rose up to purge Islam of v8.rious practices tliat
were considered to be contrary to the teachings of Islam:
the regimes
established by both Usumaanlor Usmaan) Dan Padio in Northern Nigeria (see
Waldman, 1965: Crowder, 1969), and El haji Omar in
western Sudan (sec
Kane Qt a! op,cil.: Crowder, (jp. cit.) ,H't, cases in point. In fact, these t'iVO
leaders happened to emerge at the time ').'hen Frenc!l colonialism was

---

i,,
36
consolidating itself, and it did not take lon2 before the two forces squared off
on the battlefield. This is what Crowt!er(op,ciL, p,31) writes about the
encounter:
...1hose states of the VI cstern Sudan which had been swept
by the new spirit of Islamic reform of the nineteo"th
cent ury
resisted
European
penetration
not
only
to
maintain their independence but to preserve their states
from the infidel invader. [11 so doing their resistance was
inspired not ooly by the de~;ire to retain ',heir poEtical and
territorial integrity but al:;o by deep religious motives. On
occasions different Islamic states joined common cause
against the Christian Europeans, And just as the great
Muslim reformer lJsmaan Dan Podia had cavalry from the
Senegalese Futa fighting alongside him against the Hab.e-
llausa monarchs of Northern Nigeria in his successful jjiud
at the beginning of lhe
nineteenth
century,
so
his
descendant Altahiru, in his Jast stand against the Bl-itish,
was joined by the ruler of JOlnf, Llcfeatcd by the French in
Senegal, who had trekked eastwards la assist his brother
in Islam against tlie Drilish,
This quotation clearly shows that apurt from the SUSP1CiOI1 the secular
European leaders had against religion in general, they had reallzed that they
had In weaken, if not eli nllnate, Islam to be successful 11l their project or
colonlzatlon. They hac! also deVIsed a long term plan to gain people's minds
111rougll the Imposition of western education and by undermin1ng Islamic
education as Illustrated earlier.
The strategic importance of educatlon is further dCf'lOl1strated by
Govecnof Wi[[iam Ponty in a passage to follow. Clearly the coloniaj
administrators had understood that enforcing their policies by the force of
arms could be cosily for tl](:;lll nOl only in matGri'i.1 krms but also bCCill:Se it
could alienate the natives, '."!ll;reas education exacts ,1 less painful pric!; and

---

"
I
School is OH: he~t insLt'ument et l~,£"OI~r-2S$: 'l!~Ol-(; l:L'~i1
anythin~ ehw it
~j(:fves best the Ft"Bt1C:l cau-s·:;, r~\\::o by
proGI"{:ssively chnn(~ii\\a the mentalHy of O~1t' jUbj~;cts i~~ "vLU
,\\llo\\'! us to bring them over to our ide"s ')iil!;Olll n\\{fLn~
any of their traditions, i~n\\)o;\\y i~; ignorant of the L;e! that
.i'I'
.11
"tll(/"
.J
. ,
of Fl"'liCI' ;",1 t"lC' li10"t (,r\\';"l'''''t
£~,J~!
rH,'~r!'Y
""'~1J.l""'L~l""'L .•
c'.".,"
'-'''-~'.,
"'·"tt{
_',-J~.
__
lIse against fanaticism, and Cxp(~rjence teaches 1I:; thr.' Ih<,:
iliuslims who kno\\'l our langlla[lC arc less prone t8
pr-i~Judice
thni1
thek
cOl'eligionisL;
\\'/110
onty
.knO\\il
!\\I'ab ic.( My translation)6
Nevertheless, Ihis "Iwuld nol
.
I
I
.
t I' I'
m{~ICi.1c. us Into
11!nl~H1:J
changc r.f mind about the treatment c:f Africans. On the cont!'ilry, 111(:
IJltimatl~ aim has remained the same as illustrated in th~ us,; of ,;xprto3';ions
SlIch as: "changing their' mentalities", "bringing lhern ov('r 10 our I(L;a~".
6 "L'erold cstle mcjjJeur iJ1StfUtlH;ntd~! progl'';S: c'i:steUc qui SDi:t.
la n}ieuIr !,):..; i.ill~;r~l$ du la eaus,) fr!\\r.\\~aiG~ ~t llui eJl IraJH"fct'i'1\\;:;.nt
pell a rC:II la J'iictltaHt6 de BO~~ suiH~ noos pet'mi:,ttfi\\ clc k-:> :lcqiJ~,·ic
\\
a nos id6cs sans hOllrkr 3UCllne de leurs lradilions. Nu! Il\\znore ell
effet que t'6tuoe du fran:;ai-s Dst le reJl1Bu~ 1;; {".llls efficlln: qui r.\\lh;;.;;
elrc oppose Ull fanutisnlC Col 1'c'lpel'i:..:n e0 nous :.\\pprend que 1es;~~l.l'jtd­
fauns qui connoiSs2nt llotre laague ~j(~nt liioin:; imlJl~5 £Is rl}'{;J!-~gi:5 qu;;
Jeurs cOl"cli[;ionn;dcljs qui ne snvonl qUG LiLtL".

---

38
the Islamic religion to which the local populations had converted centuries
hefore, Arabic was not seen as a foreign language, but rather as one of the
local languages despite its foreign origin. In a way then Arabic, the langu8.rw
of religion ancl education, arid the local languages had come to coexist, each
fulfilling a definite function. A more thorough research is still needed la
discover aUlhe details of such co·-existence.
I
In contrast, French came with a clear agenda which con;;isted of a total
denial of Ihe relevanCe: (J Ihe local Innguages (,ee Bokamba et aI, (977),
which were considered as devoid of any cultural significance. Ar"bic, the sole
written language in the area, was also progressively squ(;ezeeJ out of ma"v
domains and ended up lJi;;llg confined to the religiolis domain alone. In this
hegemonic battle, hench was seen not onty as a lai,guage of oppressi0n but
also as the language of the "infidel Christ hns".
No wonder therefore that the rcsi~tance 10 French colonIalism, in
Senegal and western Sudan, had $trong reli[;ious overtcn.:;s, as pointed out
ilbove by Crowder, and that to some extent that resistance focaliz.ed around
Islamic education alld, by imr,licalion, "round the language of the ['·:;J;gion,
i.e. Arabic.
3.3. IllC Post-ColoniaLnedf;.Q
Like most African countries, Senegal. (;:ained its ind(;pendence in 1960
peacefully. But this does not at all suggest that everything was peaceful ~n
the periods leading to independence. On the contrary, starting with the end
of World War rI, in some cases earlier, the whole of the African continent
was rife with social protest, led by the budding proletariat allied to the
veterans of the two wars under the leadership of the most nationalistic

---

39
African "elites", groomed In the educational institutions of the colonial
metropolises.
The cultural issue became part and parcel of the general struggle for
liberation. However, as Calvet(op. cit.l
argues, rarely was the linguistic
aspect given a central role. Priorities were set and somehow it was believed
that political and economic liberation and empowerment were more pressing
,
!J than any other issues and it was even thought that all other issues would be
resolved as the consequence of the resolution of the former. Even the few
nationalists who placed the linguistic problem high on their
agendas
generally reduced it to a mere slogan, while others were simply skeptical
with respect to the possibility that African languages could ever uproot the
colonial language; still others dealt with language at such a level of
abstraction that it appeared as a mere intellectual exercise, far removed
from the daily preoccupation of the common people.
A close scrutiny reveals that the problem or articulating a simple and
effective linguistic policy is a direct consequence of what Crowder calls "the
colonial situation" . In other words, the new colonial rule, Le. French rule, has
managed to completely change the types of relations that existed among the
peoples. Rather than being SUbjected to a local, ethnic order,
the various
ethnic groups have now all answered to a central rule that takes little heed
of their particular traditions. Together with this, the emergence of urban
centers and mobjJity, thanks to the development of
railways and
road
systems, brought together more easily people who would have otherwise
lived independently from one another. Also at the economic level, the
introduction of certain cash crops, for example, suddenly transformed the
demography of those regions.

---

40
The main consequence of these various factors, in Senegal, was the
emergence of a new identity, the identity of city dwellers, that expresses
itself most characteristically in a language known as "Wolof Ndar" or "Saint-
Louis Wolof" (Ndar is the local name for Saint-Louis). Wolof Ndar is simply a
Wolof mixed with French words and expressions, as we shall see later. In
this respect, what happened in Senegal was what happened in most African
colonies; that is, the areas that were the main targets of colonialism became
beneficiaries of a tremendous influx of immigrants and seasonal workers
(Crowder, op. dt.), who adopted the language of the local people as a lingua
franca.
Paradoxically, these situations favored some local languages even
more than they did the colonial language, despite its being the sole official
language. The situation inside the cities is however much more
complex
than one would suspect. People who migrated there from various directions
tended to replicate in the cities the atmosphere that they left behind in the
viJlage. Various self-help and social organizations were created by people
from the same area (Crowder op. cit. p. 340-1, quoting Abdoulaye Diop, 1965
concerning the Tukuloorl Le. Haal-Pulaar-enJ
living in Dakar).
These
organizations, in a way, operated as a system of checks and balances against
the might or "perversion" of the modern cities. In cultural and linguistic
ter ms, in particUlar, these organizations helped maintain the original identity
and the original social organization of these people. This fact is indeed
l)
important in understanding both language maintenance and social/linguistic
attitudes among the migrants.

---

41
Another legacy of colonization is the erratic carving of the African
continent into mini-states on the soil of which people of various cultures and
languages were forced to live.
Consequently, each of these groups was
scattered, in more or less important numbers, across several neighboring
states. The colonialists seem to have purposefully divided all these nations in
a way that no one single group could totally claim numeric majority over the
,
others. Thus the various groups were left to resort to the colonialists as
1)
"neutral" arbitrators and the colonial system and its language as "neutral"
institutions of government. This may explain why it seemed easier for the
independent nations of Africa to adopt their respective colonial language as
the official language.
To illustrate the "balkanization" of Africa let us take the case cif
Senegal and Gambia(a country wedged inside Senegal). The former was
colonized by France and the second by Britain and yet it is the same African
languages that are spoken in both countries. The interesting difference
between the two countries, beside the fact that they each have adopted
their respective colonial languages as post independence official languages, is
the proportion of the various ethnic groups in each country. For example,
while the Wolof are the majority ethnic group in Senegal, it is the opposite
in the Gambia where,
the majority group is Mandinka. Further, in the
specific case of Senegal, Dialo (1983:51 lists 17 ethnic groups, speaking each
its own language. The various languages are:7
~t Atlantic grou p :
7 For the typotogy of African languages sce Greenberg 1963. and also Welmers 1973)

---

42
.1oola (5.5%), Pulaar (23%), Sereer( 14%), the "cangin" sub-group (Noon, Ndut,
Saafeen, Lala/Lehar, SiiU/Palor) (10%), Manjak(085 %), Mankaaii(O.17%),
Balant(0.70%), the "Tend a" sub-group(Basari, Konagi, Bedik) (0.14%), the sub-
group "~un" (Baynuk, Banun)(0.03%) and Wolof (44%)
Mande grouQ. :
Bambara(I.3%J. Mandinkal Malinke (3.8%), and Soninke (17%),
Semiti,. :
Moorish also known as Hasaniya (i.e, Mauritanian dialect of Arabic) (12%).
The remainder is made up of various languages of immigrants.
Note that Dialo mentions 17 ethnic groups but if we look at the
languages we can see that they are more than seventeen. The distinction
between ethnic group and language is sometimes a tricky one. For example,
the sub-group Cangin is sometimes listed under Se reel' ethnically, but the
linguistic varieties spoken in that sub-group are sometimes unintelligible to
Sereer speakers and vice-versa. Dialo (op. ciU, however, lists the Cangin
group separately both as a linguistic sub-group and as an ethnic group.
The distribution between the various groups is very unequal, with
three ethnic groups comprising over 80 per cent of the population (Wolof
44%, Haal-Pulaar-en (Tukuloor and Peuls) 23%, Sereer 14 %) , while all tile
rest share the remaining percentage ( 19 %1,
I,)
As previously suggested, these various groups would have likely been
homogeneous, each occupying its own territory during the pre-colonial
period. And those of them that would have been under a foreign rule would

---

: " ."""!" •. -F
' ••• ' . '
43
nevertheless have retained a certain cultural and institutional autonomy,
something that the colonial situation completely obliterated.
The socio-Iinguistic situation resulting from the colonial experience is
therefore extremely complex, despite the tendency from some quarters to
simplify it . The important thing is to look more closely at the linguistic
policies in Senegal to see how they have affected the various languages
individ ually, and how they have redefined the relations between those
languages ( all these issues will be discussed later in chapter 6). At this
point let me say a few things about the contact situation.
3.4. Language Contact in Nilnga and Sedo: A historical overview
As already stated, this study is located in the two areas mentioned
above. The popUlation in both villages are WoJof, but the vil1ages themselves
are located in
Fuuta Tooro, Le. in a PUlaar-speaking area. This is why I
consider flanga and Sedo as Wolof islands in a Pulaar ocean. The origin of
their settlement in the Fuuta seems to be the result of (im)migration, but the
time at which this occurred remains a mystery. Their language (Wo!of) not
being written, one has mainly to rely on oral tradition to try to work things
out.
In Sedo, a senior member of the community (80 years old) told me
that the people there came from ]olof(see chapter 2) about 400 years ago.
They apparently came to Fuuta to escape from famine and other social
disturbances. Samba Sar( n.d., p. 2), a local scholar, also dates their arrival in
the area to "more than four hundred years ago", If this is correct, it means
that the people of Sedo came in contact with the people of Fuuta before the
European presence,
I,

---

r. 'J
•
•
' .
•
I
~:",,~- ..~~.t. ......,i:'I~:,; ';;, ;~..~I
~_.
&o,.~
:~ ;",:.,~~. ,'V~;~, :.,~,... -~i!
.. _'.
•
" , , ,
. _. _ . ,.l.,.
_.,"
,<' l.. , '"
. .'
"
" , ,..,.'"
........ ,-,'1:""
..,.,;..... _. '. c' .•
. , '
'.;.,
"
1~!~~1:f!f~t1!h'\\j?!jliFdtii!ffi~1;\\,"4tl:£~~£;i:':ll!,l)!·ll"*~'''';'''ifi'$~'t':''<''-~''!"""i!iji';""';;:!l:1\\'i*~;;;&~.1'ilZ~~;~f:.J1,~~'$}lt'~
I
44
I.)
In contrast, the people of f!anga are less precise concerning their
presence in Fuuta Tooro. No dates are available, the only landmark I could
find being the reference to the period of the Almamate (i.e. 18th century, see
chap 21. Even then I am only told it was one of the Almaamies who allowed
them to first settle in f!anga and later scattered them in various other
villages of western Fuuta in order to "weaken their belligerent spirit". They
claim to originate from tIle East, specifically from an area called "Dimasq-
Saam". They also claim that they were Arabs in origin. Note that "Dimasq" is
the Arabic name for Damascus, and Saam was the old name for Syria.
According to my informants, they migrated from the east and first
settled on the left bank of the Senegal River, at a place they call Xoomat, on
the territory of present Mauritania. What happened after they left Xomaat is
less clear. Some of my informants said that they came straight to f!anga.
Others said that they went through Waalo, a Wolof territory further west,
and later moved to fhnga. Others still said that after Xomaat they first went
to '/010[, another Wolof country further south, and then came back later to
Xomaat before settling definitely where they are now.
It is hard to know which version, if any, is correct, but one could at
least speculate about a number of things. First, if they were Arabs as they
claim 8, one has to find an explanation of how they became Wolof. Second,
the preceding question seems to point to two possibilities. One is that their
claim is true and they assimilated to the Wolof people because they moved
8 Cheikh Anla Diop (1971) disputes the claim of some African Muslim groups for Arab
ancestry. He sees this as a consequence of islamization. i.e. these people wanted the
prestii(e related to beini( Arab. Le. Muslim. His main thesis. however. is that most of
West Africans came from Ancient Egypt. i.e. from the East In that sense his thesis
partially corroborates that of the people of N'anga.

---

45
to a Wolof area after they left Xomaat, and the area of their encounter could
have been either Waalo or jolof or both. The other possibility is that they
were Wolof all along (see note 8).
Regardless of their origin, however, what is particularly remarkable is
that both communities have managed to retain their Wolof identity, mainly
through language maintenance. while at the same time completely adopting
the style of life and culture of the Haal-pulaar-en. Their language is Wolof,
although of a particular kind, and everything else in their culture is Pulaar.
The assimilation to the Pulaar culture is evidenced in the games young
people play, wedding traditions (e.g.
dowry is estimated in heads of cows
just as among their neighbors do), land tenure customs, their outfits
(especially the type of jewelry women wear), etc. I will later comment on
some possible explanations of the Wolof language maintenance.
As for French it has no native speakers in that area. It became part of
local linguistic panorama only recently, as a consequence of colonization on
the one hand and western education on the other hand.
3.5. About the langllillles in contact
3.5.1. Pulaar and Wolof
It was earlier pointed out that both Wolof and Pulaar belong to the
same family, Le Niger-Congo (Greenberg, op. ciU. As a result of that, they
share a number of
features although one soon discovers a great deal of
differences when one gets down to the details. [ must further point out that
the two languages are unintelligible to each other. [n the forthcoming
l,J
sections I will briefly present three aspects of their linguistic systems.

---

· l '
46
35.I.l.Phonology
A) Pulaar; (I am mainly using Sylla 1982).
a. The vowel system
Front
Back
Front
Back
Hi
u
ii
lIU
Mid
e
o
ee
00
Lo
a
aa
Each of
the five short vowels
has a long counterpart. In many
instances length is phonological as evidenced in the minimal pairs below.
lIirde
'to be jealous'
hiirde 'to be late(night)'
Sekde 'to be angry'
seekde 'to tear off'
Walde 'to flow'
waalde 'to spend the night'
Sodde 'to cut'
soodde 'to buy'
Urde
'to ric!icule'
uuroe 'to smell good'

---

47
b. The consonant system
Bi-Iabial
labio-dental
alveolar
palatal
velar
glottal
Nasal
m
n
ii
N
Pre-
nasals
mb
nd
nl
Ng
Stops
pb
t d
c J
k g
?
Implo-
B
D
Y
sives
Fricative
f
s
h
Trill
I'
,
.1)
Lateral
Glides
y
w
Sylla fails to list the phoneme Iql, a uvular sound found in Arabic
loanwords. Since these words are totally integrated in Pulaar and are
currently used alone or as alternates to other native words, they ought to be
recorded even though they are of foreign origin. The sound [q] is found in
words like qabri 'graveltomb' ,hlJICJlImg 'Adam's apple' etc.
Returning to the phoneme inventory, we note that, like the vowels,
some of the consonants also have geminate counterparts. The consonants
that allow gemination are given below. Note that gemination in these cases is
also phonological

---

48
h~
mm
nn
nn
1
NN
,",'
i'
,
bb
dd
jj
gg
\\ "
BB
DD
yy
. "
pp
It
cc
kk
II
yy
ft:,.,
Bl Wolof:
Here I will be using Dialo (op, ciLl, (See also Sar,nd, and
Diagne (op, cit,).
\\'."t~,
a, The vowel system
t~
,
i',.
Front
Back
Front
Back
f
Hi
u
11
uu
t
i,I
f
Mid
6
ee
ee
I
e
o
ee
00
!
I)
La
a
aa

---

49
b, The consonan~tem
Bi-Iabials lab io- dental
alveolar
palatals velars uvular Glottal
Stops
p
t
c
k
q
b
d
g
Pre-
nasals
mp
nt
ne
nk
mb
nd
nJ
ng
Nasals
m
n
fI
N
Pricatives
f
s
x
(h)9
Lateral
Trill
r
Glides
y
w
Apart from these simple consonants, Wolof allows the gemination of
some of its consonants, We have:
pp
tt
cc
kk
bb
dd
I1
gg
mm
nn
fin nn
yy ww
11
1'1'
If we compare the phonological systems of Pulaar and Wolof it
appears that Wolof has more phonemes than Pulaar. However, we notice that
9 Presen l onl y in a few dialects in c1udin g tll e Wolof of Slido,

---

50
Pulaar has implosive consonants but Wolof does not. We further notice that
there ,1re definitely marC! similarities than differencC!s.
In [llis section 1 will I'(,cus ('11 how WCH'<!S aI'''' formed in Pulaar and
Wo",f. I will give e,amples taken from the two languages, identified by' the
inllial letter of each of the languages, i.e p. for Pulaar and W for \\Volol. There
will he two sull-sections. The first deals with the similarities and the second
with differences between the two languages.
3.5. 1. 2.1. S0111e com mon Features
Words in Pulaar ilnd W(,lof are f<)I'mecl in a number of ways. Below
will illustl'ale three of those.
ny lhis term is meailt the derivation of new words (meanings) from
Zllreaclv e,isting ones mainly by the process of affi,ation, i.e. altaclling (a)
bound l1lorphe me( s) to a radical or free 11l0rphe me.
1\\\\1) 'to clo at tile same time'
v ' SUlf
-WaD-our-de (P)
(same meaning as above)
v' suff'inf
h. - Naar-ecl
(W i
"sewild'

---

51
num+surr
- DiD-aRc>
(Pi
(same as above) 10
c. - Haax-ay
(\\\\I)
" goodness "
aell' surf
- MoYY -ere
(Pi
(same as above)
radical+suH
."i 'i. I. 2.!. 2 Compounding
Compounding is the fact or conjoining [WO independcnt morphemcs or
'I,lore!" 10 dcrivc a nc\\\\' word.
~qn1j)J~s~ 3 a. -G66r-Jigeen (\\\\I i
literally "mao-woman" i.e. "effeminate
n + 0
male"/ "male homosexual"
-Debh-ati- gork-ati (P)
(Sa me as ahove)
b. -Xonq-oopp
(\\V)
literallv "red ears" i.e. "while man"
adj ; n
-Wojja-nofru (P)
(sa me as a!love)
ad j + n
10 Please ne)le Ihalll. D. Y in Pu!aal' represent respectiveley the hi-labial, alveolar ilnd
palatal illlpl"siv"~.

---

52
c. - Moss-dolli
(\\'(I )
literally "taste-repeal' - type of cakes
v
v
- Nala-wulla
IP)
litel'ally "hile-I,Iow" = type of mouse
v
~
v
This refers to tile use of a I'aclical or a word twice to deriye another
word.
P.pmnle~: 4 a. -Beg-I,eg
(W)
"desire" (noun)
v
... \\'
-Am-amnude (P) literally means" lo be restless"
racl,v
b. -Ndinl:-nd:1nl: (\\V)
" 510')/1)''' (adv)
aclv + adv
-See,e-,ee,e
(p)
(,ame a, ahove)
adv t adv
c. -Jolof -Jolof
(W)
"a person fl'om Jo101'"
-Hooree-hoore (P)
"one hundred percent(benefit)"
n + n
,).5. I 2./.4. (ol1sonant alternation
Consonant alternation is a complex process used in bolll languages to
fulCil1 various Cunction5. The function we are concerned with here is tbat of

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53
deriv,ltion by altel"nalian. Alternation means [flat a consonarH, generaUy the
initial onc, changes into another consonant to produce ,1 related meaning. In
botll languages
there
is a fixed
system
of correspondences between
alternating consonants. Pulaar, [01" example, 11as the following (see Arnotl,
\\970: Sylla, 1982 inter ali,l)
degree 1: I' s h
I'
W
?
Y
degree 2: p c k d
b
"o
degree 3: p c I:
nd mh Ng
nj
Note that the reading of the above correspondences is from top clown. The
degrees arc morpllOlogical concepts thal relate, for example, 10 number or
other markings like grammatical category as illustl'ated below.
h4Dlr>les: 5 a. -feex 'to be cool" ---) peex 'coolness" !IV I
-helde "10 breal:" --', kel:ll "breakage/fracture" (P)
h. -Sacc "to steal"
---, dcc "stealingltI1eft" (W)
-wlljjude'to Sl<:8['---) Rujjo'tbiel"' (P)
c. -bey "to fa-I'm"
_..,) mbey "farming"
(W)
-rem de "to farm" ---, ndema "farming" (P)
This aSlwet is one uf the most char;lcteristic nt' lillH!uagcs nf tile Nigl~r-
Cungo family. Pulaar ancl Wolof arc
good examples
as they each have
a
CI.ll1lpkx noun class system. Noun classes arc involvecl in clelerming number
iSvll<l,
1982
displl[e~:
this
cUl[cel'ning
PlIlaar)
and
various cuncurd

---

I
'
54
agreements. ! n Pulaar in particular, nouns are classified according to their
noun classes. Noun class mal'~:ers also play the role of definite articles and
demonstratives or deictics. Gcnerally, when the class marker is enc1iticized
on thc noun, it opcr'atcs a~ an article:; but procliticizcd it operates as a
demonstrative. Pulaar has over 20 noun classes (Arnott ,1970; Sylla 1982
inter alia), while Wolof has fcwer (about 10 accoI'c1ing to DiaJo op. cit. p. 47)
Ai ~~~>j'!L (examples are from Dial,), op cit.)
Ex a IlWles: (,
Singular
Plural
a. /.1nl: bi
"t he leg"
ilnl:
yl 'the legs"
L1 . ,Jiarab Ili
"the tree"
,Jiarab
yi "the trees"
c. pbar
"t he wife"
pbar
yt "the wives "
J1
d. Lit
ki
"the person "
IAt
IU
"the persons "
e . l]{zb I i
"the container "
1](1111
yl "the containers"
f. ,eew ffil
"the country"
,eew
yl "the countries"
,
g heen ji
'[he woman "
jge(]n
iii "the Ivomen
h. ,-ox 1a SI
"the blIsiness"
,-ox la
yt "the businesses"
I. joon WI
"the way "
loon
yt "the ways"
PI ura!
I.)
1:. ne[Jllo 0
"1Ile man"
yi mfie
Re
"the men"
I . hoor I.' nde
"tl1e head"
1;0)' I}
Dc "the heads'
III . ngar i
ndi
"I Ill' tlX"
n. rall'aalldundu
"the c1ug"
dawaa 1)/ Di
"the dOljs"

---

'.
55
o. nagg t' nge
"tile cow "
na'i
Di "the cows"
p.maayongo
"the river"
m<1alt'
De
'the rivers "
lJ . pucc U DIlII
'the horse"
pucc J
Di "[he horses "
r. clam ill llllal
'the cloor"
dame
De 'tlie doors"
~ . laaw olnllol
" the way "
laa\\) j
Di
"t he ways'
t. mbabba ha
"the clon!;ey"
bam.Di
D' "the donkeys "
. I
u . laan if ka
"lIle canoe/boat" laa.De
De
"the canoes"
V. laBi
ki
"the l:n ife"
laBB e
Dc 'the 1:nives"
W. hullo ko
't he grass"
l([Jllooli Di
"the grass"
etc.
Even with the Cew examples given allove, one can perceIve a few
dirrerences despite nUlilerous similaJ'llies, j\\gain 1 am not going to be
exhaustive here but I wil! simply point to certain differences for the sa!,:e
of illustration, If we consider for example the svllable
,
structul'e, Diagne (op.
cit. p.57) says that the \\Volar has more characteristically a eve or evee
syllable structure although some evev and eveev structures also exist. In
contrast. in Pulaar the most characteristic structure is evev (here V and e
stand for Jong and short vowels and single and geminate consonants
respectively. where Ilel'missillle J. althougll (C)Ve syllables also occur,
fourther, while consonant alternation in W serves mainly to distinguish
or derive nouns from verbs or to derive a nuun from a related noun ur
adjcClive, in P, in <l<.ldilinn 10 tile:;" two flll1ctions, it also enters in lhe

---

56
conjugation paradigrns of certain verbs, in which case it helps distinguish
~;ingllIM rrom plul'a1. fOl' example, \\Xl has j:1/\\f[:11iJiL"[ have studied" and iJII,c(f
j].'lllu "we have studied"; the same sel11ences would
be in P 111jp/{/I/gjj and
\\) 11)jj] JJjfJNNgjj, respectively. Note that in P the first person plural of the verb
is marketl bv the prenasaltzation of the iniTial consonants. I must caution
however that such a rule obtains only wilh consonants that allow
alternation 11 Where alternation is not possible, the only plural indication
\\vill he the pl·clnoun.
FlI1ally, concerning the noun class systems, Dialo op. cit. remarks thal
In \\Volor the initial consonant of the class marter is generally similar or
phonelically close to the initial consonant of the noun it follows (see italics in
the examples under section 3.5.2.1. ahove); in Pulaal', in contrast, the noun
class marter is identical or similal' to the "class suffix" of the preceding
nouns (in italics, section 3.5.2.1.1. These are a few points of difference that I
wanted to present. [ will now proceed with the comparison by looking at
some syntactic aspects in the two languages.
This part of the linguistic system is probably the 1110st relevant to this
research project since I will be looking at mixed sentences.
3.5 1.3. I. Non-el1l[lltatic Declal'ative Sel1tences
11 The foJlowjn~ consnnanl, in l'lIlaar dll nllt alternale Ii.c they remain unchanged):
D. B, '. Y, t, I, m and their ~eminate counterparts. (Sec Mc Inrosh p 11 for a different
dialect)

---

57
( S---> (NP) VP
NP---) (Del) N (del)
VP---) v (NP))
a, -Moodu fl6w-na (W)
"Ivloodu has come"
N
V+3sg
-Moodll arii (P)
N
V+asp
b ,-Moodll fl6w-na seen
ker (W) "M, has come to
N
V+3sg
poss2pl Nom
your home"
-Moodu arii
galle-mon (P)
N
V<asp N -poss 2pl
Moodu has come (to) your house
c, - fl6w-na (W)
'lIe/she has come"
v + 3sg
-0
arii
(P)
Pro V+asp
d ,-Mu Mw
(W)
He/she came
Pro V
-0
ari
(P)
Pro V+asp
e , -Ma fl6w
(W)
"I came"
Pro v
-Ngar-mi
(P)
rad
Pro

---

51)
When we examine the above sentences, we notice that Wand Pare
similar in most of their declarative constructions, especially where the
subject is a nominal. However, where the subject is Pro (cf 7c and 7d above)
there is some difference. In W Pro is preposed in a narrative uuerance(e.g.
when reporting a story) but post posed otherwise. In P, the normal paradigm
of narrative sentences with Pro subjects, like in 7e above, is S---) VP NP
except in llle 3rd person singular and plural (see the P sentence in 7d for
example). P also seems to make the distinction between narrative and non-
narrative in the verb inflexion where possible. In addition, the position of
subject Pro in P is variable according 10 whether Pro is long or short (e.g.
miDo= I vs mH), with long Pro behaving like nominals (Nom) i.e always
pre-posed and short ones pre- or post-posed according to verb aspect (Sylla
op. cit, pp. 131-132), and according to whether or not the sentence is
narrative, as just illustrated.
Concerning the inflexion of finite verbs, we can see a great difference
belween the two languages. P marks aspect/tense by inflecting the main
verb whereas W does not inflect at all. Note, however, that both languages
mainly mark aspect (Perfective vs Imperfective) rather than tense, although
in some constructions tense is clearly identifiable. In the P examples, 7c and
7d, above tense marking may be one explanation for the difference in the
inflexion of the verb. The short i, as opposed to the long H, corresponds to the
English preterit tense, it does not exclude an aspectual connotation, however,
since the preterit
describes actions that have already been completed.
furthermore, short i in P may also designate active voice in the Perfective
aspect (Sylla op. cH. p. 87). finally, the shortening of the aspectual marker in

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59
P also occurs under certain phonological constraints, slIch as when the
immediately preccding vowcl is itself a long onc.
W in contrast has gener,11!y a I') inflection on Its finite verbs although
it has, like Pulaar, a complex svstem of verb eHelltions that expl-ess vacious
mud,llilles of the verb. In both languages the preterit seems to be the tense
of the nacrativ€
Illocle.
What must be kepL in mind from the preceding remarks is that l)otb P
and \\'\\1 have a basic S----)I\\'P VP structurc in declaratIVe sentences,
especially when the subject is Nom !)uL they also allow clec1aratives of the
form S--->VP NP When the subject is Pro and under certain concli!ions tIlat
Me specific to each langua\\Zc
Examples: 8 a.. Moodu moo
hey ceeb
(W)
"It is Moodu who grew rice"
Nom
Pro, f'oe V
Nom
-IKol Moudu remi maaro (P)
(foc) Nom
V
Nom
b. -MooLlu c1afa bey ceeb I \\XI)
" Moodll grew rice"
Nom
Foe
V
Nom
Moodu grewJhe rice"
Nom
V
l'\\om
del
c -Mooc!u ceeb t"
bey 1\\\\1)
, 11 is ['ice that Moodll grew"
Nom
Nom Foc V

---

60
-Moodll remi ko
maaro (P)
Nom
V
Foc Nom
~Moodu ko maaro rCllll (P)
"
Nom
Foc Nom
V
=(Ko) maaro Moodll remi (P)
Foc Nom
Nom
V
d .-Biig la
Moodu jend ceeb (W) "It was yesterday that
Adv Foe Nom
V
Nom
Moodu bought rice"
-(Ko) haNki Moodu soodi maaro (P)
(Fo[) J1J\\/
1'1 ..",\\
Jf·tI~}f'
\\1,),\\')
~Moodu soodi maal'o KO haNki
~Moodll ko haNki soodi maaro
With respect to focus, the above examples show that it can be marked
on the subject NP, the verb, the object NP and the adverb. In all cases except
Pulaar number 8b, a focus marker is used. In the Pulaar examples we notice
that in initial position the focus marker is optional; in other positions it is
obligatory and it can occur in various positions within the sentence withollt
affecting the meaning of the sentence. Such a flexibility does not exist in
Wolof. We further notice that, while in P the focus marker is the same except
in 8b, in W it varIes. Example 8b of P shows that verbal (7tona1) emphasIs is
,
I)
also used to mark fOCllS, in such a case wc use underlining to show that the
verb is emphasized. This type of focus marking seems to exist only with
verbs and is not as frequently used as the other types.

---

6 i
A) Senlences witl1 non-verbal predicates
Examples: 9 a ' -\\Volar laa
(\\VI
N
Part+ 1sg
-[0
mi Wolor
iP)
Pari Pro N
I am Wolor
b ' -Samba elu
huur
(Wl
N
ncg Parl
i'I
-Samba \\Vona
laa mDo
(P)
N
rau+neg
N
Samba is nOl a king
,
I)
a ,- Xale bu
laxaw bi
suma doom la (W)
i'I
rei pt'O
V
poss
N
Part
-Suka dariiDo
o
\\.;0
fliyam
(P)
N
V + reI. pro
del
part N,poss,
The child who IS standing is my cl1ild
b-(W)Olo
bu
~'ioodu jend bi To\\'ola la (Wl
N
reI. pro N
v
del N
Part

---

61
:; 5 I, 3 3. Ot her COniiCl!ct ion s
ill Sentences with non-verbal predicates
I:xamples: 9 a , -Wolor laa
(\\V i
N
Parl+ 1sg
-[;:0
ml \\Volor
(P)
Par't Pro N
,
I am Wolor
\\.1
tJ , -Samba elu
buul'
(W)
N
neg Part
N
-SambJ wona
laamDo
IP)
N
rad+neg
N
Sa mba is not a }: ing
a ,- Xale bu
taxaw hi
suma doom la (W)
N
reI pro
V
del
[lOSS
N
Part
-SUKa c1JriiDo
KO
Biyam
IP)
Tile Cllilcl wl10 is standing is my child
b ,-(\\V)OIO
bu
Moodu jend I)i Tovola la (Wl
N
reI. PI'O N
V
del N
Part

---

62
-Oto
MO
Moodu soodi
0
ko
Toyota (P)
------"
\\
\\
'-,
,
.,----~ "'"
...
~
'- ....._,,,
---~
-----, "":"'-
N
re!. pro
N
'-. V+asp
det
- part-'> N
The car that Moodu bought is a Toyota
C) Cliticization
a.-Ma
jox-la
ko (W)
Isg
V 2sg
3sg
- Tollu-maa-mi Dum (P)
V
2sg
Isg 3sg
I gave it to you
b . -Ma joxeel-Ia
ko
(W)
Isg V+Part-2sg 3sg
-Tottan-maa-mi
Dum (P)
V+part 2sg Isg 3sg
1 gave it for you
c.-Ma joxeel-la
ko ko (W)
I sg V+part-2sg 3sg 3sg
-Tollan-maa-mi 010 Dum (P)
V+part-2sg-1 sg 3sg 3sg
[ gave it to him for you
We notice each of the pairs of examples given above exhibits some
dirfererences between Wand P. The two can sometimes have the same
number of elements and yet, if we consider the position of such elements in

---

63
the sentence,
we find some difference with the possible exception of
examples 9b. However, a close analysis of these examples shows that in fact
only the Wofof examples are true non-verbal predicate sentences, since the P
element "wona" is made of the radical of the verb "won de" "to be" to which
is suffixed a negative marker:J(. This example cautions us not to base our
comparison on a simple count of the sentence elements, since each of these
elements may in fact express something specific to each language. Note that
the W element ''!aa/la'' and the P element "ko" are refered to in examples
9a to lOb as particles (Part) and yet in earlier examples they were identified
as focus markers (Foe) the reason for this is that each of these elements, and
others like them, generally have a heavy functional load (see Fagerberg,
1983 about Pulaar "ko") that make them play various roles in various
sentential contexts. Although these eXamples bear a striking resemblance to
focused
sentences, they are not traditionally considered
so in
these
examples. To prove that they are not we can consider P for example. If the
P sentence in 9a were focused the pronoun would be somewhat different.
morphologically: miln. In other words, we would have a sentence like: 'ko
miin W%f, which is ungrammatical. Furthermore, we have seen under the
section devoted to focus earlier that ko in initial position is optional. and yet
in 9a it is obligatory; otherwise the sentence would be ungrammatical.
Consequently, ko in P sentence 9a is not a focus marker and for this reason I
simply call it, and its W counterpart La..<l.LJ.J!, Part for lack of a more specific
term.
As for relativization, there is a major difference between Wand P
according to whether the head is a subject or an object. W uses the same
strategy, namely the relative pronoun immediately follows the head. P, in

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64
contrast, has two strategies. For subject nominals the relative pronoun
IS
suffixed to the verb, and can in fact be considered as a class suffix attached
to the verb
in agreement with the head. For object nominals P uses the
same strategy as W.
Finally, with respect to c1iticization the two languages can take as
many as four c1itic pronouns. These pronouns can appear before the verbs
(proclitics) ,especially with subject pronouns, or after the verb in the case of
subject as well as object pronoun as the examples under II illustrate. There
are however two interesting comments to be made here concerning the
above examples. First,
the W sentences do not distinguish by word order
between interrogatives and declaratives, unless of course one adds a
question mark or uses a rising intonation. P
distinguishes the two by
changing the word order slightly, namely by fronting the subject pronouns.
Secondly, each of the W examples under II is ambiguous in contrast to the
i)
Pulaar ones. That is why the translations given above reflect the meanings
of the P sentences. In other words, the P sentences correspond to only one
of the two or three possible interpretations of each W sentence. For example
sentence II a may also mean: I. " I gave him I (to) him2", or 2. "I gave him2
(to) him 1". The same can be said for the other sentences. The main problem
lies with the use of the W pronoun ko (to be distinguished from the P
particle ko). Wolof Ko may replace a nominal which is semantically either
[ + humanl or I-humanl and only the context of the discourse can help the
hearer or reader know which one is implied. In P such an ambiguity is not
possible since all the pronouns semantically indicate whether the referent is
l+ humanl or I-human!. Moreover, where ambiguity is likely to occur P

---

,
"'."
•
<.
-
f.-~;;,'"h,:,1\\;';Jj'~~,""':~";;"\\i;t$~'\\1(~';;;~"JB .*,A~;i.QJ-~wi~k";~;.;,~,'..,,~i~
65
prefers to repeat the nominal. This often happens where there are more than
two object Pros.
3.5.2. Contrasting French with PuJaar and Wolof
Here, I do not intend to go in as much detail as I did with Pulaar and
WoloL The main reason being that French is better known and its system is
abundantly documented.
The first thing to note is that French is unrelated to the two local
!,
languages as it belongs to the Indo-European family. Its system has some
similarities and some important differences with both Pulaar and Wolof. I
will only sketch here a few areas of similarity and difference.
3. 5. 2. I. Phonology
French has all the vocalic sounds that exist in Pulaar and Wolof, except
the long vowels which are not characteristic of its system. In addition,
French has many vowel phonemes that are inexistent in both Pulaar and
Wolof, making them difficult
for Pulaar and Wolof speakers to produce.
Among these we have the front rounded vowel [y] , the low rounded nasal
[reI. and the other nasal vowels in general. Both wolof and French have the
low central vowel, Le. schwa [;.:0}. the mid and low front vowels le] and I'-l but
Pulaar does not.
As far as the consonants are concerned, French has a few consonants
such as : the labio-dental fricative (v), the alveo-palatal fricativelS I , the
alveolar [zl and the uvular [RI that neither Pulaar or Wolof has. Pulaar and
Wolof also have many consonants that do not exist in French. For example,
Wolof has the uvular sounds [ql and Ixl and prenasals [mb; nd, ngl etc, which

---

66
French does not have. Pulaar has prenasals too, but the most difficult sounds
of Pulaar for a French speaker are likely to be the implosives IB; D; YI.
I)
3. 5. 2. 2. Morphology
All three languages share most processes of word formation. To my
knowledge, reduplication and consonant alternation, however, inexistent in
French. Additionally, French does not have a noun class system as both
Pulaar and W%f do.
As far as inflectional morphology is concerned. French is more similar
to Pulaar , since they both use inflection, than to Wolof that rarely inflects. 12
3.5.2 3. Syntax
All three languages have a basic SVO structure in declarative
sentences l3. But as seen above, both Wolof and Pulaar diverge from that
basic structure in certain cases, like for example in narrative sentences
where both Pulaar and Wolof are known to allow VS(O) constructions. In
French, too, there are cases of subject-verb inversion in declarative
sentences,
generally for stylistic reasons, and more often in archaic
constructions. In other words, whereas in Pulaar and Wolof the VS(O) cases
are the only ones possible in the above mentioned cases, in French
alternatives exist, and therefore SUbject-verb inversion can be avoided as
illustrated below.Examples 12
12The few exceptions involve conditional sentences.
13Note that when people speak of SVO slructure they generally refer to the case where
the obiect is non - pronominal. Pronouns behave differently as can be observed from
the examples below.
I
"- -...-_._- -------..-.--_.._-,._-~-~<_.~,-~, .....".."""..."...~,.",."""."",.,""hi"'.' "''''''''·'''''''·~''''''ef<1",
'.

---

.'."
~'.
;,-~ ,'> . ,.-
.1
.,.~ ..
67
a. Aurais-je su .... si j'avais su ... (F) "Had I known .....
E
Aux-Isg v
b . Su ma Xam-oon... (W) "Had I known.....
if Isg v
asp
c . So mi annd-iino... (P)
"Had I known ....
if
Isg v
asp
Note that both 12b and 12c allow only one construction, whereas in
12a we have two possibJities. Note also that the inversion affects generally
the helping verb in constructions like 12a.
In contrast consider the following:
Examples 13:
a . xam-nga ko (W) "You know it/him /her"
v
2sg Pro
b. ADa
anndi Dum (Pl
2sg+asp
v
Pro
c.Tu le
salS
(le=i1only)
2sg Pro
v+tns
For all these three constructions the order of the constituents is
obligatory. In \\3a and \\3c subject verb inversion is possible, but it leads to
different meanings. However, in 12a
any SUcll inversion necessitates
I'.1

---

68
completing the sentence with another clause otherwise the sentence will be
meaningless. In 13c inversion transforms the declarative sentence into an
interrogative sentence. In 13b only Pro can be moved (in front of the verb).
Such a movement is stylistic and also dialecta[l4, it does not affect the
meaning of the sentence. No subject-verb inversion is possible in 13b.
Note that the examples under 13 also involve the use of clitics. Here
already, we see a clear difference between the three languages. In French
the clitic pronoun has to precede the verb(proclitic) in this case l 5, In Pulaar,
it can precede or follow the verb, without changing the sense of the sentence
or leading to any ungrammaticality. In Wolof, it has to be post-posed to the
verb (enclitic). The differences between the three languages, with regard to
clitic Pro are potentially interesting for the study of certain constraints (Pfaff
1979; Sankoff and Poplack 1980, for example) to be considered later.
Other important differences exist between the structures of NP in
Walof and Pulaar on the hand and French on the other. Whereas Pulaar and
Wolof allow two possibilities (NP---> N Det
and NP--->Det N) with a slight
difference of meaning (see above), in French the structure of NP remains
always the same (i.e. NP---> Det N). This too appears to be a constraining
factor with respect to the "equivalence constraint" posited by
Sankoff and
Poplack( 1980).
Other important differences between French and Pulaar and Wolof is
\\}
that French marks gender number agreement, whereas Pulaar and Wolof
only mark number. Even with number agreement though considerable
14For the dialect of Nothern Senegal. it would be stylistic; for the dialect of ]olof Fula.
it woutd be the regular form.
1510 French imperative constructions. the cli(ic Pro follows the verb.

---

69
differences exist between the three. French is more similar to Pulaar in that
regard than to Wolof. Wolof
marks number only on the noun class
element(i.e. Det) for NPs , whereas Pulaar and French mark plural on both
Det and N and on adjectives in modified NPs. As for VP agreement, only
French marks agreement on V consistently. Pulaar does so in some cases l6
Wolof does not mark agreement on the verb at all,
As we have seen, althougll phonologically, morphologically and
syntactically there are several similarities, there are also many differences,
some subtle and others most obvious. The following chapters will provide
further opportunity to deal with the systems of the three languages.
3.6. Summaa':
This chapter has covered two m:::in issues. I) In the first part I have
tried to outline the evolution of the sociolinguistic situation in Senegal. I
showed that in the pre-colonial period plurality of languages did not seem to
be a problem. Moreover, there are clear indications that Arabic was to play
an important role in the relationships between various peoples. In contrast,
the triumphant colonial power set out to displace Arabic by confining it to a
very limited domain of people's every day life; at the same time it denied
any value to the local languages. I also showed that the development of
western education was the main medium by which the implantation of the
French language was to be achieved. Then, I turned to the present times in
which the problem of languages has taken a whole new dimension that can
be understood only by looking at its historical evolution. 2) In the second
part, I concentrated on the two main local lanl5uages that are the subject of
IbSyll a (1982) disagrees with this,

---

70
this study and to a lesser extent on French that appears to have entered the
stage of language contact at the local level. After providing a short historical
overview of how the languages came in contact, I compared and contrasted
some gram matical aspects of the languages in order to give a sense of some
of the problems involved in mixing them.
In the next two chapters I will
report on my fieldwork and its results.
l.,
'.'

---

71
CHAPTER 4
METHODOLOGY
4.1. Feld Work
4.1.1. Entering the COffim unioo
The data for this study was collected in the sum mers of 1987 and
1988, when I visited Sedo (1987,1988) and Nanga (1 <J88) In the former
location I also benefitted from the help of a local youth, Babakar Thiam, who
did a good deal of the recordings and data collection, Prior to these visits [
had never been to eilher area and did not know anyone in Sedo I knew two
or three people from Nanga but I had not seen them for the last twenty
three years and did not know where they were living at the time of my visit.
Before setting orr on my journey therefore, J found some contacts mainly by
asking various acquaintances whether they knew anyone from the areas. J
was lucky to find in my own home-village a resident who is originally from
Taiba, one of the three villages historically related to Sedo, He gave me the
name of an important person in Sedo. It so happened that this person's
ancestor was the founder of t he village
The day I arrived in Secto I found my host ready to travel the
following day, I never had a chance to interview him but he was helpful in
introducing me to the Imam (Islamic leader) of the village, an 80- year old
man who agreed to talk to me.
During the few days I stayed with my host family, I was qUickly
adopted by everybody They all seemed to like me very much. I must

---

I
,_~~_..
~ c,~'-'-'"'i,.d,g~::<,jj\\~Ei~~t'I~~1:??"ifrx~:~t;:;i;j-f?i.:':iii
I
7::
I
' ..
look Eke the fj(st born of lhe f'tErdly, \\vho al the ti(i1e cf Dr/ 'visit 'H~LS
fact, Ihe l.(Jjnutc ] set fuot in tlie compoend ,"U the childrcli (;;n tlDpr0ss;'.ie
thought I \\vas. I'hey \\\\/el'e or cou(se vcr'/ disuppointed ""'..-lh.·en tl~!:y et:aHzed
the mistake; but I re;tiized ri[lhl a\\\\'JY that things would not be too difficult
Dllring Ihat short viSit I realized lile gr"at al'rcctio'l of the family for' ii,e.
Unfortunf~tely, hovlever, r mis~~ed the head or the farnU)' C'fi\\:,3' agl~iQ. EL:; ~Yr.UJ
away c,n a busine~s trip.
Let me now say a few words aL,out my host ['amil'! and ti,e sctLng
It
was a big compound made lip of about five households: three brothers ~nd
iwo sisters each with their own families. The two' sisters were in their
sinies.Tlie male hend of my host hmily was in nis fifties, wl:11 two wives
and s'N2ra! children from each wire. AI\\w,\\o tlie children, four (r.lt bays, (-';/0
.
~
from eacli wire) had bCCli io the modern s,:houls. AmonG the [our, umgi!-'b in
age from 15 10 l8, three were in junior high (equivalenl to Ilth, 9th and 10th
graces) and the fourth had dropped out of school at tb, end cJ his
elementary educalion. All fOl!l' \\'.7l:r8 close le me; in fact [,:y ill(erVlS"\\vCr.
Diibacur, the tenth grader, is one of them. [ picked him to y,d!) me with [";,y
Ishwlic studies. TtHls, at! Hie boys h~';Ve !Hld cl fair amnuU of cducHioL !i1
Knran.

---

~ I
7"
, J
As for Nanga, which I visited in 1988, the field situation was even
easier. My best friend happened to have an old school mate living in the
village. Thus my friend recommended me to him. This contact in Nanga had
two main advantages: I) he was the principal of the village primary school.
and therefore a respected member of the community: and 2) he is himself
originally from the village. This made my meeting the people much easier.
l.\\esides, being forty years old he was close to the younger people as well as
the older ones.
After I had briefed him about the object of my trip, he first took me
around the village for courtesy visits, and later he arranged for me to meet a
number of residents for my interviews. This explains why I had made more
interviews in Nanga than in Sedo. In Sedo, after I was introduced to the
Imam, I was left to myself.
4.1.2.Data Collection
The data was collected in three ways. The first was what I call
monitored conversations, a euphemism for eavesdropping. The second was
through interviews, and the third was group recordings, i.e. recordings of
casual conversations of groups of people in various settings.
I
I)
4.1.2.I.The Monitored Conversations
Monitored conversations were mainly used in Sedo, and they were
almost exclusively used in recording female speech. For socio-cultural

---

74
reasons it was hard for me to get access to women (see also de Oliveira 1983
for a similar problem in Brazil) nor did I succeed in locating a female
assistant. I thus resorted to recording (by writing down ) what I could
overhear.
1 would sit or stand not too far from a group of ,vomen in
conversation and pretend not to be listening, Dut I had my pen and writing
pad ready and wrote down every mixed sentence (Wolof-Pulaar/Pulaar-
Wolof) 1 heard and that I could write down quicl~ly enough_ Th.en, r tried to
g,Jess the speaker's age and wrote that down too. I These eavesdl'oppings
took place in various settings.
For instance, in the house where I '.vas
staying, the women came together at meal times: they ate in a group just as
did the men. These gatherings produced many of the sentences 1 recorded. I
also coJ/ected some of the sentences
at the market place.
1 visited the
village market and sat at an inconspicuous location where I could hear many
of the conversations tl1at were going on nearby between buyers and sellers,
and there I proceeded in the same manner as described above.
4.1.2.2 Interviews and Group RecorcIil1~
4.1.2.2.1. The interviews
The interviews were based on modules adapted from those used in
the Philadelphia project supervized by William Labov. I kept the spirit but
mOdified the content of the modules to make them more appropriale to the
ITa write at night I lIsed a battery ["mp. Note that there is no electricity in these
villages yet.

---

7S
cultural contexts. Some of the modules used
in fieldwork among working
class speal~ers in the U.S. would be highly inappropriate in these settings.
The modules were mainly designed to minimize self -consciousness during
the interviews. In other words, I wanted to get access to the speakers'
vernacular (see below!.
My interviews mainly centered on things that had some relevance to
my subjects' day to day life or things that J knew they would enjoy talking
about.
The subjects of the interviews mainly dealt with historical, socio-
cultural ancl economic organization issues, especially the proprietorship and
usage of land, the origin of the people, relations with the neighbors, language
issues etc
I conducted all my inlerviews in Secta in Pulaar.
I did so for two
reasons, The first was that I wanted to know the level of fluency in Pulaar of
my subjects. Since I was interested in code-mixing, a manifestation of their
bilingualism, I needed to knOlv their level of competence in their L2, for that
has a bearing on whatever conclusions [ would draw. The speakers' bilingual
corn petence is clearly relevant to any conclusions we might draw concerning
the nature of language mixture. For example, it is generally agreed that one
can conceive of the study of codc-switching only among bilinguals who have
a certain mastery of two languages, i.e. among so-called balanced bilinguals.
Consequently, mixed sentences that are the result of incompetence in one of
tbe languages arc obviousl>' inappropriate for the study of code-SWitching.
,
In this study I am only interested In those individuals who can be said to
\\')
have a reasonable knOWledge of both languages, and whose language mixings
are not the result of any kind of speech difficulty.
' , ' "
~.-
"., . . . .· · · " T '
_.-'-
00
, , ' , ' • • """u.-
,~,., •."
•• - ... ".~. . . . -'_.~-~---

---

·
,
;:::fr~,'«'~~-::i]n£:::<"'l1:~:i]t:')~""":}2Z,i;,):m:\\?;',,,,X.:t-'J:~L:-?;'''''.'~::'=:i~'r:·~:..:",Il:~o1'j~J:j,if,'...",·~J.~'~:;",;:~:..",:e":,".~b;o.~·~--""~\\,""",",,-.,;'~,,,:;'~"'''''Q"''''. .",~<,,"-~'''-'-"<~"'~'",,'
~..,
.".,".<
_r.,,,,.,._,....
,. :.0"",.
,-,....-",-
,;!,-,",,••
f' ""dn ";" f~2t:'~2f~j;;i:;~"!,>:1~;'t~!:*};;;h~AY1:~:\\t->l'-<:'-~~::t~
:'t;:
76
The second reason was that I wanted to minimize code-mixing
induced by my speaking Wolof.
Not only do I have a very strong Pulaar
accent but also I speak fhe Wolof of the city (commonly known as "Wolof
Ndar" or the Wolof of Saint-Louis (see preceding chapter). That kind of
Wolof, characteristic of city speech, is full of French elements, I had thought
that either my "foreign" accent or the brand of WoJof I spoke could jnduce
my subjects to language mixing The idea was that, since I was going into the
community to investigate coele-switching, I should minimize my interference
with the process and let it manifest itself naturally if it is true that cocle-
mixing is a COol man speech feat ure in this cam munity as was hypothesized,
However, in hindsight, I found that there were several weaknesses in
this approach,
The fact of choosing to speak Pulaar (my Lt and their
supposed 1,2) in the interview had the potential of increasing formality (the
opposite of what 1 was looking for) in the speech of my subjects 2
Pulaar
being their second language(L2), they were Ukely to be more self -conscious
in front of a Pulaar-speaking interviewer. Although some level of formality
was to be expected as a result of the interview context, regardless of the
\\.;
language cl1osen(see the famous "observer's paradox" hypothesized by
Labov, 1972a), I think such a likelillOod is increased by my choosing to
2It is hypothesized that the mixing of Wolof and Pulaar would be highly stigmatized,
despite the faclthat it is characteristic of the speech of these people. It is further
hypothesized that the vernacular (Sce Labov 1972a, Milroy 1980 and others) would be
the style most likely to give us an idea about the extent of mixin~ among the people. It
is an accepted facttbat bilinguals are capable of sticking to one language in certain
circumstances, e.g, formal settings. Our whole objective, therefore, would be to get
access to the vernacular, characterized by Labov as the style in which the speaker pays
the least attention to his/her speech, It is that style that is acquired ata very early age
(unlike tbe formal style acquired much later) anll is said to be most regular.

---

77
s[leak Pulaar.3 Moreover, it is safe (0 hypothesize Ihat, as a minority in a
remarkably conservative area, the language of the majority, i.e. Pu[aar, is
likely to be the language by which the Wolof population of Sed0 expresses its
integration into the wider mm munity;
because of that, speaking
Pulaar,
especially to a Haal-pulaar, may cause more attention to be paid to speech,
I']
for in such a context switching to Wolof might have been negatively
interpreted
by the Haal-pulaar interlocutor.
Paradoxically then my
speaking Pulaar to them was in effect an involuntary constraining factor as
to what language was appropriate in this context.
This of course has far
reaching consequences since 1 have only a limited picture of their total
competence.
Lavandera (1978: 1) argues concerning bilingual Cocoliche
speakers of Argentina that restricting these speakers to one language (Le.
Spanish or Cocoliche) is in effect equivalent to reducing their usual
linguistic/stylistic competence. She writes:
I
will
advance
the
hypothesis
that,
since
'the
communicative
competence'
of
speakers
who
make
everyday usage of two or more codes plus the ability to
mix them and switch among them, the structure of each
code
taken
separately
is
usually
reduced
in
some
dimensions [sic]. Therefore, if the speaker's verbal abilitv is
evaluated in a situal ion where he or she is forced to stay
within a single code, such as all contacts with
the
monolingual community, this speaker's communicative
competence will seem to be less rich than what it actually
1S.
3From my own experience I know that the Haat-pulaar-en are in general very annoyed
by people who mix Pulaar and Wolof. It used to be seen, and stW is by some people, as a
sign of snobbism if not inferiority .It is generally characteristic of those Haal-pulaar-
en who grew up in the city and never mastered PlIlaar well enough. They are someWhat
thought to be those who lack pride in their ethnic background, the sell-outs. Incidently
, mixing any of the national languages with French in certain settings could also
trigger similar negative reactions in some social contexts.

---

78
Fortunately, I made only four interviews of that kind totalling about
4 hours of recording. In these interviews there were periods where the
subject code-mixed but in general those cases were very few and almost all
involved instances of interference.
\\)
Drawing on
my experience of the prevlOus year, I proceeded
differently in my interviews in N'anga. Four of my six interviews in Nanga
were conducted in Pulaar and Wola!'; one was exclusively in Wolof because
my sUbject (40 years old) reported that his Pulaar was not good. The other
interview was carried out in french and \\V olof because this group of Jycee
(senior high school) students likewise claimed that they could not sustain the
interview in Pulaar." I later found that one of them has no knowledge of
Pulaar except a few words.
The other three as well as the 40 year old
mentioned above have various degrees of knowledge of Pulaar from passive
(i.e. could understand but not speak) to semi-active (Le. understood we!! but
spoke poorly). For example, one of the SUbjects told me that from age five to
seven he lived next to PlIlaar-speaking peers in Nouakchott (capital of
Mauritania) and during that time he spoke more PlIlaar than he did Wolof5
However. after two years he moved back to a Wolof area and he soon lost
most of the Pulaar he had acquired. This is not an uncommon phenomenon in
children's bilingualism.
4Note that I generally accepted my suhjects' claims. Even if they were lying to me hy
claiming not to speak Pula"r. they would have communicated something to me thut is
revealing in terms of their present altitudes toward the language.
5This seems \\0 be in agreement with Lahov's claim that children's speech is influenced
more by their peers' than by their parents'. The only difference is that Labov was
looking at dialects of a single language whereas here wc have a bilingual situation.

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79
The important thing to keep in mind about the interviews in ~anga is
that I did nol constrain myself to speak only one language. In my Pulaar-
Wolof interviews I always started with Pulaar but, when the subjects
switched to Wolof, I just followed them and asked my questions in Wolof,
especially when I was asking them to clarify or expand on what was just
said in Wolof. I found that I ended up having more language mixings in my
interviews in til"anga than in Sedo .. In Secto, however, tllis was compensated
by the otller forms of data collection that yielded most of the instances of
mlxmg.
The reader may notice that one of my interviews in JIIanga was a
group interview in which 1 asked questions directed to [our subjects (the
high school students) and they each gave their answers in turn or just
corn mented on what their friends had said. Note that my host participated in
these interviews and I used his mixed sentences as well. since he is a
member of this community.
41.2.2.2. The Grou[) Recordin~
This
consists
of
recording,
with
a
cassette
recorder,
actual
conversations in progress. In most cases the people were not aware that they
were being taped. In a way, this is a variant of the eavesdropping technique,
with the important difference that this time the speech was tape recorded
and could nOl only be replayed
at a later time, but also it was easier to
supplement the necessary background information on the speakers.
\\)
This technique also has its advantages and its disadvantages. As
advantages we may cite the fact that this gives us perhaps the most casual

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80
uncensored speech we could ever hope to get. Furthermore, the recordings
took place in various settings ranging from soccer fields to social ceremonies,
to simple friendly gatherings, in the afternoon, around a teapot or a card
game. Among the disadvantages are the fact that one could not always
control the quality of the recordings or may not always have all the
necessary demographic information about each of the speakers. Luckily most
of these recordings were made in Sedo by my assistant
who knew the
people involved and could provide the necessary information. I myself made
twO recordings of that kind. One was of two women in conversation, and the
other was a conversation among the four brothers mentioned earlier, Le. my
host's sons in Sedo, including my assistant.
I would like to point out
that I am not ovedy concerned about the
moralistic aspect of this way of proceeding for the simple reason that I am
using the recorded material solely for academic purposes and will do my
best to safeguard the confidentiality and anonymity of my recordings.
Having said this, I will further add that I find both aspects of the
eavesdropping technique as valid ways of gathering data (see Mol1amed,
1989), provided one can ensure the safety of the operation, and the
confidentiality of t[le contents. Furthermore, the various techniques used
may have given me a beller chance to obtain a sample that reflects the total
speech patterns of the two areas.
Finally,
not
only
collected
data
from
different
techniques
(interviews, inconspicuous monitoring etc.), and in different settings, but I
also benefited from the use of the SUbjects' "social networks"6 (see Labov,
\\)
6 Gumperz for example fOllnd thal"the low Sl~IIlS" dialect is most likely to be Ilsed in a
"closed network", ie. with people who are close to yOIl (eg. friends, relatives, soma

---

81
1972a, I 972c; Gumperz, 1982; MiJroy, 1(80/87) by recording four groups of
friends or brothers, three in casual conversation and one in an interview.
The use of social networks allowed me to discover the most natural way for
the subjects to communicate with one another in an informal setting.
It monitored
conversa tions7
11 Interviews
-~---------------
Sedo
9
5
Nanga
6
Table 1
Recordings
4.1..1. The slIbjects
The people of the region can be divided into three social categories.
The first category is what I call farmers. These people may have (had) other
occupations but their basic occupation is agriculture. Note that agriculiure
hcre bears little resemblance to agriculture in the U.s. P<.lrmers in the area
we are concerned with are involved in slibsistence farming, Le. people grow
I.
. I
staple food for their own consu mplion. The region still
remains largely
un touched by the cash crop economy com pared to other areas in the country.
As noted earlier, some of these people may have other skills and trades like
neigh bars etc.) ,whereas the "high swlus" dialect is likely to be used in an "open
network" (e.g office colleagues. business partners etc). I believe the same applies in
bilingual situations where it is lard to apply the notion of "prestige" and where
nevertheless things such as code-mixing will occur only in certain contexts. with
cerLain people.
7Note that beside the tape recorded monitored conversations there are also non-taped
recorded cotle-mixed sentences that I recorded by hand as I heard them. These total 79
(73 from S6do and 6 from Nanga)

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82
bricklaying, carpentry, tailoring, etc. , but they would practice those trades
only part-time to get some cash,
the bulk of their time being spent on
farming.
Tile second category comprises migrant workers. That is,
many
unemployed young men have recently started to travel to France, and to
other, more prosperous, African states like the Ivory Coast and Gabon as
migrant workers or small businessmen, something that their Haal-pl!laar
neighbors have been doing for much longer. The first category of people,
although far mers, may have also other enviable positions in society like
being religious leaders. There are only two of these among our subjects.
Tile
tllird
category
is
what
1 call
the
budding
westernized
"intelligentsia". In my sample, these are mainly the students and the school
I
(
.I
teacher mentioned earlier. The latter category the students in particular)
has not only a reasonable amount of contact with French, but also spend
their high school time in one of the Iycces, all located in the capital cities of
the provinces. Of course this means traveling to the cities. For some this
occurs at around age 12-13 for others much later at age 17-18. The reason
for this diffe,ence is that there are middle schools (called colleges) in the
capitals of Ihe Departments
The women also may be considered a separate group for many
reasons. They are likely to be less educated, and they are likely to be less
well traveled. This is not to say, however, that women in both localities do
not travel. They do, for the same reasons the men do. However, the women
in Sedo llave a markedly different pattern of travelling from all the other
groups. While all the other groups travel outside the areas toward the big

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83
cities or other economic poles such as what used to be ca!led the "groundfillt
basin" in central Senegal, the women of Se do used to go to work as house-
maids in Matam, the administrative capital of the Department only about 15
miles away. This pattern is intereshng for, in Matam, the majority language
is Pulaar, and I was told that indeed most of these Secta women have worked
for Haal-Pulaar families at one time or another8 This means that Sedo
women have had an unbroken contact witll PlIlaar in contrast to their male
counterparts who travel toward the cities and other Wolof or ScreeI' areas.
It may therefore be hypothesized that the women's speech is likely to be
more reflective of the local brand of Wolof than the men's. Recall, however,
that this research is mainly about male speed\\.
Pet'haps the most important conclusion one may draw from this is the
sodo-economic
homogeneity
of
these
populations
There
is
less
differentiation on a socio-economic basis than one is likely to find in western
societies, for example We can therefore discard the socio-economic factor as
irrelevant here since social divisions do not seem to be based on it.
S This pattern of migration is the reverse side of male migration toward the more
important economic centers As mentioned earlier, the economy of the whole fuuta
Tooro was. and stilllar!(cly is. that of self-sustenance. People produce for their own
consumption through the year and, when it comes to the other amenities, they have to
travel and take various cash raying iobs. This generally occurs atspecific times in the
year. espoci;tlly after the harvests during the dry season. Malam, although a small
administrative town. has a small concentration of civil servants and small bUSInessmen
who can afford to hire a maid. The civil servants however may como from various
ethnic groups and. if they are not Haal-Pujaar-en . they are likely to speak Wolof to
their maids.

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84
Farmers 9
Religious leaders
"I ntelligentsia"
22
2
s
Ta!21e_f.
Subjects
The interviews and group recordings constitute about 25 hours of
recorded speech, 9 of which were in Nanga and the rest in the Sedo area.
Recall that the Sedo area comprises 3 villages representing a triangle. They
are roughly at an equal clistance-- about 10 kilo meters -- from one another.
They are Sedo, Taiba Ngueyene and Mogo Tapsir TIalla. Historically, it seems
they were all originally settled by people from Sedo and most families in the
three villages are closely related, inter marriages between them still being
very com mono Coming back to tbe figures, almost all the data from Nanga
was gotten via interviews cond ucted by myself. One of the interviews was a
group interview with <) subjects, all high school students in their late teens.
The other interviews were individual interviews. There are also a few
sentences recorded by the inconspicllous monitoring technique in Nanga. In
Se do, in contrast, only 5 interviews were conducted. The rest of the data in
Sedo was collected through the eavesdropping(i.e. inconspicuous monitoring)
technique using a tape recorder.
The 25 hours produced a little over 780
mixed sentences including the approximately 80 overheard sentences, or
about 10% of my data. These sentences did not exhibit patterns that differed
9This number includes 6 women: I in flanga and 5 in Sedo. The remaining 17 include 5
from Jilanga. The rest ofthe farmers are from Sedo.

---

I
0'~i\\6",lI'<',;c'l\\;h
t
, lA'. ",. .;.." "\\"O,~,"),,~;,:.-.'. ··'"~.-O-~_.~~
;,.~_._. ~_
,,,~;;'i;
_ _
..._.__
rio,',,' "~'f;.;"., ,,-: ',;:t!i;ijl."'~""";- ,;
85
from the taped recorded sentences. Mixed elements in these sentences were
then coded according to a number of factors that will be presented below.
4.3.l. Theoretical assumptions
The data was coded for a number of variables, and the coding was
based on certain assumptions:l) The language of each sentellce(S)
IS
deter mined by the language of the tensed verb (Joshi,1983 ), 2) There IS
asymmetry
between
the
matrix
language
(Lm)
and
the
embedded
language(Le). Note that there are two versions of asymmetry in
the
literature, a strong version suggested by Joshi (1983) that takes the
dominant language
III
to be Lm so that switching has always to be
unidirectional (ie from Lm to Le and never the reverse) Another version
(Doron,1983), a weaker one
to which I adhere, suggests that there is
asymmetry but that, at each S'node, Lm and Le are redefined on the basis of
the language of the tensed verb. In my opinion, the second version is more
satisfactory in that it includes the first version while allowing other
possibilities. Empirical evidence also
support the latter. One important
!
IIll n language contact studies pairs of terms like matriK/host language vs
embedded/ guestlanguago, L1 vs L2, dominant tanguage vs non-dominant Janguag~, ,:re
sometimes used interchangeably. While some writers are careful to spell out their
reasons for doing so, others move from one to another as if they were co-termiJlous.
Although there are ways in which these lerms match and could be treated as
synonymous, in other lI'ays they are quite different, The first pair refers to a
syntactic claim that eadl miKed S(sentence) belongs to one language a.nd contains
elements foreign to thatlanguago. The socond pair is a le I'm used mainly to refer to the
sequence of acquisition nf two languages, L1 being acquired before L2. The third pair is
a psychologicallpsycholinguistic concept which suggests that for a bilingual there is
greater mastery of one language as compared to another. As stated earlier, it is possibte
that for a given bilingual, the three pairs are synonymous, but it is not always the
case. For this reason it is important to describe eKactly the type of bilingual we a!'o
dealing with, given that different bilinguais manifest their bilingualism differently.

---

86
consequence of asymmetry is joshi's constraint on sWitching Sm (matrix
clause) to Se (embedded clause), although various constituents in Sol can b·c
switched to corresponding constituents Se.
3) Lexical-swilchmg(Lex-S)
(VallduvI 1987, and Fontana and Val1c!uvI
1989)
13 different from
grammatical switching, which is
considered here as the only !i'uc code-
switching. The two should therefore be kept separate.
Before moving any further, we must say a few words about lexical
switching al1d closed class items. The term lexical-swilclling is used by
Validuvi (1987) who no((:s that there are in fact t\\'10 types of switches that
have been lumped together in the literature as code-switching. One involves
phrasal constituents (ie XPs), whereas the other involves only b"re
grammatical categories Oe XOs) such as N(ouns), V(erbs), Adj(ectives) etc.
Vallduvi notes that the data presented in the literature shows that there is
an overwhelming preference for XO switches. He also noticed that there was
I.
'.'
considerably fewer switches of closed class items (see below) than of open.
He concludes from this that, from the point of view of sentence processing, it
is much easier to switch an XO than '1.n XP because tbe former concerns only
elements of the lexicon. In other worus, lexical switching does n01 involve
the interaction of the gramman; of the two hmguages with all
of
morphological or syntactic adjustments that this would require Furthermore,
reflecting on Bahr 1980, he writes:
flahr C.. l deserthes the lexicon as based on a strict
distinction hetween 'texical' and 'actual meaning of words.
The former can be determined by semantic features of the
lexical paradigm to which the word in question belongs.
The latter b the actualization of the word in a syntagmatic
relationship in language (~subcategorization and selectional
features) Most important, lexical meanings are contexl-
free, and therefore 'definable without regard to thelt' use in

---

87
utterances'(:248). We understand, then, that the 'context-
free'
component
of
a
lexical
item
can
be
easily
transferrable from one language to another. (pA)
4) Assuming the existence of lexical switching, I further posit that in
fact the only way one can ascertain that codeswitching has occurred is when
grammatical elements (including closed class items) are involved in the
switCh. There is abu!1clant evidence of this in my data. Par example there <Ire
many Pulaar and Prench verb stems with \\\\Ioiol' innection. These verbs are
considered Wolof verbs only because of the inflectional morphemes they
carry(or lack thereof)
or by virtue of being preceded by a kind of
i,.'
AUX(iliary) carrying tense, aspect, mood(TAM) or aspect, mood, polarity
(A MP). Polarity refers to whether the sentellce is affirmative or negative and
is morphosyntaclically important for both Wolof (see Dialo, 1983) and
Pulaar(see Mclntosh, 1(84). Tense is generally said to be non-existent or
unimportant in most West Atlantic l.angunges as compared io aspect.
Examples: 14. Da-maa
PELUT ci
An:,JlA'L:' ba (1160, M,Y,SS-871
AMP+ 1sg DECIDE Prep THING
Det
I am very deter In ined about the thing
15.5UKK-ul
sa
gemmiii!(l155, F,Y, 55·87)
5HUT+AMP 2sg Pass
mouth
Shut your mouth l
16 .. beneen bi mu lJ£PLAalr 10en... (11546, M,Y, N·88)
other det 3sg MOVE
3sg pI
The othedgroup) he moved them ...

---

88
Example (14) contains both Pu!aar (upper case)and French (italicized upper
case) elements. The verb conl'orms to Pulaar sWllched verbs in \\Volar. Only
the stem of the verb is switched i.e the infinitive suffix is dropped in
contrast to French verb switches for which the whole non-finite verb is
switched. The TAMI AMP is carried by the complex subject of the sentence.
Example (15) is an example where the verb stem belongs to Pulaar(from the
verb sukku-d~) amI the imperative marker is Woiof. ll Example (16) is an
example of Wolof-French mixing Note that no particular YAMI AMP l1l&rker
is used. Nevertheless, for those who know the language there is no problem
identifying this sentence as a narrative sentence (see preceding chapter) in
the perfective aspect as is apparent in the English translation. Here it is the
whole construction, especially the position of the sllbject PRO, that helps us
determine the correct way of interpreting the sentence. We cannot make a
decision on the basis of the verb here since it is invariable. That is to say, if
we were to transform the sentence into ;l different mood and aspect,
it
would be written the same way. Note incidently that in example (16) above
a Wolof cliLic pronoun is attached to a verb of French origin. Haff's (1979)
'structural constraint' says that the chlic must be in the language of the verb
it is attached to. Assuming that Pfarr is correct example (16) would suggest
treating t.he switched verb as a Wolof verb. The importance of this will
become apparent later.
At this point, [ have to answer a very important question concerning
the morphology of the s\\vilched French verbs, which is: what al10ws me to
11 Note that in other Wolof dialects. the Wolor imperative morpheme is al/cl"nd not ill.
We may have here a speech error or a dialectal variant, or it may be some interference
of Pulaar which realizes the same imperative verb as "ell kku_".

---

! !
89
say that we are dealing with lnfinitive forms. The question is a relevant one
because, in some Wolof constructions (e.g. conditional sentences) the verb is
inflected, and phonologically it sounds like the productive French infinitive
marker (er) = le] (see the next example). My answer is based on two types
of evidence, The first is internal in that Wolof marks il1finitive as 0
(e,g. demfl 'to go'; jiewf!.
'to come'; in
contrast to Pulaar: vah-de
(stem+suffix)'to go'; jlr-d~ 'to come'; or French: wrt-ir 'to go' and vend.:re 'to
selllln example (16) above one could argue tltat maybe the French verb i3
pronounced like a French infinitive but may well be written with a simpl,;;
(e) pronounced as French [el and realized in \\vriling as (-er) or (H There
would be no way I cou]c! refute such a suggestion were it not for other
examples of French infinitives such as those that end with (-id or (-re), It
turns out that all Lex-Ss involving verbs of the latter types at'e l'calized
exactly as French infinitives, This is the second type of evidence Wllich we
may call external evidence.
I have been trying to show that the closed class items are the only
reliable indicators that \\Ve are dealing with coele-switching. The foregoing
discussion \\Vas intended to sho')! that in a mixed verb (i.e, vihere verb stem
and tense belong to different languages) it is the tense morpheme that
decides the language of the sentence, In a way then, assumption 4 may turn
out to be more accurate and more generalizable than just saying
thal "the
language of the sentence is the language of the tensed verb"12 The problem
12Allhough the impJication in Joshi (1983) is that the mixed verb belongs tu the
lan guage of tense, it is not clear to me that the status of the verh stem is clarified,
Either the radical is considered as a Lex-SI synchronic borrowin£ i:1 which case
attachinl( to it a lense morpheme poses no problem or the stem as a code"swilcn, which,
as the Lex-S model proposes, is inaccurate,

---

90
with the latter statement is that it does not tell us much about cases where
the stem and the inflectional morpheme or tense are from two different
languages.
Assumption 4 also has deep implications for switching. For example,
let us look at the following Wolof-Prench mixed sentence:
Il ... nu doora l3 POSER ()[fE5T!(}/V bi (#94)
3pl v+asp
v+inf n
det
they begin to pose tl1e question=before they pose the question
Pollowing Chomsky (1986) thIs sentence can be represented in two ways!4:
,
\\ ,
.'
13lJialo 1983 calls these semi-auliiliaries. Wc seem to have lwre a serial construction
translated into English by "before".
\\';The d0vice X is called swilching device by joshi. It simply shoVls tlU\\t one category
changes from one language to another.

---

i 7 ~t I
I i·; \\\\'
7iJ I
rp\\\\:
t
,/"-.....
/~
I'~( l\\v
I \\\\.
101\\\\,
I'w
IljLi/'~
iili
~
I\\v
\\'1-\\\\,
(j onc J
"'.,
(lont" a
\\
\\ "" ,
"
\\.~ I,
,
,
./'~
v'·
i\\ipf
Np\\v·
DET\\\\7
. \\.
Oi
J\\l(
, .
qlit'~.tl(){)
S<iVS
(h,ll
110 codc-~,wilciling
IKcurl'ccl. it'.
we only ilave 11"le Jexicll-
switching H,e secund t 17ill S<1V~ that wc [',',we two codc-Ss, Le. tiwre 11,);;

---

"
92
spoken Wolof all along l5, whereas the second suggests that at a certain point
the speaker has switched to French.
Apart from the reasons given above for preferring derivation a, there
is also the fact that derivation a corresponds to
my own intuition as a
speaker of that dialect of Wolof. Further, it is to be noted that once a Lex-S
occurs, it behaves syntactically and sometimes morphologically exactly as an
element of Lm (Sankoff et al 1985) and in that sense I am comfortable to
consider it
as a special type of borrowing whether it is called nonce
horrowing (Weinreich 1953; Sankoff et al 1985) or lexical-switch (Vallduvi
op. cit.) or synchronic lexical borrowing (henceforth "synchronic borrowing").
a term I prefer to use.
I believe that at the moment of utterance the
speaker treats the Lex-S alias synchronic
borrowing exactly as a native
element and that is why the speaker feels free to attach native morpllemes
to it, whether inflectional or not. This brings us back to our
discussion of
example( 16) above, and allows us to say that a Wolof c1itic pronoun is
attached to a verb of French origin only because the verb is considered as a
native verb when synchronically horrowed. 16
agree
with
Valleluvi
that
it
is
important
to
distinguish
nonce/synchronic horrowing from diachronic borrowing also known as
loanword / integrated horrowing
on the one hand and code-switching /
grammar-switching on the other hanel. This distinction however is only
15 Note that this is my own interpretation of Lex-S which will become clear later. In
Vallduvi's Lex-S the assumption seems to be that there has been a switch from one
lan guage to another at the lexical insertion.
16Note, incidentally, that sentence 17 jf considered as code-switched would violate
San koff and Po plac k's "equivalen ce constrain t" , which basically says that no switch
can occur unless at the point of the switch the structures of the constituents in the two
l)
lani(uages are parallel.lIowever, if 17 is considered as a series of lellical sw·itches. the
equivalence constraint continues to stand.

---

93
formal since synchronic borrowing shares some characteristics with both
loanwords and code-switches and according to what one is studying it should
be possible to group it together with one or the other. Synchronic borrowing
shares with loanwords the potentiality of behaving syntactically, functionally
and morphologically just as Lm elements. It is distinguished from loanwords
In that it is not usually phonologically integrated in Lm 17 and may also not
be recognized (i.e. understood) by monolinguals. Also its (i.e. synchronic
borrowing) use is usually infrequent (Sec Sankoff et al 1985). Note that with
respect to the latter characteristic, synchronic borrowing looks very much
like code-switching. Finally, because Lex-S is generally limited to single
lexical items, it has generally been agreed that it is difficult to distinguish it
from loanwords, especially because there are many loanwords that are not
phonologically integrated.
I think the last Wolof -French example shows the power of the concept
of Lex-S and sheds a new light on the way we look at switches. Note that
Vallduvi, the proponent of Lex-S does not deny the similarity between his
concept of Lex~S with what Sankoff et al call nonce-borrowing. However, he
dislikes the term "borrowing" because it connotes integration in Lm, and
therefore a borrowing should be treated as identical to a native element.
This, to his mind, makes borrowing irrelevant to a linguist interested in the
way the grammars of two distinct languages cohabit with or accommodate to
b
each other. Vallduvi is right that at least for methodological reasons and
from a purely language processing point of view one should keep these
various language contact phenomena separate. One must not forget however
171L is generally agreed that phonopjogicaJ integration is not a strict criterion to
characterize loan words.

---

94
that the main point remains whether or not the grammars of the languages
in contact are at all affected.
We are then left to still grapple with the question of how can one be
sure that one is dealing with a grammatical-switch. My fourth assumption
proposes that we cannot be sure unless a closed class item is involved in the
switch, It follows from that statement that what makes XP difficult to switch
is not necessarily that it is a constituent but that it contains a closed class
item. Note that this assumption takes care of practically all types of XPs. with
the possible exception of modified NPs in which for example NP--->Adj N. In
this case the only thing that determines code-switching is word order; and,
where word o'rder is the same between Lm and Le we have no way of
proving that we are dealing with code-switching, or another phenomenon,
say two lexical-switches, or a borrowing. Note that word order is not that
important in pp switches, for example, because PPs include closed class
items (Ps).
In any case, the Wotof-French mixed sentence given above (under
assumption 4) clearly supports my claim that only closed class items
switches can provide a principled way of determining code-switches. We
note that all the closed class items in the preceding example belong to one
language (Wolof) and that both switched elements are lexical. If we take the
lower switch of derivation b, it is possible to have a Wolof NP corresponding
exactly to a French NP word order (ie. NP---> DET N) at this place and yet
the phrase would still remain Wotof by virtue of DET being Wolof (DETw).
Conversely, the NP in question would have im mediately been NPf if the DEl'
were DETr and would therefore legally licence for Code-So
There is in fact
another problem with constituents without closed class items which is that

---

95
they may be re-analyzed by the switching person as being
idioms and
therefore treated as single (lexical) ele ments.
To summarize my point] will simply say tbat in my coding I have
adopted the criterion
of the tensed verb as being the indicator for the
language of the mixed S and I add to it that the language of each constituent
under S is determined by the language of the closed class elements in the
constituent, and where the constituent does not contain a closed class item
we have no principled way of determining whether we are dealing with (a
series of) Lex-S or with Code-So But for the sake of consistency wherever a
situation lik.e this obtains 1 prefer to treat Lex-S as the default factor.
4.3.2.Factors and Factor grou~
Having outlined the assumptions on which my coding is based, I can
now say a few words about the coding proper. The dependent variable
variants are five: borrowing/loanword, lexical-switching, code-switching,
interference and other. Under other 1 lu mp together everything that does
not belong to the other four categories.
Although, in recent years, linguists have focused almost exclusively
on code-switching because it is the only phenomenon that provides some
interest for grammar study, I have decided to look at the other phenomena
as well because I am interested in understanding tlle total bilingual situation
in the areas under investigation. I have dealt with loanworcts at length but
let me simply restate the fact that my criteria for determining loanwords are
phonological integration and frequency of use. I have already said that
among the two integration is the least reliable although where it can be

---

96
ascertained it remains a good criterion. We are therefore left with frequency
of use. I consider this criterion to be sufficient to decicle about the status of
a lexical element provided of course it (the lexical element) is also
understood by monolinguals l8 . Here, frequency is taken to mean the use of
an element by two different people in contexts which are not immediately
adjacent to each other. 1 also consider as a loanword a lexical item that is
recurrent in the speech of one individuaJl9 With respect to interference the
determination is based on hesitancy or some kind of speech problem
followed by a switch to the other language(cf example I, chapter I). Cases of
interference are generally of intersentential type of switching The other
category is coded every time the speaker uses expressions like "according
to", "so and so said ...", "as so and so would say" , etc. , Le. when the speaker is
i,l
quoting or translating somebody els~'s speech and in any other cases.
The independent factors are grouped into II factor groups as follows:
orientation, age, gender,
grammatical category, class, complexity, matrix
language, embedded
language,
phonological
integration,
morphological
and/or syntactic integration. Orientation refers 10 whether the type of
language-mix is locaHike(Ll or city-like(C) Local-like mainly characterizes
18Frequency in itself is not sufficient since it is conceivable to have an element with a
certain frequency in the language of the bilinguals without being known to some
monolinguals. I have many instances of French vorbswith high frequency but
because [ have good reason to suspectthalthey may not be known to the monolingual
speaker I have considered such elements as LexSs. At any rate. for an item to be validly
considered borrowing one must ascertain wheter or not it is known to the
monolinguals. If it is not it cannot be a bnrrowing.
191his latter co~dition is less convincing hecause with regard to verbs in particular I
generally consider them as lexical switches even if they arc repeated many times by
the same speaker or hy different speakers in different contexts. The reason for this is
that these switched elements although current in the speech of the bilinguals may not
be understood by monolinguals speaking the city dialects. However, whenever it is
possible for me to say yes monolinguals know this verh and use it (e.g. French verbs
like inlQ.illscr "to he interested io"or£l.!!m.inc£. "10 train" etc.) I cuosil.ler it asa
loanword even if it appears 00 ly once.

---

97
I)
mixes that involve Wolof and Pulaar, whereas city-like involves mixes
between Wolof/Pular and French.
Age and gender are self -explanatory. But let me say a few words
about age. My sUbjects are divided into three groups: young(Y), middle
age(M), old(O). The young people are between 15 and 30 years of age. The
middle age group are 31 to 45 and the old are above 45. This division is
partly based 011 what I hypothesize as being significant for language policies
in Senegal. Le. the time of independence. Senegal was independent from
France in 1960. This means that people
between 15 and 30 were born at
around the time of independence, while the middle-age group was in its
mid-teens. The idea here is to see if the change of political status of the
. country has a 'parallel in language usage. With respect to gendedM/P), I
must specify that, despile the fact that the research is mainly about males, I
have quite a few items from women which I felt could be exploited.
Grammatical category comprises: nouns (N), pronouns(O), adjectives
(j), adverbs (D), particles (IC), connectors(C), verbs(V)) ; it also includes the
category S meaning clause.
Class refers to the fact that certain elements are closed class items(C)
and the others are open class items(O). Again the reason for this factor group
is Ihat most of the writers who have studied code-switching from the point
of view of language processing in particular (viz. Joshi. 1983: Doron,1983;
Pintzuk tlJlL 1984) are agreed that closed class i1cms20 are more resistant to
switching than open class ite ms .
20Closed class items comprise things like: tense, pronouns,prepositions,
complementizcrs. conjunctions. determiners. quantifiers etc. (see for e.g ]oshi, p.2 :
Prince et al p.2).

---

'-'-~"--
98
The factor group complexity describes the mixed item(s) as single(G)
I:)
or complex (X). A complex switch is anything more than a single word,
provided it is not treated as an idiom. The
remaining factor groups are
matrix language (W(olof)/ P(ulaar)/ F(rench); embedded language(W lP/F),
integraton divided into phonological (+/ -) on the one hand and morphological
or syntactic(t/-) on the other hand."1
My field work was designed to investigate the range of language-
mixing phenomena in the every day speech of the people in two villages .in
rural Senegal. Clearly any current situation of linguistic practice stems from
the history of the areas under study as well as the country at large. This
history includes previous and contemporary language policies that have
dictated particular uses for particular languages. In the field, my research
included some language attitude C]uestions that clearly showed the low
opinion people generally have for the local brand of Wolof, revealing the
positive views about the City Wolof and French. The proof of this is that the
majority of my subjects of whom those questions were asked(especially the
young) felt that their local Wolof is bad.
However, no similar judgment
exists concerning their City Wolof. In chapter 6, I will deal with issues
pertaining to language planning and language policy and their effect, if any,
on the situation.
4.4. Summary.
In this chapter, I have presented in detail my methodology. I have
described the ways the data was collected and organized.I have also tried
21 Note that th is sign (/) means" not ap pI i cable".

---

,.
f!t~~~~ff~~i~flr~:'~:r~~~~Y.,-a;~;ii;~W~~i<Jf,:~#~~tf,Jt'ti~4"~'i~''};",,:_"''C:; ..;, 't,.,;;;;:.,~.:-.::.:~·
l. c. -',
" ,;1~:~/:1;tli"'·;+>i~~~'~¥4Et:.:a'..;." :,:;:i1.l;~."if'Q-'iv:;~ ~t.: .. ~': ~,.-J. ~i.
99
to present exhaustively the motivation for each step taken.In the following
chapter(chapter 5 l. I present a quantitative analysis of the data and proceed
with the discussion of the results with respect to code-mixing.
I)

---

100
CHAPTER V
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
I will first present the results from a cross-tabulated table of all the
factors. I will then look at each dependent variable separately, in the light
of the statistical results emanating from the Varbrul runs.
The tables will
be introduced first, and will immediately be followed by comments. Only
tables that show significant results are presented below.
5.1. The Cross-tabulations
5.1.1. Age factor grouD_'
2
,)
4
5
Total
0
n
163
21
5
14
C)
212
%
77
10
2
7
-1
M
n
89
58
J 0
4
19
180
%
49
32
6
2
I 1
Y
n
460
342
71
10
18
901
%
51
38
8
1
2
\\1
Total
n
712
418
89
28
46
1293
%
55
32
7
2
-1
TABLE 1
Age and code-mixing
I The first factor group(first horizontal line) represents the variants of the dependent
variable. respectively bOf'rowing( I1. lexical switching(2J, code-switching (}J,
interference(4) O,her(5). The second factor group is tile independent variable (first
verticallinel. here. age represented by Old(O). ¥oung( ¥l and Middle-aged(M). As can
be inferred from this taille each independent variahle is crosstabulated with all the 5
variants of the depondent variable

---

101
Wllen
we
look
at
table
3,
the
most
striking
fact
is
the
disproportionate contribution of the young people: over 213 of the mixed
tokens. Although the nu mber of young people amounts to
11 ,\\gainst 7
middle aged and 14 old, their level of code-mixing is higher than any othet"
group. This fact becomes even more dramatic if we consider that the young
contribute for only 6 hours of recorded speech in comparison to 5 for the
middle-aged and 14 for the old. In other words with less than 1/2 of the
old people's speech time, the young produce almost 2/3 of the language
mlxes.
OLD
MID. AGE
YOUNG
,
(n~H)
(n~07 )
(n~ II )
I,
'.1
Speech time
11
05
06
(11 hours)
11 Tokens
212
180
901
Table -1
11 of tokens
by speech time
For all three groups the most common types of code-mixing are
borrowings and lexical-switches which amount to 1133 of the grand total of
1293 Proportionally, the old tend to produce more borrowings (77%) While
tile young and middle-aged produce more lexical-swilches(38% and 341.
respectively).
For both borrowing and lexical-switching, the middle-aged group
seems to behave like the young. Code-switching, interference iwd other,
allllOugh present in the speech of these subjects, appear to be much less

---

'\\
102
important. However, with regard to the last three, it may be noted that the
middle aged group lead the other two groups in the production of other, the
old produce more interferences while the young lead in code-switches. It
appears here that borrowing is an olel people's thing, whereas lexical
switching and code-switchmg is rather a young people's activity, although
the younger group also produces a good deal of borrowings.
5.1.2. Matrix and embedded lang1!i!ges
~.l.2.1. Matrix langl!m~es
I,
'.'
2
4
5
Total
w
n
614
395
79
11
35
\\137
%
54
35
7
I
3
p
n
95
17
1
13
10
139
%
68
\\2
3
9
7
F
n
3
9
3
1
I
17
%
18
S3
18
6
6
Total
n
712
121
86
28
46
l293
%
55
33
7
2
4
Tahlu
Matrix language and code-mixing

---

103
) 1.2.2 Embedded lan.£Ula~s.
.,
2
)
4
5
Total
P
n
103
56
4
6
19
188
%
55
30
2
3
10
W
Cl
25
17
6
13
4
65
%
38
26
9
20
6
F
n
584
346
76
9
23
1040
"
56
33
7
1
2
•
Total n
712
421
86
28
46
1293
'I
55
32
7
2
4
"
Tahle (,
Code-mixing and embedded language
Table 5 shows that, overall, Wolof appears to be the indisputable
matrix language in this data set.
When considered separately, however,
there are interesting differences across
the 5 dependent
factors. Most
mixes in Pulaar matrix languages are borrowings(68% ) as opposed to Wolof
(54%) and French (18%), Lexical- switches and code-switches tend to be
ravored in French matrices.
In comparison, table 6 shows that French is the favored embedded
language. Here, too, when viewed individually, dramatic differences exist
between the 5 dependent variables, French emerges once more as most
favored in borrowing, closely followed by Pulaar. With regard to code-
SWitching, there seems to be a slight edge for \\Volof over French, Code-
SWitches are, however, very limited in number. French and Pulaar tend to
favor more lexical switches in the e rnbeclded position.

---

J ;.
104
When read together,
tables 5 and 6 make interesting suggestions.
Table 5 shows that these speakers are likely to switch from wolof or Pulaar
and the likely language they switch into is French, for all 5 dependent
var'iables, except in borrowing and quotes.
If this is the case, this is likely
to be even more true for the young, since we already know that the old are
in general less likely to use
French than the young, and that the only
French elements in their language are borrowings 2.
5.1.3.Grammatical Categol'jes
2
3
'1
5
Total
N
n
187
126
23
6
21
663
%
73
19
3
1
~
.)
V
n
90
150
0
6
2
248
%
36
6D
0
2
I
D
n
68
17
I
4
122
%
56
39
I
3
K
n
17
5
0
1
0
23
%
71
22
0
1
0
~:>
S
n
0
(I
U
13
I (\\
11
'X,
0
I)
.'\\0
30
4 I
F
n
4
72
0
0
0
76
%
5
95
0
0
0
C
n
8
11
0
0
I
20
%
40
55
0
()
5
21 may not have made this eKplicit enough earlier, but it goes without saying that. the
only French elements the old could produce are borrowings. Although some of them (
2 from Nanga) have had some contact with Frencl\\ as a result of living and working
in the city fora long time. they can by no means be considered bilingual in French.

---

105
p
n
32
5
40
I
0
87
%
j7
6
5(i
I
0
o
n
6
4
o
(]
0
10
%
60
40
o
0
0
Total n
712
42l
86
28
46
1293
%
55
"3
J
7
2
4
Tablc 7
Code-mixing and grammatical category
Table 7 shows the predominance of borrowing across the grammatical
categories (55%) , foBowed by lexical-switching(33%), code-switching(7%),
quotes( 4%) and interference(2%),
Among the grammatical categories, overall, nominals lNl favor more
mixing, followed by vcrbs(V), moelifiers(D), prepositionals ([)), fiBers (F) ,
clauses(S), particles(KJ, coni unctions (C) and pronouns (0). However, each of
these categories, considered separately, behaves differently across the
various dependent factors
For example,
nouns,
modifiers, particles,
pronouns appear more in borrowing Verbs, fillers, conjunctions arc likely to
he lexical switches. Coelc-switches arc mostly of the phrasal ot' clausal
types 3, Finally, the table also presents many knockout factors, Le factors
\\)
with zero or 100% occurrence for certain elements, 4
~.] ;4)pen and closed cL,!sses
3 The faclor group complexilylnot shown here) shows that 100'7. of the code-switches
are oftheX-type(ie complex lln;ls), ie NIX) means noun phrase, P(X) means
prepositional phrase ete
4The knock-out factors are showed hero on I}' for oUr information, but they have to be
eliminated by recodinl( or cxclusioll [(11· the varllrlll pr0gramme to be able lo run

---

pronouns, 111 lilt: ;c«lnci ;:Llhgrr,up \\ve
have elements like fiUers iFi
11'lriicleslf.:' Cel'l,lin [vpes of adverl,s such as hench
COllUnc
"1;I-;c' isec
I)
Pinlzul-; eUJL 198'1; Mohamed, J 'Ji3'J I,
z
;{
)
)
Total
(j
n
605 302
7)
14
28
1022
VI
St)
30
7
1
"
"
J
n
(,4
9S
il
(I
Ill,
"
.19
I'd;
ii
Il
"
n
'-r '~,
21
I)
Il
0
,"
67
' ,
()
()
()
"
JJ
Total
n
712
1!8
I)
28
i 2'i 1
'.7
.J'i
I
')
L
Tah 1.;-.0.
Culie-miling and Ille open/clused cla~~e~
Tlw
paltern \\Inl ~ho\\\\', [lel-e i~ Ihal (here is ~l)l1le ,iuslification in
cl'eating (Ile~e 111l'l'l' grulI\\,s as llw\\' c1l'arly exlli\\)ll liilTerences frum one
liepende11l faclur lu anulller, It IS inleresting 10 nDte thm open ami clused
cla~s Items'llell<lVC almusl Ill(; same wav with re~pecl to borrowln~, 111"V
- - - -----------
-!:'A((onJing lCJ:\\ileinJ'(,ich(1053:Yil: 'It lllay he possiblE; [0 range the morpheme c!a~~es
of ~11angll~lge in J. continllUlIs se:'it$ from the 1ll(J:i! :;lfuclural!y nr.d SrnlJgmatic:llly
il1le~('alcJ inflenionaJ el1c1in~. (11 ,'Ollgll ~ll(h "grammalic,tJ \\1'lll'd, as prepositions,
al'lides, or 3u}iiliarr \\'crhs. lo full· fle(l~ed "'ords lil:e nouns, verbs, and adjeeti\\'cs, ~H~d
(j) indepcndenl adverh> and completcl~' llninte~raletl interjections. Then this
hYllOlhesls might be sl::t IIp. The rlllh~(' th~ in{(:gcaliu!l of the mnrphCl11e, the 1,~~';
likelihuod of its lransfcl" NotL: lhat ,1ccjJrdin~ [(I \\Veinreiclllhe5c assuror-lions have
het:n around since the II.Hh c"nlury. eI.

---

----_._-_._-_._
,
..
.
.. . ,
-~-~--".
,
---
..1
--..
107
both favor it . This may be surprising, given the assumption in the literature
about language contact concerning the unswitchability of closed class items
(e.g. joshi, 1983 and see also note 5)6 [t appears from this table, however,
that closed class items are as borrowable as open class items. With regard
to switching, tile second class of closed class items (]-type) seems to favor
more lexical switching, followed by
open class items. [n contrast, closed
class items (C-type) favor more code-switching, Open class items are
predominant in code-n\\ixing, something consistent with the overwhelming
majority of nOLlns and verbs among the mixes.
In the preceding comments, I have looked at some of the significant
information provided by cross-tabulation. This has allowed me to have a
general idea about the interaction between the various factors. Le! me now
turn to the statistical results provided by the varbrul programme. from
now on, my focus will only be on borrowing, lexical-switching and code-
switchi ng,7
5.2. 'The statistical results
The varbruls results presented here are the outcome of a stepwise
regression. The
results
describe
the
degree of
likelihood
that
the
61l may he argued. however. that these results may indicate a difference between
code-switching and borrowing, While anylhing may be borrowable. anything is not
code-sw ilch able.
7Aparl from the factlhat interference and quotes arc insignificant in the dala, Ihey
are not really part of the Ihings I am inlerested in in this study as explained earlier.
8 Varbrul is a statiscal programme developed by some scholars in the field of
sociolinguistics such as W, Labov. D. Sankoff and many others. 1l is used in the study
of variable rule, and has different ver5ions. The version used here is the one
conceived by D. Hand and D. Sankoff for Mac computers and known as Goldvarb. For
more details about the programme see "Goldvarb. A variable Rule Applicalion for
Mac! n losh" (I 933?) by D Rand and D. Sa 11 koff as we 11 as D Sankoff's "Variable Rules".
1%7. 10 appear in S"ciQl!rr&!!!Slif.l'. An international handbook of Ihe science of
language and society, edited by Ulrich Amman. Norbert DiUrnal', Klauss J Mallheier.

---

108
independent factors have influenced the occurrence of the dependent
variable.9 The program me
automatically
retains
the groups which
influence significantly the occurrence of the dependent variable.
5.2.1.1. First run
Grouptt2
0: 0.777,
Y: 0.443
Group tl 4
N: 0.685,
V: 0251. D: 0.454, K: 0.744, F: 0.067
c: 0.243,
?: 0.412,0: 0636
Groupl/5
G: 0.525,
X: 0.341
Groupll7
P: 0.421,
WO.190, F0.531
Group /1 B
-: 0.397,
+: 0.852
Groupl/9
+: 0.503,
-: 0.309
Table 9
5.2.1.2SeCond run
Groupl/2
0: 0.755,
Y: 04'15
Groupll'1
0: 0.502,
1: 0449, C: 059 I
Groupl/5
G: 0.522,
X: 0.388
Groupl/7
PO.419,
W:0.2 I 0, F: 0.535
Groupl/8
-: 0405,
+: 0.833
Groupl/9
+: 0.50 I,
-: 0402
Table 10
We must first note the discrepancies between the numbers in tables
9 and 10. However, these discrepancies seem really minimal anel do not
affect the general tendencies revealed in the tables. Both tables show that
9 There are two runs for each dependent variables. where possible. This was
necessary because it appeared to me that the factor groups "grammatical category"
and "class" (ie. open/closed class) are not real1y independent of each other.
Interaction is usually undesirable between independent linguistic factors. although
sociological factors may interact (Sankoff.1987:271. Thus. the first run excludes the
class factor group while retaining the grammatical category group. and the second
run does the reverse

---

· ,~
~':"~~~I~~ '-"~\\'~;.-,:;p...:. ;";:~', ~ ....~;.""~\\,;,~. ~;·:;.':'r··':' ~". . _. ,". _' ~
~~'t?I~):.1 """»r~J¥§f~~J1tl~·t
~,..;~. d.V"·,.....,:~lft.\\~·l{I~:.~""r':h>"~;,, .. ·.·~,:;-·.,i, ,.' , .-
109
old age favors borrowing. I°Group 5 shows that borrowings are more likely
to be single elements.
Group 7 (embedded language)
shows that the
embedded elements are more likely to be French and that Wolof is the most
disfavored embedded language. This is consistent with it being the major
matrix language. Group 8 (phonological integration) and group 9 (morpho-
syntactic integration) show that borrowings are likely to be integrated both
phonologically and morpho-syntactically.
Morpho-syntactic integration
(group 9) exhibits very close scores between
integration
and
non-
integration suggesting that a borrowing does not have to be integrated.! J
With respect to group 4, the two tables show different things. Table 8 shows
that K (particles) , nouns (N) and O(pronouns)
are most favorable to
borrowing and this is consistent with the percentages exhibited in table 7.
Table 10 exhibits numbers that reflect the percentages of table 9, except in
the case of closed class items of type I (henceforth, I-type). Table 10 shows
that C-type closed class items(henceforth C-type) and Open class elements
are both favorable to borrowing, with C-type leading. It also shows that 1-
type is the least favorable among the three. However, here too, the scores
are not that far apart suggesting that these speakers borrow anything.
The only striking thing about these results is that the I-type scores in
table 10 appear to contradict both the percentages of table 7 and the
frequencies in table 9. Table 9 shows that Ks, which are I-type,
are the
most favorahle to borrowing, and yet table 10 shows lIlat I-type are the
IONole that Y for group number 2 represents the young and the middle aged. This is
justified by the observation made earlier that these two groups of people behave in a
similar manner, for some of the variables. Every time lhis happens, the similar factors
are lumped together and re coded into one. When possible, recoding is also preferable
to exclusion in the case of knock-outs.
IIThis must be interpreted as meaning morphological integration.

---

110
least favorabJe for borrowing.
However, the contradiction
IS
only in
appearance since table 10 shows the effect of a11 I-type elements on
borrowing, which means that the result reflects, in fact, some kind of
average effect, from those elements that ravor as welJ as those, such as Ps in
table 9, that disfavor borrowing . Incidenta11y, the same can be said of C-
type and open class elements, but note that none
of the elements that
belong to Cor 0 disfavors borrowing as much as Ps do, for example.
5.2.2. Lexical switchint;.
5. 2.l.l.. The first run:
Group#2
0.0210,
Y 0561
Group#4
N: 0314,
V: 0763, D: 0.585, K 0.338, F: 0.979,
C: 0.831,
P: 0202,0: 0.457
Group#5
G: 0.564,
X: 0 152
Groupll7
P: 0.')<) 5,
W:0,778 , F: 0.469
Group#8
-: 0.631,
+: 0.096
L!.ble I I
5.2.2;2. The second run
Groupll2
0:0.219, Y: 0,562
Grou pll3
0: 0.468,
I: 0697
C: 0.480
Group#4
G: 0614, X: 0.078
Group"6
P: 0.')48,
W:0.708, F: 0.478
Grou p#7
-: 0608,
+: 0.137
Grou p# 8
+:0.')01,
-: 0,406
Tablg~
The first thing that appears from the above tables is that the
numbers assigned to the factor groups do not match throughout. This often
happens while creating the condition file, as some factors or factor groups

---

'. ".
• i
I 1 I
may be recoded or excluded for one reason or another. Both tables .1\\ and
12 show that lexical switching is favored by the young and disfavored by
the old. Single elements favor lexical switchii;,~. Wolof is favored as
·"to-
1\\'
embedded language(group 7 of table 11. and 60f table 12) in lexical
...
switching. This is a quite surprising result as it completely contradictsth~,:
S:' ..
tendencies shown by the percen;c,ges in table 6. Note that all sentences l2
with Wolof lexical switches, are of Pulaar matrix (i.e. produced by the.old,
except in one case). I thinkthe way to interpret this r.esult is to say ~hat
although, generally speaking, Wolaf appears less ·in embedded position, it
.,,",
is embedded in higher . frequency than' Trench and. Pulaar,' in .Ie~ical- .
.
. . . . . .
,
.
.,'
'.
.
switching.
This result is interesting in thilt>it could no't')havebeen
discovered by looking at the percentages alone. Theresult alsoeinpl1asiz~s
the difference between the number/ percentage of occurrences and
freq uency of occurrence.
As regards phonological integration(groups 8 and 7 respectively), the
results show that lexical switches are mostly un-integrated. With respect to
grammatical category. fillers(f'),
conjunctions(C) and verbs (V) are
most
favorable to lexical switching. Table 12 shows that I-type is the most
favorable factor for lexical switching in contrast to C-type and open class
items which have almost identical effects. The results in the two runs with
respect to groups 4 and 3 , respectively, are consistent with the percentages
of table 8. However, it is to be noted that while the first run does not retain
the grou'p about morpho-syntactic integration, the second run does and
seems to indicate that the chance for a lexical switch to be morpho-
12{ fall nd 10 instances of these.

---

---'---"---~-"-_.._--_.--_.__.-._---- ....
112
syntactically integrated is slightly
higher, but the scores are quite close,
which may explain why this group was dropped In the first run l3 .
Here, we have only onc run
because all the code-switches were of
complex, open class types, resulting In
singleton factor groups.I/1 Code-
swilching has the highest inCidence of knock-outs leading me to recode
certain factors with other factors, that explains the limited number of
factors noted in group 4 (see note 4).
\\ I
GroLlp# 2
0: 278,
Y: 0547
Group#4
N: 0.444,
D:0.198, 5:0.598, P 0959
Group#7
+: 0.496,
-: 0.784
Tahl~U
Only three groups are retained. Group 2 slwws that young people
favor code-switching, wllereas the old disfavor it. Group 4 shows that the
major category involved is P (Prepositionals). Note that group 4 represents
phrasesfi.e. NPs, PPs etc.). This is seen in the cross-tabulatioI1 (not reported
here) which SllOWS tllat all 86 code-switches are of X-type (j.e. complex as
opposed to single (see note 3)). PPs are followed
by claL~ses. Group 7
represents morpho-syntactic integration and shows that mtegration is
,
disfavorable. ThiS results suggest that miKes involving more than onc
element are more likely to be code-switches.
13the reiection of one factor or factor group in onc rlln and jts rejection in another is
generalty an indication of undcterminacy. i.e. the progl'amme sometilnes is unable to
say whether or not a factor! grollp is significant.
liThe programme needs at least 2 factors in each [actor group to be able to rUIl. We
have a Singleton when only onc factor is involved

---

,"-'
, . > . , , '
113
After commenting on the various scores presented above, Jet me now
turn to a general discussion of the issues raised by these reSUlts.
:'.3: Disc\\lssion of the results
5.3.1. About tile Sociologicillactors
It seems important
,al the outset, to explain the big difference
observed between the young and old people For example, why is it that
with much less speech time the young produce so many more mixes than
the 0ld 7 Does this reveal important differences in the relationships between
\\Volof and Pulaar on the hand and Wolof and French on the other hand? Or,
is this the result of other factors not related to the languages? 15
It may be argued that tile young people's results may reflect peer-
group effects. In other words, these results may be reflecting the particular
conditions of the
peer-group interviews or recordings in contrast to the
other recordings which were, by and large, based on individual interviews,
Admittedly, it is difficult to dismiss the possibility of peer-group effect,
However, for this explanation to be acceptable we would have to use a very
loose definition of the notion of "peer-group". In fhnga, for example, both
my host (the village school teacher) and I were participants in llle one and
half hour's discussion among the 4 young people l6 This is to say that if any
social effects are used to explain tile results, one also has to take mto
account the two of us who were outsiders to this specific peer-group.
ISThe forthcoming discussion will deal with explanation partially, the rest will he
done in Ihe chapter on language planning and policy,
16Thls tape alone provided over 600 -mostly Wolof-French-tokens, Le about 50'7. of the
total tokens.

---

.
,~
'.
114
rather believe that peer-grou[l effect alone cannot explain everything here,
unless one is willing to consider the two outsiders that we were as members
of the peer-group, which seems to me unjustifiable, given the big age
difference between the young and the two of us and also, given the fact that
1 am a corn plete stranger to these peo[lle.
On the contrary, a more plausible explanation, III my opinion,
would be the one that would evoke the fact that all six of us share one
iil1[lortant thing in common, i.e. education In other words, we could
be seen as
belonging to what l, for
lack of a better term, dubbed
I,.'
earlier
the "intelligentsia" , i.e. [leople educated in the western
schools. To me, this category seems to be closer in its characteristics
to "social class"l7 than to "peer-gl'Oup"--the former can be related to
socio-economic as well as ideological position/aspiration, whereas the
latter is linked 1l1ain[y to age (See Labov 1972, Milroy 1980/87, for
example),
It ap[lears that I was not seen as an outsider but,
rather, as
somebody who could relate to and even share the views they were
expressing, on the basis
of an assu m[ltion of some kind of shared
ideological bond, Indeed, some of the opinions expressed in the tape in
question, are so personal that you only share them with somebody you feel
comfortable with.
17This does not contradict. my earlier suggestion that the notion of social class is
inoperational in the settings under study.llere, I am not claiming that we form a
social class, bUl that we have some potential of forming onc. at least ideologically, in
that we are part of the "elile".

---

115
At any rate, the expression of such beliefs are a proof that I was
accepted and this in turn led to the success of my interview. In addition,
\\ \\
the opinions expressed help us understand the way this particular group of
young people view themselves in opposition to the young people of the
other neighboring villages, as well as the young people from the same
village, who did not receive western education.
To illustrate this facl, let me Cluote the following passages from lhe
interview. The first is an answer to a question, asked by me, relating to the
types of games they play, it was meant to elicit responses that will help me
discover the degree of assimilation into the
mainstream Pulaar culture
including its linguistic component.
J8 .... VRAIMENT MEME
lammb sax
xam-naa
bu
demee be si kanam dan koy mujje baayi sax. MAIS
PUITOT leegi Jan moo nu INT&ES51!R
mooy li nga
(xamni) soo demee ci VILLE yi daN koy iis. Soo seete
Jeegi VIUA(;Ef..') JiNVIRO),WANT(S) yi (JUOI nun ak
I\\oom .PAR RAPPORT ci FOOT-BAU yooyu jUS(}[!'A
PR1!5'£/VT noo ken xaw f}l!VANCliR AFFAIRli yooyu.
Sunuy xool AfOf}&NISMli bi daal noo leen xaw tane ci
COTE boobu ... (I.D/CSIN-6, 11625 ff)18
In reality, even wrestling will, I am sure,
end up
being abandoned in the future. Now we are rather
interested in things that you find in the city. If you
take the neighboring villages, if you compare us to
them with respect to soccer pJaying for exampJe, we
are
still
better
than they
are.
If
\\ve
consider
modernity, so to speak, we tend to be ahead of
them ... (my translation).
18As mentioned earlier, the italicized upper case is french, the regular upper case is
Pulaar and the lower case is Wolof. Here, we have wolof-Fl'ench mixing.

---

,\\ ..,
116
The second quotation is about the young people of Nanga who
are not "educated". The discussion herc is about the generation gap
Jr
and the ongoing conflicts between the young and the old, in the village
!
. The speaker is claiming that the "uneducated" make the conflict even
worse, as evidenced by their lack of flexibility in importing "modern"
ways of life into the village, something disapproved by the old. 19
I
19...Daf. ci am iii nga xamni defuiiu US BANCS MA IS
\\,
gimana-iiu bee jis daa! ni mu demee iioom nak su iiu
t
'.
iiewee daiiuy buge APPLIQUER loolu caUTE QUE caUTE
1
J
(ID/CSJI\\I-6,1I704)
.
A few of them did not go to school but they have traveled
and seen lother modes of life l: these! people L once back
home try to act on their newly acquired experience at all
cost (my translation)
II
The first
passage reveals the belicfs of these young Wolof
l"
speakers as well as their attitudes toward their Pulaar neighbors, who,
!
let it be said, are generally as educated as these young men are 20
1
I
Although they never identify their neighbors by their ethnic group,
:
ii
it is easy, for mc, to make the inference. It is possible that my being
I
"
19The main issue here is the introduction of bals (i.e. western dancing). Apart from
loud music, late at night. involving many competing youth clubs, there is also the fact
j
this involves the parLicipation of girls We are talking here ofa 100% Muslim village.
As you may know, free mingling o[ un related or unwed men and women is highly
I
discouraged in Islam, although in most parts o[ Africa, tbis is very much toterated
I,
among the Muslim, except where it represents, like in this case, a clear challenge to
i
the established order,'
!
20\\ suspect that this to be an ethnically motivated preiudice. As I suggest above,
!
!
although the young lIaal-pulaar-en that these Wolo[young men play with are likely
:\\"
to be students like themselves and must have had an equal exposure to city life, in the
mind of the young
I
Wolof the fact that their peers are lIaal-pulaar-en brands them as
less "modern" (than their wolof counterparts). In other words, being Wolof becomes
synonymous with being modern regardless of your background
II
\\, .
'.'

---

117
Haal-pulaar may have somewhat restrained them from being more
e]plicit. It may also be the case that ethnic identity is not the only
issue here, as the second passage seems to suggest.
The second passage shows another aspect of the contradictions
that underlie the relationships between the young people in this area.
Here, we are dealing with the dichotomy between the "educated" and
the "non-educated" . This offers another vantage point from which we
j,
could comprehend the issues that face these young people
I,
As can be noticed, this interview has managed to reveal the
ongoing conflicts and tension between the young and the old, on the
one hand; and, between the "educatecl" and the "uneducated" young
people and the ethnic neighbors, on the other. In expressing these
contradictions or common interests, the young people choose to
express themselves, in a speech pattern which undeniably t'eflects
their dual personality. The results of these recordings are too
compelling to be a mere product of chance. I am convinced that this is
the vernacular of these young people, a code that makes little room
for Pulaar in it. 21
iI
II
~
The other interesting finding is the clear difference between
,
1-
the old people's and the young people's bilingualism, with respect to
II
the rate ancl direction
of their mixing,
To illustrate this, let me
21 I ea rl ic r re po rtot! Ihe fact Ihat a [most all my you n g su bieels, buth in Nan ga and Sedo.
said Ihat they could not speak Pulaar. This j, vory apparent in their speech. There are
only a few Pulaar terms in their speech and these are more the result of borrowin~
which they may have gotten while acquiring the local dialect of Wolof. These results
also scem to provide an insight about bilingual change. and its fore-runners.
especially in a socially little divided society

---

! I g
mention the example of some data ~ollecled I"rom a <)O-mjllut~ tape of
~ older men, in Sedo, 4) minlilcs of which were devoted to a
discussion about tile pending 11ational elections. It was a passiollate
debate, but I found altogether
15 instances of Pulaar and French
origin in their speech 22 . In other words, if the 45 minutes were
indicative of the whole speech pattern of these older people
we
would not expect to have more than 50 foreign elements in the whole
90-minute tape, which would slill be 12 times less than the younger
people This is clearly apparent in table 3 above
I think the explanation may again lie in the social particularity of
the young, as revealed in the passages <1 uoted ,1hove as well 2S the
quantitative results which show that lIw young do more lexic.11 and
code-switching. Besides, there seems lo be a clear fascination fot' city-
life among the young. This explains Why, for them, using Wclof and
French is the hip thing lo do, since these are the two corn paling city
languages,
while
Pulaar
becomes
a
sign
or
unre(inement,
i)
baCKwardness or al least laclc of "modernity".
These
young
pe,;p]c
talk
, in facl,
of
~xrol~Tllk1l10rist,
(Tukulorized \\\\Iolon 10 describe the local dialect of Wolor spoken by
their parents, and admillhal they atI undertook consciolls effocts to rid
their Wolor of Pulaar elements, once they went to the city because:
22MoSl of the french words are lhose belonging la political jarl:0n, things like
"eleclioll", "burcall". "!lrc:,j!l£llLelc.ln geoccal. otd people from Naoga used more
french than the ones from Sedo, the reason I,cinp, Ihat the former, generallv lived
!ol1gur illtho city.
'.
- ,

---

..' '.
11 9
20.wnlof hu nuy wox rii ci Nanga CEST UN WOLOr TUKOLOR]SE
QUOI. Du PIIR Wolnf. MAlS moom mo fj am QUO{ (l'iILlCS/N-6/
;/489[f)
The type of Wolof spoken here, in J~anga, is a Tukolorized Wolof.
It is not pure Wolof but that's what we have here.
(My translation)
21. Leegi MA]S nun CllANGEMENT amna tuuliClIANGEMENT
COMME ENTRE lin fii jogee li ak lin del' Ndar QUOI yooyu;
LANGAGE bi xawna CHANGER tUllti ..(MLlCSIN 6/;/502)
Now but [1'01'1 liS there has been a small change. A change since
we left here and went to NdarlSaint-Louisl so to speak; the
language li.e. our languagel has undergone some change ...
,
Note that at no point in the discussion do they mention the fact
\\.~
that the Wolof they speak is full of rrench elements] propose this to
be
so only because Wolof-Frencll mixing is not as stigmatized as
\\'iIolo[-Pulaar is, at least among these young people. This is an
important finding as it explains wlW Pulaar is dying among these
people.
I will consider the contribution of this research to issues regarding
lexical-switching and code-switching. ]n the preceding chapter, I touched on
some of these issues already, and showed how the two diffet'ed based on a
nu mber of ~ssulllptions spelled out in cllapter 5. I particularly showed how
assuming lexical-switching could better explain certain mixes than assuming
code-switching.
5,3.2. I, . Lexical-switching(Iex-sL
---~._._-----_._~ ....._-_._.---- --

---

120
In chapter 5 the basic claim made was that lexical- switching, insofar
as it allows a speaker to take an element of the embedded language and
treat it as if it were an element of the matrix language, seems to suggest a
certain similarity with borrowing. Viewing lex-s as a special kind of
borrowing is very useful in that it helps explain certain things which, in my
opinion, were hastily described as violation of certain constraints on cocle-
I11
switching
Pfaff's (1979) syntactic constraint as well as
Sankoff and
Poplack's (1980) free morpheme constraint and similar constraints are
salvaged by the existence of lex-s as will become more evident in the
following examples. Remember that Pfaff's constraint says that no c1iLic
pronoun can be attached to a verb that does not belong to the same
language, and cannot occur but in a position allowed by the syntactic rules
lof that language]. 23 The free morpheme constraint says that no bound
morpheme can be attached to a a foreign stem unless that stem is
integrated [phonologicallyl. Let us consider the following examples.
22 .....Da nu
buge
jel
!lfOf)ERNI-'lME rek
APPU(J[IER ko
Asp they want
take
part
v
it
A LA l£TTRE (N-6/ID #696)
P NP
They just want to take modernity and apply it literally.
23 BON del' -na-nu
FAWNS yep POlJR CONf~4J/vCRE leen...
(N-6/EMG #736)
Part do-asp-we
n
adv
comp
v
Pro
Well we have done/did everything to persuade them
24. Lu
tax
PERDR-u-nu
Wolof bi? IN-6/1D 11613
What cause
v
-neg-we
the
Why didn't we Iw;c the Wolnr/Why didn't Wolof clie 7
23 Sce also Tim( 1975), Gu mperz(l976), Barkin anti Rivas (1979)

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121
,
In sentence 22, we llave two clauses, I am here interested in what
\\ ~
','
looks like a French infinitive clause headed by the infinitive verb gl2Jiligucr,
Note that the underlying subject of that clause is the pronoun nu, which is
deleted in the surface structure because it is redundant Anyway, the issue
here is whether wc are dealing with a code-s or a lex-s with respect to the
verb !!o.llliquer If we say that 1![illfuJuer is a code-s that would mean that
the whole clause is French, following tile working assumption set earlier
that the language of each S is determined by tlle verb, Obviously,
if we
assume that the clause is French we will run inlo a number of problems,
The first problem is structural in that we would have to say that we have a
French VP in which the N within the N' is switched to \\VoloL But if we say
so wc end up wilh a sentence that violates the structure of French since the
N in question is an enclitic pronoun, in violation of French cliticization rule
that \\\\'ould only allow a proclitic in this position, On the contrary, if we
assume that the clause is Wolof by virtue or lex-s, we can support this on
two accounts, First, we could say that the VP is Wolof in which V is
leXically-switched to French and that pp in N' is code-switched, given our
assumption that any switched constituent with a closed class in It has to be
a codc-switch, Secondly, the non-finite verb in this position
is consistent
with a Wolof TAMI AMP marking and inconsistent with French tense
marking in this position. The two positions can be represented as follo\\\\/s:

---

!:J
122
22 a.
* VPf
b.
VPIV
/~
VI'
,
/''''NI
Vw
N'w
appliquer
\\
X
/"".
NI'
PPI'
VI'
Nw
PPw
appliquer ko
/'''''-
X
XNw PI' NPf
PPI'
,
ko
I :i
/ / "'"
/"'"
Detf
NI'
PI'
NPf
,
,
.'
la
Icttre
a
/"'-
Detf
NI'
I
,
la
lettre
Note that 22 a is also rejected by Joshi's constraint on closed class.
But I
think the most compelling constraints, here, are the structural constraint
posited by Pfaff (\\979) and by the equivalence constraint of Sankoff and al
(1980).
Pfaff's
constraint
correctly
predicts
that
this
sentence
is
ungram matical because the Frencll verb only allows a proclilic in this
context. The eqUivalence constraint also rejects this sentence because the
structures of Wolof and French VPs are very different at the point of switch.
Derivation 22 b, in contrast. explains ttlis sentence nicely and suggests that
the verb should be treated as a Wolof verb.
Sentence 23 deals with the same issue of cliticization. Like in the
preceding examples, the clause that is relevant to our argument is the
infinitive clause headed by the complementizer pour. According to the
model followed here, the complementizer is outside the infinitive clause (i.e.
in S') and therefore not treated here Once the complementizer is exclUded
we follow tbe same reasoning to show that it is more appealing to treat the

---

-----'-
!'
123
Prench infinitive verb as a lex-s. Note that here too we have a subject
deletion in the surface structure 21
Sentence 24, deals with a slightly different problem. Here, the verb
perdre 'lose' has two bound morphemes attached to it. The first represents
both aspect and polarity (Le negation) and the second is the enclitic
pronoun. On the basis 01' the foregoing argument we have to consider this
verb too as a Wolof verb for the same syntactic reasons.
Now that we have established the fact that these lexically-switched
verbs must be treated as a Wolof verbs, it becomes easy for us to argue that
Wolof clitic pronouns and other bound morphemes are attached to the
above verbs of French origin only because once lexically-switched, these
verbs are treated as Wolnf verbs.
It may be noted tbat llie terminology used thus far is highly
misleading, if not contradictory. For example, Joshi basically bases his model
on the assumption that the elements described above are code-switches.
Indeed, a close scrutiny of my use of Joshi's model reveals an apparent
contradiction in saying, on the one hand, that there is a switch from a \\Volof
V to a French V and then claiming that the French V is , in fact, treated as
Wolor. I3y (Iefinition a switch means changing languages, at least in the
sense used here. The reader must simply bear in mind that when I use the
term switch in connection to lexical-switching, I simply mean: "is realized
as" . It is therefore not my intention to suggest that we are changing
21Note that this verh would alsu be consistent with French structure. The problem
with pour (both as corop and as prep), however. is that it has been borrowed into both
Pulaar and Walar. just as items like French phrase "il faut que" "one must". realized as
, [00 ko 0 r fook". "J2.!!..L "by", etc. So. ill th is example I treat .I!Q.\\!!:.. in fact, as a
loanword. At any rate, the analysis of this sentence is by no means straightforward.
i)

---

124
languages, This is the fundamental difference I see between code-switching
and synchronic borrowing, The former assumes the change of languages, i.e,
grammars, The latter does not. As far as Vallduvi is concerned, the use of
the term borrowing is rejected altogether and yet I strongly feel that we are
dealing here with borrowing, albeit of a particular kind
This is why I
prefer to call it "synchronic borrowing" in order to distinguish it, mainly,
from the better known: diachronic borro\\ving
or [oanword, and also to
maintain the fact that the borrowed element is general1y not phonological1y
integrated and often infrequent. I have no quarrel \\l,Iith the term "nonce
borrowing" used by Poplack and Sankoff gUt. after Weinreich (1953), but I
find that it is unnecessarily esoteric,
The synchronicity of this type of borrowing is supported by at least
one case in my data, Consider the following sentences produced by an old
man in Se do, The two languages involved are Wolof and Pulaar.
25, ?Be tey ngeen leen YAMIR del', Be tey ngeen YAMIR-ee
Prep now you
them
v
part
dey,Be tey ngeen YAMIReen nee del' teen nanngam (5-
2/M# 197)
v
say do you
this
Still, you must authorize them and tell them: do this,
The only Pulaar element used in these sentences is the Pulaar verb
root Y1lmir- "authorize". The man uses three different forms for the verb
trying to find the best way to adapt it 10 the Wolof structure. The speaker is
faced here with a number of problems. First, in Pulaar the verb should be
followed- not preceded- by the c1itic pronoun ,secondly there is normally
an alternation of the initial consonant (Y ---) Nj), occuring with the plural.

---

,
----~~._.,._._-_._._------ .._ ..- . . - _ -....- . -..... ---~_.-.-- •.........-+-----.
p .
125
So, he was clearly grappling with all these differences ending up settling
with one form which is very dubious to me. I would definitely judge it
erroneous, but I do not know whether it would be acceptable among these
people. This example could also be seen as a case or interference, with
l!ulaar interfering with Wolof.
The point of this brief discussion was to show that there is an
irrefutahle way to prove the existence of synchronic horrowing. And once
this is achieved, lexical-switching helps us look at certain cases of language
mixings under a new light, so to speak. As suggested all along, the existence
of synchronic borrowing helps save several constraints, as it shows that the
reports on violations of these constraints may after all be unfounded if the
cases in question are examined under the light of lexical-switching. This
idea itself is not new as for quite some time now, Poplaclc and people
associated with her, in particular, have been trying very hard to convince
linguists about the existence of nonce-horro\\ving.The above examples
strongly suggest that the attachment of bound morphemes to foreign-
looking roots is likely to indicate synchranic borrowing rather than code-
switching 2S
I:
Note, however, that despite my suggestion that lex-switch can save a
constraint like "the free morpheme constraint", it does so only with some
modification, which is that synchronic harrowing may be syntactically or
morphologically integrated but rarely phonologically integrated. As for the
2SS an koff. Po plack and Vu nn iajaran (1985) , su ggesl a similar Ih in g. They write. "Nok
that, when nonce borrowings from a donor language can be detected. then the
sentence or the constituent into which they are horrowed must necessarily be
identified as belonging to the hosllanguage". Note 1 do not say that' the element
helnngs' hut 'is temporarily treated :IS' an o!"ment of the h"st language.

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126
"the equivalence constrllint" the use of clities strongly show that if we
assume violation we will run into morc trouble than if we asssunlC
otherwise, via lexical-switching.
S.3.2.2.Code-switching
As far as code-switching is concerned I have not found anything th5.t
contradicts earlier findings, except sentence zg (see below). Overall, code-
switches represent a tiny pot·lion of the data. As pointed oul ear1i8" the
great majority of the switches arc PPs. There are also a few NPs consistil:g
mainly of modiried nouns. The ['ollowing examples al'C reflresentativ," of the
various tYfles of coLIc-switches found in the study.
i .
26. Lt a){IPE f)[f AJOJVf)£ A,!?(;,£,NT1Nf' a ko l1luj,;e je! PAR rH;IS
'.,
The CUfl oHhe World AgenLina
asp it end
take by three
BUTS A ZERO (5-1/ 0 11102)
goals to
It was Argentina that ended up winning the World Cl:P by a
score or three-zero.
27. Xam-nga .fWOm bii kii nel:k A j)j?O/]Ji (5- [/Om #138)
Know-2sg
this who is
"t right
You know/see this photo, the guy who is on the right.
28 . ./E7>J/S A NOW,fCf!{)j"l; ./ITAIS A Vht' suma yaay foofl!
I was
in
I was
with
my
mol IKr there
(rH/ID 11503)
I was in NOllakchotl [capital of i\\hurilaniaJ, I was there
with my mother.
20. BONjEfWEfS) yi lioo Wil,a OAY7,lN/'S'ER rek JifijjZ!,j'wa,a
Well young
the they lI1ust organize
rnrt belter lI1ust
WAIPRl:IVl7R£ U:S' J/Jbi'lY( i-l-6/EMB 11695)
unLlerstand
the olel people
The young must get better organized and try to
understand Ihe older people.

---

"
.,. i
. ..
.
f?:i$tri-\\t~i·I'';~'::;~i:L.',!;;; /'..~ .;..•~_I..'i~., .•H :.:... "0
"
.
. _."--.' .. '--- .-.~_.•. "_. ~"'_._ ..._--.-.-.---~"'._~----._."'-----.~"
-.-.
127
Sentence 26 is a cleft sentence in which part of the complex object is
fronted. The part that is moved is the NP (La COli ne d\\l monde "the World
Cup") while the pp (12ar trois huts it zero "by a score of three-zero") is left
11chind
The sentence IS juclgec! as a Wolor sentence \\vith the wtlOle
complement switched to French, then NP movement IS applied to front part
of the complement. It is also possihle to argue that the fronted NP is outside
S Tllel"efore, only the pp is switched within S. I prefer the latter for the
simple reason that within
S we have an
anaphoric particle
(J:;Q
"it")
referring hack to the fronted NP. If the NP were to be considered as
belonging to S we would encl up with an ocld sentence. In fact, a comma
ufler the franted NP would take care of the matter 26
In senLence 27, the first French clement is a borrowing, then we have
the pp switched to French. The things in that sentence are straightforward.
In contrast, sentence 28 is an interesting case of NP SWitching within the PP.
The pp is conSidered as a French pp by virtue of P being French, The
switched NP is uOl1listukably Wolor. If the head or pp were WoJof the whole
•
pp would have been analyzect as Wolof, but it \\vould have violated Joshi's
constraint 00 closed class itellls (CCC) The switch would have been licenced
though, if the whole PP were to be switched to Wolor. Joshi (1983) rules
out this type of pp switch as ungrammatical in Marathl but. he adds that he
has not found a reasonable justification for it, since it does not violate any of
26 1have tried to a.void as much as Jlossible to use puncLuation, for the simple reason
that would depend solely on my intuition and nol necessarily that of the spci,ker,
which could bias the analysis Besides, if 1apply my intuition 1will do so by using my
knowledge of French or English 11Unc[lIalion, which could be inappropriate for Pulaa!"
or Wolof.

---

128
the constraints he bases his analysis on. To me, this switch is perfectly good,
although rare. It is, for example, the only one of tl.lis kind, in the whole
data set.
Finally, in example 29, all the verbs of French origin are treated as
lex-switches, theon!y code-switch here is theNP u.~s vi~IlL-"the old
(men)"). Thus, we have a Wolaf VP in which NP is switched to French. I
must admit though that this sentence poses problem, as 10 where the switch
occurred. It may be argued that the switch occurred in the following
manner:
V'W---) Vw
VPw; VPw X VPf; VPf---> Vf NPf. The problem arises because
the whole V' is parallel to a French structure and partialiy only to a Wolof
structure. c7 Hut the argument agaln~;t considering V' as French is that the
tensed auxilial'y/helping verh belongs to \\Volof (wara "must"), \\l,Thich means
that the French verb comnrendre "understand" is in fact the main verb of
this clause, what we have then is a whole Wolof V' thus justifying the
treatment
of comnrendre
as a lexical-switch.
Also
if
we
consider
COlllpre/1Q[jLas a code-switch here, \\ve would have to do the same for
orglwiser in
the preceding clause, which happens to occur in a similar
context. I do not see any reason why we should do so
It appears from these samll!e sentences that the main constraint on
the unswitchability of closed class items is borne Ollt. Furthermore, the fact
that so many verbs are lexically-switched from \\\\lalof to French seems to
II1cticate that, for some classes of lexical items at least, the French lexicon is
27The two are identical here except at the level of the switched NP. For Wolof,
NP--->N Det; whereas,for French, NP---> Det N.

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129
more "available" and more active. As 1 suggested eariier, I do not think this
has anything to do with the context of the interview.
In the foregoing discussion,
I have demonstrated that the young
people have speech norms that clearly distingUish them from the old, and
the most apparent characteristics of the difference are the rate, the t.ype
and the overall direction of the code-mixes. The young tend to mix more,
and their mixes tend to be more between Wolof and French. Also the young
tend to be more involved in lexical-switching and code-switching than the
old. In contrast, the majority of the mixes that exist in the old people's
s[leech are horrowings something thaL contradicts the com man belief that
these people do not speak "pure \\Volof" as if there is such a thing as a pure
language. I find that the old people are fundamentally wolof speakers albeit
with many Pulaar elements in their dialect, something that
is not
sUI'prising, given the long co-existence between Wolof and Pulaar in these
areas.
It is possible that the relatiomhip between WoJof and Pulaar reflects
a more stable or stabiliz.ed type <If relationship, whereas the relationship
between Wolof and French is more dynamic in the sense that it reflects an
ongoing process of adjustment, characterized
by richer patternr. ol
interaction.
At any rale, it is clear from the results thilt something is
happening in these communities that is reflected in the clear-cllt difference
between the young and the old, even in terms of attitudes toward their
neighbors.

---

130
Neither in Secta nor in
Nanga
could I perceive among the aIder
people or the middle-aged people, for that matter, any sign of superiority
complex. The older ancl middle-aged people told me that lhe only games
they played were the games Haal-pulaar people played. They, in f2,ct,
appeared, to me, as proud of their local identity. In contrast, as indicated in
one of the
passages quoted earlier,
the young
claim that the only Haal-
pulaar game still practised by some of them is wrestling and even that is
condemned. 28 The rejection of their local identity is hardly disguisecl
among the young, at least those from Ranga 29
It is to be further noted that as far as borrowing, lexical switching
and code-swItching are concerned, the middle-aged group tends to behave
like the young, something that indicat~s that the onset of the change in the
speech patterns started ilt least 40 years ago in lhe 1950s. This is extremel)'
interesting as the I <) SOs were riel1 in events that would later shape the
future of the country. This and more wiB be dealt with in the next chapter.
Finally, r have been able to contribute positively to the debate abollt
llle eXistence of lexical-switches. [ have been able to prove beyond the
shaduw of a douht thal
lexical-switches are ,indeed, a reality. I further
argued, after other schol,lI's, that assuming lexical-switching helps e:;plail1
wilY certain claims concerning the violation or SOllle stl'uctural constraints
28 One of t!"te young men in ~hnga. in fact gives 107) as the date when. 3Pl'rOximalely,
mo~t of the young people started to lose interest in the local games. This corresponds
exactly to the time the first batch of educated young men started to graduate from
professional schools after completing their high school educ~tion.
,9Therc is a small 0iffcrcI\\ce hetween the YI\\\\lng "fScdo and Rang:J. in lint fhnga has
already three or four generation of high school gl'aduales whereas Seuo h,:s just
begun and the first genef:J.tion is in 8th- 'llh grades. Things that are going on in
Nanga right now cannot happen in Sedo. Nevertheless. as far as their speech or their
aSpir(llions are concerneu, there is not much difference.

---

131
may not be founded. Moreover, I find that Josl1i's closed class constraints
are supported by my study. In the next chapter, I will try to interpret the
ongoing changes observed in these two communities in the light of language
planning and language policy, both past and present.
I)

---

\\ '1
J_
CHAPTER 6
INTERPRETING THE [,ESULTS IN TJIE LIGHT or
LANGUAGE PL,ANNING AND LAi'iGUAGE POLICY
in tllis chapter, I will disC1ISS issues In macro-linguistics
that
determine language stalus and
help shape peoples anillldes
to\\vard
language, Central to lhis issue arc
notions such as language planning and
langu;lgc policv, Then I will lrv to estahlisll a link between language
planning /policy and lhe changmg pattcl'ns observed in the IWO communities
undCl' study.
\\ ,
'.
Language planning I is the field of sociolinguistics that
deals \\vith
allocating roles
and
statuses lo the various languages of
multilingual
natiuns. It is also the function of language planning to creale linguistic
standards fOI' each language.
Because of their functions. these I\\VO compunents of language planning
are often I'eferred to. in a 11\\111'(' speCific \\vay. as 'stUllIs planning" ami
'corpus planning'", respectively. Between the two. tile second i" obvlOu,.iy
closer to linglli~tics,in Ihat it deal~ with the codes themse!ve~, \\vhcreas the
ITauli (1')7156) defines Jan~lIage planning as'" the methodical :lctivi!)' of regulating
and improving existing languages or creating new common regionai. national or
in le matio na I languages" . for a more recen t lreatmen t see Horn be rg~r (l9SS)

---

..--
__._
__
-_ _- -_.-. -
_-~_._---"-'-~._-~----_._---~.
._._-~-
..
..~- '.
133
first is based on soclo-polltical decisions. Tile t'vo components can be best
perceived as natura!!y sequenced, \\\\.'ilh status planning taking place bdOl'e
corpus planning, 1I0wever, this is only tbe ideal situation since there are
instances where corpus p\\;ll1n!l1l~ <lC1ions are undertaken in tl1e absence of
any prior stalus plafll1ing, as willllecome apparent later,
Status planning
determines whicb languagelsJ are official. natiol1aL
regional, local or have any other statm/funciion that the particular context
dictates. Altl10ugh the notion of prestige lamwagc(s) does not a.l\\vays clerive
from status planning, it is a well-known fact tlwt status planning is an
important factor in creating statLlS. The best illustration for this today is
situations where "exoglossic" languages introduced by colonial powers are
found in competition with or even c\\om inate 'endoglossic" languages 2
Corpus planning IS more commonly related to ,tanclardizat<llrc, Le.
crealion of linguistic nOl"l'ns. For example,
cl"ealion of alphabets, rules of
combination of words in a sentence, crealion of dictionaries, specialized
lexicons ami grammars.
This expression is generally lImlerSloocl to relaie to th!; application of
language planning as defined above. The ielea here is to view policy 9.S the
logical follow-up to phnning.
However, there is a great deal of haziness concerl1lng the cii~tinctio!l
between langllage policy and language planning. Some writers ir, fact lIse
'hoglossic and endoglossic are terms coined by i:1oss i I95S) to refer respectively to
lan~uages IhH are not native of a coutltry, the colonial languages for example, and the
native languages.
.

---

them interchangeably as If tiley me,tnt the same tiling. For example,
Ncustupny (1974) talL:s of "policy apPl'oach" to refer 1.0 what is defined
earlier as corpus planning. Other writers use tile term (0 refer to things
subsumed under status planning (see Dl'lI 1976/78:172[[, for example), For
his part, Tauli (1974) wriles:
Oflen
till'
use
of
the
term
'language
planning'
lilciuc1es
governmental linguistic policy in the widesl sensc(..) or il is lIsed
only in tilis meaning. DUl it is more expedient to employ the
traditional term language policy for the latter meaning,
Tile problem I have with the suggestion of this quotDtion, !wwever, is
tllal we do have actions that are taken by individual people 01' organlzations
which are part policy, part planning as defined abovc, For example, in many
Tilird
World coul1tries,
tnissional'Y
churches take
on
themselves
the
translation or the Chl'istian Bible into jocal languages, using alphabet systems
and grammars that they themselves conceive. To me, there is a c!em'
involvement of policy in some of these examples, without the government
being necessarily involved (see also the case of Radio Senegal below).
It is important to bear in mind that, although it is u!lusl!11 to tlavC
language planning withoul language policy, it is quite possible to have
language policy which is not based on any prIOr planning,
in the sense
defined eal'lier. In tile latter case we shOUld,
perhaps, only talk or
"orientation", as the basis for the polic\\'. For sure, cvefl' policy IS based on
certain underlying assumptions
as the term crienUlion suggests. R\\liL
( 1984: 16 ) defines orienl:ltion as fol ows:
[)l'\\cnlalionL.) rcfer~; 10 a Clllilpkx of
dispusitions
lowai'll
1,"11\\" age and ils role, and toward langu,lgcs and their roll' in
L,
society. These dispusitions may be largely unconscious and pre-
'.'

---

135
rational heCiluse llwy ,11'2 ilt tl1f: \\)\\081 rllndclmental Ir.vel of
arguments ...
Finally, ij is aloll important 10 bear in mind that !,tngllilgc planning "ne!
language policy often presuppose ihe exi"tence of some authority. This
authority can bell)e governmel)t, or ,1nl' other person or public ur privilte
organization that wields some influence. "Eliles' are often quoted to be the
single most important fac10r in language planning and policy (Bell, 1976/78;
Weinstein, 1980 I in the Third Wmld, in particular.' After these definitlons,
let us now look at language planning ilncl [anguilge policy as they re1l1te to
the sit uation in SenegaL
6.2. LangjJlJ51e planning and laI1l;uage poJicun Senegal: an overview
In cllapter 3, 1 toucllecl the issue of language pI'inning. I divided the
Senegalese experience into lI\\l'1~e parts: the pre-colonial \\wl'iod, the colon",.!
period, and the posl-colorlial period. Let me recall and expand on some of the
ideas fnr mulatecl earlier.
6.2. I. Illf-['re-colonial periocl
With respect to tile !lI'<:e-colonial period,
we have two ,!Istil'cl
penods. The first cllrresponds tu the pee-Islamic era, about which we C'\\ll
only speculate. We can infer, from what we know of the history of lilal
period, that people mostly Jivecl in small I)omngeneous "ntities, in ..'.'hieh
·~Tht: definiiiol\\ or "elite hy Hell( \\')7\\)!i~.I{)l\\) ;d'{l~r L.:rner and Conkn, j~; :;,\\\\;sfa({l}!'v
for {Itlr p\\lrp(j~c. lie Jcflne~ the term as rnllow "...il grll\\lp of 'prufC':;sinnah' fOllfH!
'
tllllll!l ~'. the ra n k~ 1I r l h c !!!!!!.;.~! ~)'iri gl.;'!!1~?i ultc I'll tt n ~ Cl n: les L .tD r
III Isi 1\\ e~:;l\\w n :.. 1L:ild in ~ in le lIe (l\\ l;l b;, .. l\\\\l! ilica t l...:atle t·~;: ... h ig h. ci\\' d SU!"Viln ls; ... s.,; n iur
military men: .. derical and lay IC3dcrs of the chul'chlmesques llnd synago~uesi:
~lntl ... officiJls of lahflr, farmt..:r and olher pres:;(Irc grollp~"
l. ,

---

generally only one langu,lge w,'s spoten. Even jf ,ome multi1ingu21 area,
existecl, individual l11ultilingualism was likely the fule. There had also been
cases of assimilation, where a ruUng group tllat conquered foreign lands
assimilated to the host cultlll'C and ended lip losing, after a few generations,
their original language Isee examples in chapter 3). The converse nllght al,o
have happened, the dominated people were completely integrated in the
dominant group's culture, but I am not aware of any example of lhi:; Lind.
The second part or I hal pel'iod is the posl-l sla mic period, after the
9 th or 11 th century according to the areas. This era sav.' the emergence of
:\\rabic in the local linguistic panorilma. Arrlhic became the hll"'guage of an
elite minodty, especially traders (the Mandinka JU]"" for example! i1!1d
religious leaders I:nown by the rrench .erm ~l11<)rabou.c ,or c,,-Ued by m,uly
other local names. In presence of largely unwritten African languages,
Arabic quic\\:ly estal)lisl1ecl itself as a lxcstigc !,lngu,\\gc, reinforced hy the
faet thilt it had a writing system". The status of Arabic later was challenged
by the arrival or the colonialists, especially Fro9ncl1 in our case.
Language planning and language policy under rrench colonialism has
I,
been largely covered in chapter .1. r will summarize the points made earlier
'.'
and expanel on 111el11 a little.
-tin a rl:l't.:n\\ 1)(',\\1 pr(;:'::l'nl~\\li(ll) :H the ilniv(;!';;ity, 1';1' Subymali NYJng of Hov,'ard
UojvlJl'sity, i.l scholar in lslalll in Afrj(;l, :~h(l\\\\'[~d lhe curn:latinn bdween the exp;lnsiofl
or 151"01 .Ihe practice lIltr"d" and the binb 01 a ne"\\' elite bOlh allll)n~ the 1\\r,\\bo-
herber, oncl the Arrican:;.
.

---

,,';'::"-:J ,;~.'~:::; "~,'
..,t-,.'~,','," ,',','",.',',' .f, ,:, '",:,',"~ ,',,',',•.':,_,,"'",' ;',1" .I "', ,:.L~"."" ",',
_.,..~~- 1:.'"" .~.
. '
. .
= .::: .:. '. :... :;..; ~
. '." '" ..-' -. i<~""":'-'~""':_"~_';""<-'''''''''~
'''~''''
' ' ' '
--~
• - . - _.,,_ •.•• ~---
••...
U7
trench colonial policies are generally c!escrilled in history booi:s ,1S
uncompromisingly assimil<1tionistic (sec Bokamba, 19G4; Bokambcl "ne! Tlc:u
\\)
1(77). Tllese policies seemed to he motivated by three ('af)Wr115: I) the
necessity to bring the newly acquired [1'rritol'i2s to conform to French :10rms;
2,1
tile desire to unify u"c!er one rule all these people frOr:l different
geographic and cul1ural spheres; 3) the belief already ,;:dstenl !D the
metropolis itsell' that plul'ality is undesir~blc,
in
matters of language,
Un(it'rlying ~lI these reasons, of course, is the assumption lhat french is tl,c
vehicle of a superior culture,
The colonial policy was lherefore quite simple in that it had clearly
opted 1'01' mono-lingualisill, This
goal was to he maiI1!)' achieved through
western education on the onc hand, and thl'ougil a system (Jr re\\'iard,~.
consisting of material and social promotion, Whereas traditionally sClcial
status
was very much predetermined by one's
social origin, witl' the
IrJl,IJnph "I' the Cfllonial rllle, ,llccess i\\11l! ,lalus wa:: gained through \\VeSICI'll
educatioll and other raV(\\I'S hesl(,'Ned by the c"lonial ntlel's, In {Jiher '-'lords it
did no( malleI' wlletl1er you belonged (0 the ruling classcs or the servile
classes, once you were eclucated you \\Vcce ['ewardecl with ~odal success and
i'1rluence, In a scnse, thJS explains why the colortial poliCIes cchieved a
certain level of success in a relatively short peciod of time, ~:ince it "vas a
system that allowed some people to becomE: [JOIVeCflll overnigl11 despite their
modest social Origin

---

I,
invn!v" : :n 110licy making, the!I' insi"tcnce on safeguarding Isla:n
(see
Croweler, 1%8 J counter-balanced, in a way, the effects the colonial linguistic
policies hael on the Senegalese rvluslims. Their role was
' \\
.
,
rnUlrllY in tne
maintenance, though constrained, of the Islamic tradition, and therefol'e of
!\\rabic.
As the colonialists came to terms with the fact that it was not possiblP
tu completely eradicate Islamic influence in matters affecting the i:ldividua!,
llis/her beliefs ancl his/her customs. so did the l'vluslim leadership try to
,1CCOIl1 modale itself to French colonial preSl'l1Ce. Muslims accepted the fact
that It is pnssible to give
Caesar what belungs to Ca2sar and to God \\,... ll'lt
belongs to God. This modus vivendi was partly possible because, once the
Muslim ]e;lClership \\Vas "neutralized" the French colonial government sougl1t
out ways of winning theidMuslim lenders) sympathy, hI' bestowing on them
certain favors and various 110nors. The trade off on the pan of the IsLl1nic
leaders was to'keep hands off off.icial matters ,1llc1 confine their actions to tl1e
more traditional domains.S
)As itlurned OUl. this stance \\Vas nOltNally ne~a\\iYe. for sure.thisdici w~ter d'}':{n the
overall in fJ uon cc 0 r Isbnl. nuL, as h"th CJ'()\\\\,l!ed 1'!SS) an d Sa in t Martin (j 07(1)
ohscrved. I$\\;\\1\\l experienced an unprccedelltetl expansion tInder l'olon;;\\!i5n\\ mainly
because the peace maintained h\\' the colonial power allowed more contact I'.'ilh non
MU$lll\\\\~. Likewise, the develr'l'ment of modern transi,ortation helped ~i\\\\sJims reach
areas they could nCI'eJ' go to hefore. and pn\\solitize other nun .. M"sEm Afr;cons.

---

139
62.2.2.2. The western tramell IntelligenLsia
Next, we have the actions by various nationalist groups, beginning in
the thirties with the "Negritudc" or "Black consciousness" movement, on the
moderate side, to more radica:[ groups formed in the wake of the second
World War, by students studying in Universities in France as well as on the
African continent 6
Some members of these gl'oups were strongly favorable to tile
Jevelopmentand use of African languages. In the case of Senegal, the names
that come to mind are the late Cheikh Anta Diop, eminent speciali"t of
Ancient Egypt and also physicist, linguist ete.; Amadou Mahtar lI'lBow,
director of UNESCO until recently, Abdoulaye Ly, ete. Among these ([1I'(:C
eminent Senegalese, the first meationed was, until his death ill 1986, the
I,
',I
most constant fighter for African cultures and African languages, Whereas
the other two, later \\Vatet'ed
clown
their
political
stance
and
even
participated in Senghor's government (though briefly),
a government that
all of them condemned at first, as neo-colonial and sold-out.
6Th" proponents of the Negritutle movement were young first or second generation,
graduates fom French Universities. ThlS mOYement revolved mainly around the pad,
from Martinique, Airne Cesaire, and Leopold Sedar Senghor, the poet, politician anti ex,
Presitlent of Senegal. The movement was" reaction to the reiection of French sociely,
that failed to live up to all the heautiful moral principles it taught its colonial subjects
Once in France, the~e young intellectuals were confronted with all kinds of
contradictions, between what was prr,fessed by the French colonial ideology, and what
was pr"ctised in re"llife, especially with respect to racism This inspired them to
withdraw hack to their original cultures, and glorify its heauty and its humanity ThIS
movement was mainly cultural. In c,lntrast, the student movemtnts lhatemerged later
in the 195(ls were the expression of tht political awakening of the Airican peoples. The
best known of these groups was the Vederation of Dtack African Students in france
(VEANFl, which was to later prudllcr: mnst of the first generation of post-independence
polilicalleaders. The rhetoric of FEANF Was generally leftist and nationalistic, and it
militated in favor of independence. Note thalthe memhership of these movemenlswas
from various French speaking lerrilories of Africa (and the Caribbean for the fiJrmer)

---

'.;! .
. f
.".
"',))
, ,
140
Moreover', CI1cikl1 Anta not onlv
theorized about languagE: planning
,
'
but also
attempted to practice what he preached
111 vanous
political
organizations he helped create, His unwaving stance on African cultures ilnd
languages earnecl him, among his friends and ~upporters, the postlwmous
nickname of "the last Pharaoh" ,
To illustrate the importance or Diop, let me quote his most explicit
writings( 1978/80), On the choice of language at the local level he writes:
«,Quite objectively, in a country such as Senegal, Wolof is the
obvious
choice
for
a
national
language,
a
language
or
government: All minorities are nearly bilingual, speaking \\Volof
in addition to their primary language, It can be seen that within
the local context cultural languages, such as Peul-Toucou!eur
IPulaar! fall into tl1e class of minority groupings, whereas it is
quite another matter in regions such as, say, Futa-Jallon or d1e
Northern Cameroons, (p9)
Another reason why Wolof should be chosen as the "national and
official language" is given beiow:
It is in Wolof that researchers today are trying systematically to
introduce
all
the
concepts required
to convey the
exact
sciences( mathematics, physics), philosophy 2nd so on (9ft)
But CA Diop does not only tell us what to do but also how to do it.
An appropriate Senegalese government will one day ,!Pp!y a
cultural policy aimect at favoring
the development 01' the
language in optimal order. It will be necessary to use artHicial
but
effective
methods,
such
as
rounding
literary
prizes,
translating SCientific work, creating a national COOl mission to
draw up an academic dictionary and various specialized ones (for
mathematics, physics, philosophy, and so onL
Even no\\\\' 11 ')(,n I , we must start such work on a li rnited scale in
order to show once and I'or all that it is indeed possible \\0 raise

---

an African language to the prestige of any of the ElIr0[1enn
cllllurallanguages. (p.10)
About the [1ossible expansion of the "Senegalese model" to other
African territories he suggesls:
.. .The same criteria of selection \\vill have (0 be applied in
determining the territorial language witll the same rlelicatf
study beforehand of linguistic, ethnic and other considerations in
order
to
reduce
any
[10ssibilitv
of
offending
regional
sensib ilit ies.( My em [1ha sis).
Finally, Diop does not only have a vision for his country <!nd other
countries in Africa, but also for the whllle united CDntinent cJ Africa, an idea
Ill' cherislled throughout llis lifetime. He [1roposes in that wnnecti(l!1:
When our demonstrations in Wolof have gone far enough, they
will have proved that in due tIme jt will cover all territorial
languages in the same way that Russian is overlaid on the
language of each Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union.
The choice of such language will have to be made by a compel<::nt
interterritorial commission iml)uccl with dee[1 patriotic feelIng
foreswcaring any hidden chauvinism (p.l1 )
These are only a few selectecl quotations from C.
A.
Diop' s
programmatic book. There are many more interesting ideas expressed in it
but, for now,
these are sufficient for my purpose. Note that, although this
hook appeared in its first English version onlv in thc 19705 it was iirst
[1ublished in French in 1%0 7 Recall t11at 1960 is the year of independence
for Senegal and most African countries. This is one of the ['eaoons why I
place this sluelv In the pre- I ndependence language plar,ning actions. the
7rn fact I th ink it was nne of I\\is few reiected doctorallheses i he hml. I think. (\\\\'0
reiected before his professors accepted the third one) which he successfully published
laler. and which brou~l\\l him the fame he enjoys all over the mack world

---

1
i'
vie\\vs.
planning and langUilge policy. In 1IH:: f()regoin~ example;:, \\',re: rind it sced
illustration of both status planninBL:hoice of \\Volar, [(;1' h[\\01plr;) :lid ClJl'pl.:;'
planning (I'eference to the crea1io:) of scientific termlilologil'3 done j'l '\\'0'U1GI!
C'l:t'iier.
Diop's suggestions. Tbi[; is vel'\\' important beC:lli5:e my aim intl:is c1l't:.,cE:' i,:
to establish a linl: belWf~cn whal \\\\Ic~ observed in flanga ancl Se(:o \\vi;;1
Tlw first
quulation i~ a sialtl1'cnl [(, 11i,~ dfecl.
t!lat
\\Vo,ei' i:~
"()bjectively" tile firsl choice for promotion as a national (i.e. national lengua
I'ral1ca) as well as the ufficial lanl~uage (Le language of government) fo1'
Senegal. But (Ine may \\Vonllei' \\Vlli1t is objective in that? Well. the ;tilSWcrS
seem to be that it is 51>0I:cn by "nearly" everybody. Also, it is 11Ie lailguag~ ()[
Ihe maiority. The third reason is given in the following quotation, and it
basically suggests that many intellectual or scientific works are being carrlel~
out in WoloL
Note, rlloreover,
that, even bc·fore spelling out these proposals, he
made a very i mport ant clai m(id. p. <)) wh ieh is 1hill most of the Senf'gQles2
languages (at least Pulaar, WoloL .!nla, Screer) are histDrically and CUlturally

---

.,
/ : '
193
related, The suggestion IS that only uninformed
people \\'.'ould create
divisions among these ethnic groups, either on the basis of langurrge er
cultureS His ultimate claim is that for an African to learn ~mCoiher African
language, different from his own, creates less problems of cultural alienation
than if she/he were to study a European language (id, p, 121,
The first thing to note, regarding these argu ments, is that they are not
unusual in language planning literature,
and bearing in mind the time at
which they were made, they represent, to me, quite advanced views about
language treatment in multilingual stdtes, Tl1is is illllstl'atell in the fact n'lat,
it [ook the newly independent government of Senegal ab8lit eight years
(1968) to come up with the first legislation regarding language p\\anning,9
With all due respect, however, J am sorry to say that Diop's proposals
I
are rather simplistic, Evoking common ancestry to suggest that
a language
) i
planning model is easier to implement because of it , is simply either naive
or uninformed, The argument put forward is analogous to saying th<!l since
french, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, to name only a few, are all Inclo-Eurcpean
languages, it would not malleI' to pick onc of these languages, say in a
hypothetical federation of these states, to serve as sole Pecleral and Official
8Let me remind you here that J)iop's whole endeavor. as a specialist of Ancient Egypt.
was to demonstrate that most Black African cullures and language derive from Ancient
Egypt. In fact at the time of his death he was wriling about his linguistic tl\\eory The
lH>ok published posthumously by his children and friends, entitbl New Pesearc1LQ.!l
Ancient Egyptian and Modern Black A(rican Languages (my translation). Paris
Presence Africaine, 1988. Before that we have Genetic Relationship between Ph~'.!Jlonic
Egyptian and Black Africanl.an!i!!ill:es (my translallQn..LYrescrrce Africai,\\" /NEA
(1077r Almost all his other books deal with IlIaci: Africa and Ancient [gypi to a
varyin!' dc!,ree.
9The first decree ever to be passed in this reg;\\rd is decree 68-871 of .JLlI}· l%.S. relating
to the transcription of the national languages Tllis was the decree that instituted the
six national languages and provided the first alphabet for Wolor. This decfee was later
replaced by decree 7t-566 of May 1971 Which is the milestone in post-independence
officiollanguage planning
I

---

l~ngu~ge. The analogy is not as far fetched as it may look . If agc-in Vie
consult pre-colonial history, all these languages were SpOke!l by people who
,
I,
'.'
olVed no allegiance to each other, or did so only temporarily. They occupied
their own territories, spol:e their languages and perhaps the langur,ges of
their neighbors,
and identified themselves by their ethnic group, but never
by any supra-national identity. Let us face it the notion of Senc2ale2t
identity is a colonial creation. The other fact is the common ancestry that can
be related to Ancient Egypt is
a concern among intellectuals but certainly
not among the hulk of the Sen0galese masses. 10 Further, r sincerely doubt it
would m,atter, if they knew it, lust as common ancestry c10es not matter to
the Catalan who feels dominated by the Spanish. Diop completely discounts
the importance of language attitucle anclloyalty in his model for Senega! and
yet admits the possible existence of SlJch a thing in pl"nning for a supra-
national Aft'jean language in the last quotation. He suggests that much
caution be applied in choosing a supra-national African language, but doe~;
not seem to apply'the criterion in the case of Senegal.
Concerning the iillport<1rlce of Wulof, basecl on on Ilk percentage of its
speakers, he claims that }leijUjC all Senegalese spoke Wolof, but he dicl nut
give a figure andnevcl' said how he arrived al this conclusion. This IS a
common p('actlce in Senegal. people like givil1g unsuppcJl·ted figul'(:s which
are then taken as facts. In later studies [he figures of 80% , 98% I1 ace
IOUnf0rtunatcly. due to p01itical animo,it>'. Cheikh Ant" Diop was never given <t
chance to implant in any significant way his cultural ideology in his O~lJl country.
Actually. up untit 1980. when Senghor. his main PQlitical nemesis. left his v,'0rk had
lillle l1uhlicity in the country as a whule IJo was mainlv tUlOwn in tile African
diaspora, in the Americas and among African intellect,;ats
IITo quote only a few examples, Samha Sar(n.d) gives a figure of %'l:, for the
Senegalese said to speak Wolof. lIe quoles this figure from Le IlOll!c!l(1')(,7i; Dlata (1953)
advances 80% as the percentage ofSellegaJese spcakini! Wolof\\\\'ilholll gjyin~ his
SOli rces. etc.

---

encountered. Note that the study that put~ forw"rd 98% is earEer 111J11 tbe
one tha\\ says s(r'~ suggesting either a manipulation of the [J,:rccntnges Ol' a
regression of Wolof.
For my part, I am not going to speculate on the llumbers. Thai Woid
has expanded tre menc]ously, for various reasons to be explored later,
IS
undeniilhle. But r l18lievc that it is hi t:ll lime that the tllobal linguistic
situation be presented. For, one can incleecl al'!;ue thal the fEet that Wold is
spoken by 80% of the population does not necessarily exclude tile possibility
of another Senegalese language being spoken by 80% also. Therefore,
the
numbers can make sense only If llley ace placed in a context whece O!le can
see the scores of all the other languages. To Iny knowledge no seriolis
s\\alistical socio-lingudic study ha;; ever been conducted in Senegal yet. It is
revealing, but not surprising.lhat even jn the last ce,lSUS conducted in 1988
and wllOse resulls are s\\ill pel1cling, the only lil1guis\\ic CitkS!.ion '"s(,:ed is
whetl1t:r people spol;e Wolol'. For m8 , the silence about the other lallguages
can only mean that they do not malleI'. Therefore, i\\ is nol necessary to
know about them.
Next. we have the argument abollt
scientific '),'od: being done lQ
Wolol'. This is also a common criterion found in language planning literature
to determine the value, aptness, if not superiority of a language. Tile
problem with this argument is that it reflects tile usual cliches found in
westel'!1 supremacist literature, that generally measures the impo!'tance of a
language- civilization- by the volume of written wort in that language,
sometlling that I find very fallacious. ['0\\' onc thing the argument is really
cirCUlar. A language is important because it Ins a body of intelL~ctual work
in it. But it is only bcc'1Llse it was allowed \\0 I)e a vehicle of intellectual war!:

---

146
that it has become importanl. If any of the other Senegalese national
languages had enjoyed the same advantages that W010f did, maybe they tGO
could ma[;e the same claims.
The other issue is 10 suggest that a lot has been done in Wolof whictl
simply is nOl the case, especially at that time. Dial' seems
in fact to be
I'efel'ring mainly to his own unpublished 'liOI'[; in Wolof more than anything
else. le If he refers to linguistic research on the language, I do not think that
Wolnf was more studied than Pulaar or Mandinka, for example. There is an
advantage that Pulaar and Mandinka have over Wolu! \\vhicll is that they arc
more international. Pulaar for example benefits from studies carried out 011
any of the 12 or so dialects of ruin in existence all across
western sub-
saharan Africa. Very often, when people use this argument in Senegal (sce
CRELANS, for example) they only qUale things clone about the Senegi.;lese
uialects of Fula ur Mandinka. IJ
Either these omissions are deliberate or
simply the result or sloppy scholarship, it undeniably does l:ot do justice to
tile so-called minorilY languages.
Finally, although I think C A. Dio!, is a sincere African nationalist, ] do
not think he is immune from ethnic or national bias. I wonder whether he
would have been so categorical were Wolor , his language, ill a minority
position. I doubt becau~;e I sec some inconsistency in his stand. You will
1~Diop is more than JUSl a histc,rian and a tinguist. He is also a physicist. lIe is reported
to have translated the theory of relativity in \\Volor. for example He also claims l.oraJ
communication) having written math and physics programme from form i of high
school to the end of the first degree. Again I have heard him make the"c claims and I
think there is no reason to douht him. hut I have not seen any written documents
131n a comparison made in a stlllly hy some Senegalese linguists (CRELANS, 1976) a
compualive tabte of works done on tl,C six n'llionat langllages. the: list "n Pulo.<\\r ,! ,.1 ",'
contained any of the numerous studies made on FuJa in other Afl'lean countries such as
Nigeria or Cameroon or Gllinea that have sizable numhers of rula sneakers. Nnte that
Wolof is mainly spoken in Senegal and The Gambia, only.
.

---

,
"j
notice that his stance on a supra African ianguage is much more cautious
than his stance about Senegal. Tllerl' "re ;;l le;;st four African languages in
Africa that clearly could claim the role of supra-language: these are Haus:1,
Fula, Mandinka in the West and Swahili in eastern Africa, lIe could have
argued for one of these based on the same argurnent developed for Senegal
but he did not. Also, when speaking of language poEc}' and language
planning one haS always to bear in mind the following basic trutbs :
Decisions on language use in a particular society are almo,'t
invariably suborlhnate to, or reflection of. underlying politi::a!
ancl social values and goals Even in the educational domain,
pedagogical considerations, \\vhile rele\\'ant, arc seldrJm primary
in
influencing decisions relJting to the
use 01' p,1rticul£1r
languages as meclia or subject of instruction.i GormilIl, 197 /;
(quoted by 130kamba et al 1977))
.,
The relevance of tllis quotation will become even more appareni in l.J1C
furthcuming sections.
I,)
1 have said enough about C A. [)iup, but J think he lkserves lhe
amounl of attention, for 1 believe he is the single most imporlant Iildi'lidua]
that has helped shape the thinking or many Senegalese intellectuals abotit
the language question. But l1is strong militantism in [avor of INolof "lac;
negatively interpreted in some minority language groups. The PUl:lal'
sreaKing intellectuals, in rarticular, have always been very wa~y about
Dior's theories, Jt is in fact possible that the creation In the 1950s of the
"Association for Pulaar Renaissance' (/lEP, in French) was in response to the
\\Volar nationalists who were pushing for the adoption of Wo!cl!' as tile sok
National as well as official language,
62223, ARP and the !<lnglll1gQ.j~~IJQ.

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148
Remember
that
we
are
talking
here
about
the
eve
of
t11C
independences The cultural battles around the national languages could be
seen, in a sense, as the reflection of less manifest concerns cor,ccrning
political power and political dominance, Ihere seemed to be a belier th"t
whoever did well in the struggle for the recognition of tlwir bng'"i',ge 'vould
ensure a stronger' position in the upcoming struggle for power Polltical
cmpClWcrmCI1l is in fact llie SII1I;10 must imporlant issue involved in ~;tat:Js
plannmg, even though the people involved clo not always admit to it (see
h Weinstein, 1980).
rOl' the Puliar speal:ers , there \\Vas no famous Intellectual like C. ,\\,
Dio[) who could formulate equall)' eloquently Ill\\? advantages ll13t Puia'l[,
has,l" But there were enough concerned Pul,lar-speaking inleUecluaij and
government orrici;ll, to put up a fight against the excluslVe promotion or
\\Vular.
Apart from being a fmum for Pulaar speakers, ARP was also involved
in corpus planning, with tbe creation ur alpllabets in coniui1ction with othc!'
fula groups all across western Africa, in EUI'opean and Mab Universi1.ies,
especially in Cairo, Egypt l5 , To ensure the success or its idee'S the group was
also heavily involved in cultural revival, literacy pt'ograms and it 11ad radio
hr'()adcasting time in which il
expre"sed
its views openly, Those: vic\\\\lS
14,\\lthough Pulaar is a naliclJl1l1 majority JlfJwlH:re in Africa, illSlill inlportant
minority language in Senegal. Guinea rConakryl, Mali, '1igerja, Cnmerorns n~sides,.it is
a lruly internatlOnallanguage, spuken all across from Senegal and ;\\'lau1'11~llia 10 the
west to Sudan in north eastern Africa l.see Al1ll-MangalI086.1 abOllt r"lain Sudan)
15Note that the importance of Pulaar is acknOWledged inlernationallv by tile existence
,,1' radio programs in rlJb in Egypt as well as USSR <Radio MoslC')"').

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149
underscored the importance of
safeguarding Pulaar language and cultme,
SUCll programs have continued to this date,
I
I t is not exaggerated to say that ARP has generallv been
the singlE:
"
'.i
most active opponent to Wolof domin<1nce, I also believe that the a,Clivities
of Al{j) might have played an importani role in tile l<1nguage planning and
policy decisions that were to come later. As J, minOl'ilY gi'OUp, alb':it an
important one, the Haal-puladren cOLllcl not <1sk that their language be chosen
as the national or official language, but their militancv \\\\'".s ralhei' to ensure
that no single language be given pl'Ominence over the others as ~,ug:;este(\\ in
Diop's model. Thus, the Hdal'pular-en were not only fighting for themselves
but, theoretically at least, for everybody else, There might have been Cl
current of resistance alllong many of the Senegalese minority l<1l1guages, but
none was as vocal. organized and (kterminecl as ARP has been.
Everything I have said, so far, concerning Diop and ARP over!app'2d
between the last decade of the coloni,l! rule and the post-independence, era,
thus providing us with a nice tl'ansitlon to independent Senegal.
This era is mainly clHracterizec! by the governmem 's intecvemion in
language matters. As the individuals and groups mentioned eac1ilO£' continued
to lllOl(! their supporters' views about the linguistic problem, the government
was brought, often timidly, to take a stand and formulate guidelines
concerning the languages,
However, what one has to understand with resp>:>c( to go'.rer'Jiilent
intervention, in Senegal, is that it never took the initiative. Y}.i,' could e':en

---

,~~ , " <.
, '.
1 ;- ,..
1)11
argue that all language policies that tile Senegalese government took we:'e in
response to pressure on the part or Ille nationalist opposi!Jon groups. ~Jso,
because linguistic issues have always been central to political debate in the
country, language plannlllg was often shrewdly used by the ruling politicians
to placate or pre-empt the nationalists' criticism. This era is definitely
dominated by L S Senghor,
the first President of Senegal,
whose
francophile tendencies on the one hand, and proclaimed interest in the issue
of the national languages on tbe other hand, played an imrortant ('ole in the
outcome of language planning ancllangllage policies!6
Senghor was instrumental in the maintenance of French as the official
language, and he is generally suspected of being lukewarm ,!bollt the
desirability of instituting tile national languages as but seconrluy cultural
languages. r will consider the Illotivatiolls of the post-colonial policies later
/\\s I said earlier, the ruling politicians often used language planning
to suit thelr purposes. To illustrate this let us look at certain elates. The first
text ever passed on the language problem came OUI in 1968 as noted earlier.
Then came the milestone, decree 71 <166 of 1971.
follmwcl by various
decreeS related to corrus plannlJlg, especially standardization, and flfl<l)jy in
1081 a number of policy measures were taken after Senghor's resignation in
December 1980 17 . AlIlhese dates happen to cOl'respond to importi'.nt events
occurring in the country. In j %8. 1971 and 1980, severe civil di,otul'bance,'
I ('Senghor earned his ~grt&!li01L. a. prestigious french diploma, in "'hat "'3, col/cd
then g[fllllIflalDL"grammar", I think lhis wnuld corrc:;pond now to Frcndl ling\\listics.
S(I, he nuvur Id himst:IChc intimidated hy allt!t(.;sc lhcori~;t$o[ h1nguagt.:. Ht htid bis
""'~ understanding of the linglli$lic '$S1l8S ~nll often influenced I)ntb pl~!lning ant[
(1f,jlCY.
17S eng hor retired from politic,; in December 1%0, nol hejilJ'~ changing the
conslillllinrl lo make his Prime Minister. AbtlotJ Diotlf. succeed him \\,,.i,hout resol'ling 10
eleclions Senghor slcPfJ\\;L! clown tW[, years hc[ort.: lhc Clhl or his teon
-

---

took place in the country, almost leading 1O the downfall of the govern!llcaL.
These episodes generally caused by 1he gener,ti discontent about economic
and social policies were, characteristically, always started oH by strikes by
University and High School students and/ or workers. The crisis almost
invariably ended up encompassing all the recl'imjnaticns that tllE: people hall
against the government, including the cUltural issue.
As is customary in such circumstances,
governments use evel'Y
imaginable ploy to curb the opposition, especially where violent intimidation
did not seem to work. Oftcntlmes, whatever is closer lo the !"lean oi' tile
disgruntled groups is used to appease them. Since in Senegal, the culturai
issue, i.e. French dominance, the national languages, etc. has always been
central to the concerns of the nationalistic eJite, some treatment of the
language problem was orten recurrent in one way or another, in the solution
of the Cl'iscs. This may explain why in Senegal we have piecemeal, ad-hoc
treatments of the langu,1ge issue. One decree would, for eH.mple, only tacUe
some aspects of the issue and leave the rest for a later, not specified 01-
vaguely srecified. date.
If we compare tile diHerent kxts relating to language planning and
policy, only the rhetorics change to suit tbe situation but the contents ;]re not
substantially diHerent. Moreover, the imrortant things are never dealL \\'.'it!l
in a clear manner. The 1'01l0lving quotations will not only prc>vide a gooci
l,) illustration for that but they will also SllOW the basic views of Senghor's
govcrnrnellll,~. But, beJ'orc I give tbe quotaliom, let me back-track a little
18ror those who are not accustomed to Third World politics. when I say government
policies. I mainly mean the policies of whoever happens to rule. In ract. this may be
tI'ue evcry where. to a lesser or greater degree.

---

and say that decree 68-871 ll1stituted the status of
national j'lnguag'2s
which was extended to six languages
and introduced the first proposal
regarding the alphabet. The basis on 'I/llich these six languages '.vore chosen
was not spelled out; but, it could be inferred that, demography (see chapter
3), historical/political/cultural importance, regional importance seem to be
the main criteria. General!y speaking, the groups that '.vere representpd in
the decision making process were remembered, and those who were not
represented were forgotten.
Indeed, as said earlier, some of the groups chosen, for example ]a.la,
Mandinka and Soninke are ('eal minority languages(all three together
I
. )
represent about 10'j, or the populatiun),
but they respond 10 the ether
criteria. The important thing about the notion of nationa.llanguage though is
that it implies that all these six languages have eqwil swtus. Nothing in the
provision of the law stales to the contral')'.
Deuee
71-566 was simply an improvement on 68-87! espeeDIly
with respect to certain alphabetical ::igns and also with respect to cl~llifying
the role of the national languages. We can read fi'om the preamble ot' decl'ce
71 -5(J6 tile follOWing:
To replace French as official language and [he language of
Education is neither desirable nor possible, if at least we do not
want to miss our goals of development for the year 2000. Indeed
wc need at least two generation:; before or.e of om ndiona!
languages can become an efficient means at' teaching modern
sciences and tecllnology, and on the condition we have the
financial
means
and
the
human
reSOUl"CeS
in
terms
of
specialists ... (My translation {quoted in CRELANS,I 077:3))19
19"RempJacer le fran,ais comme langue olTicielie etl'omme \\angu', d'cns"ignemem
n'esl ni sOllhailable ni possible. Si dll mains. nOlls ne vOlllons pas etre en ret~rd ail
rendez-\\'ollS de J'an 2000. En effet, il nOllS falldrait all mo;ns deux gcncLlLions Jlour fai"e

---

153
In the same preamble lhe government promises to inll'ociuce these
languages in the education system at all levels (C[{GLANS, pj) The Pl'l;-
requisites for such policies ai'e spelled out,
The necessity (If de"ejo[,[ng
grammars, the impOl'1ance of training teachers WCI'e qUOTed as Ihe important
steps lO take and the introduction of the leaching or the national tanguage3 is
announced in the following Oi"der, first at the Universitv, next in the ,e,tcher
training colleges and then in Primary and Secondary schools, COllctndng the:
leaching of the languages, it is suggested that
.,each Cllild be taught in hiS motller tongue. pr"cticaily ':/0 !iiU~!
attempt in each administrative subdivision nit' Ll!,~u"ge of liVe
majority'(my translation (CRELANS, PAl). 20
,
\\
The preamble ends with an interesting idea v.'ilicll is tlut edUCal()rS
'
'1
involved in literacy programs or other community outreach proJrams cio not
have [Cl wait until gral11mal's are conceived. hefore starting tu cngagce in the
leaching 01' the national languages.
Lct us stop Ilerc and 1001: at somc or the things reported ~'U far Fir"l
Wilh respecl llll!1C'rit'Sl \\)UolaiioI1,:Jl leasl lWO lhilll',S are rCVCalfJli. The [ir~il.
one is lllat French should renlalll the language of education untit at !e,isl tiJt~
year 2000. The reason given seems ,0 be that it is the only lCinguagi~ l.haL is
apt to lead us to the stale 01' a developed nation by thc year 20Cl02i Her:',
,June de nos langues un instrurntnl efficacc pnui' l'enscigricment des sCIJnc8s et d~:l
techniques. Et acondition que nous en cIIssions les ffi0yens financiers et hllmaln.s c'est-
a-dire en savanls el en lechniciens ..."
20Note the serious flaw in lhis wording. The decree says that everybody should first be
laught in their mother longue, and in the same bre;jth suggests lhal [ill' each
~llhdivjsi()n the majority langllagl: he !,ulght This l;~ simply contrl\\dirtciry· 5ince the
second pan of the clause th~ paragraph is III fact saying that each child l11?,y net he
j<1llgbl in his mother tongue hUI in the hngll<1gc or tile 1000·al majority
~ IYear 2000 was lIsed by Sen glial' in alt hi, polilical di,;ccllrse '"s the d<1w bv w:1ic11 we
were sUPIlO,;edly to become <1 developed nation.

---

:"'.
\\ ,
'J
already, wc see the shal'p difference betwecn CA. Diop and Sel1glior. Diop's
theOl'v is that there can be no I)Ossibilitv of development \\Vhile using a
,
'
foreign language, whereas Scnghor, or rather Scnghoi"s government, thinL;
exactly the contrary. Scnghor sees French as the language of development
becausc. it is the language of science, C. A. Diop believes ll':lt people can
express their individual ingeniosity only in a language that is ~lcO the vehicle
of their own culture.
The second issue that emerges from the quotation is that of time
frame. Ideas about language planning are given, but they ue not Pli! in a
time frame. For example, the needs for tile clevelopli1ent or the national
languages are pinpointed but how lon~' it is going to taJ;e Lo sa!i:,fv l1,ese
needs, what is going to be done to achieve these needs are left in ti,e ilir, as
evidenced by the condition set in the last part of the quotation, where it
says "on the condition we have rinanci,llmeans and human resources".
This phrase does not seem to suggest that the gove;'nmcnl is going to
finel the ways of generating the financial resCources,
nor does it say much
about what it will do to create the human resources, as can be gathfreri from
tile entire document. In addition, it is [)ossibie to interpret tile cDfldilional
clause as meaning that we cannot develop our languages unless 've ar':
developEid economically, and to do so we have to continue to use French In
,
other w(,rels, lel French leae! us to developmc!1t first, and theD \\W can take
care of lI1e national languages.
Whatever the interpretation one cares to give these ill(,8.':. it appeC1rs
that we are dealing here with flolitical rlwtoric rather than it \\veJ: ill<Jught
out language
pulicy. This is even more obvious in the Su,;f;cstion ! ilal

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155
anybody who desires to do something in tl18 community just go ahe"d and
do it, but when it comes to public education, \\\\'here it matters 11lO!'t, we are
asKed to wait until such hYPolhetical time when all the risllt conditions \\iU1
be gathered,
As suggested earlier, o[Tlcial language planning and poEcy in Senegal
is made of ad-hoc measures aimed more at placating the natiol11iists than at
seriouslv developing the languages, The rreclilection for rhetocics is also
patent in another excerpt taken from the pre-arnble of decre,: 72-2,62, which
re-organizes the elementary education (a fallout 01' 71-56(,). In it. it is sate! '
Given that every language is a vehicle of a culture, '..vc b<;Leve
that as long as we, the Senegalese people, continue to teach our
children Ithrough] any foreign language '},1ithout te,iching them
their mother tongue ['irst , our people \\vill rem,lin culturally
aliena led, (CRELANS, p.4,)22
Commenting on this quotation elsewhere J (A, 11. Diop, I ()86621
remarK:
This( ..,) quotation may appear as a substantial ch~\\nge in poiicie:;
[policy orientationl concerning the national languages, Howc'/e[,
it is not , The impot'tant term te consider here .is the 'Hord
'nrealable" "first", The Idea behind this word !s thal the natiomd
languages should be taught in the early stages of education, Se g,;
to facilitate the learning of Fr(;nch bter. It is implied thi\\t thi, is
culturally less alienating than educating tlle children in the
foreign language from the age of six or seven As \\Vc notice, the
status of Frencb as the Official language ~ncl the langu<1ge of
education is nol at all que:;\\ioncd,
i,
, )
OO"'r
I
'h'
I
.. -
oute anguc ve ICU ant line culture, nOlls pensons que.nous, SenE:galJ.l::,
conl,nueront a apprendre a nos enfants Ulle langlle etrnngere queUe Cju'eJ!e ~ail sans
leur enseigner all pn,alable !eurs Ianglles malernel1es, noire pe\\lpie rester", ;diene,"

---

"
:-.
I", if",
..' ..
156
Tile foregoing
indicates clearly thilt language planning in Senegal JS
much more complex tllan CA. Diop woulcl have us believe. As can b", set:l'!
tllel'C a['e two cOlllcncling positions: onc that pushes for an immediate pledge
to help the national languages(Wolof in particular) develop to a le'.;el \\'/here
tlley can take over tile functions played by the exoglossic lal:guage:. in S(,[]1,,'
llot-too-far-away futul'e; and the other that doubts the \\'.'is(!ol1l of such a
stand. The latter prefers to maintain French for ail offici", ,Jnl! education"l
business and to allO\\v the national languages to only \\vor1;: as the support to
education through French. The ruling government 11as the po\\'ler to apt)l)' i,s
policies whereas tile opposition cannnl do tlie :;iWiC , but t1'/I)Y !oo po~;sess
some degree of influence on the people who ,!I'e sensitive to their ideas. l!l
the middle are most of the minority languages whes:' main c<:;!lcern is 11')1 to
be left out when the cake is being cut.
6.3.1. Pre-independence policies ancl,t he Cl'eation of the clUt.
Two typcs or outcomc can be thought DC with resp,:ct to the c010nio.l
I
'.'
era. The first relates to French as the language of official maIlers nnd ['anly
also as a lengua franca. The seconcl concerns tbe role of Ihe elite in molding
nationalistic attitudes as wel1 as pecceptions of the language issue,
Under the colonial rule we have seen how Frerlch \\Vas bi'ought to
occupy the official scene, displacing Arabic, its main rival ,et l11e lime, 10 the
restricted domain of religion. But
tile nlOO-t notable outcome is [he
establishment or French inspirecl educiltil'>ll, thJi led tn the ,:realion uf an
elite Which, as we just saw, can sometimes be as staunch ckft"lders cl the

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157
french language, and by implication the french culture, as any French
colonialist.
One cannot help acknOWledge the foresight the co!oni;;lists 1Ft cl \\vhen
instituting these policies which pl'ovicled them with the expected result. The
L; post independence policies pursued by both tJle first and tile prf::ent regime
of Senegal regarding language are
founded on and continu8 to reflect
colonial policies, althougll theil' motivation for doing w may be sligiitly
different.
During the Senghor period at least, the linguistic a~pect of educati01l'Ji
policies clearly reflect the belief that French is better for cducation, for
french is considered as the language of science There is 11') cliEference
between that belief and the one held by the co\\onialists. But, there [!['e otlle,
considerations whIch underlie most of the education"t "nd lingu;~;lic policies
in developing Countries in general, and Senegal in particnlar. As Bolu,mba et
al (t977) remark, three practical considerations mDtivate flDjjcy choices:
1. Efficiency and expediency; 2. national unity ancVor political cOCisiderali(lj,s,
3. national progress.
If we take the Senegalese government policies, we sec that number
and number 3 come out clearly,
from the official texts qUGteci earlicr.
Number 2 in contrast is never openly expressed but il would be naive to
believe that it does not influence the political leaders' sUnce. I personally
suspect that French is
seen by many as a ll1ore'neutrai" [ailguage t]-",n
Wolof is (see Dell, t (76). Therefore, maintaining
social slabllity dcmandf;'d
that French, the "neutral" language, be maintained. I also suspect that when
people in Caval' of adopting Wolof give all these high percentage;; le support

---

- '.:",
., -.
158
their point,
they are saying that the argument just r".ised is not founded.
Basically what the nationalists are suggesting
is that jf 80 or 98~, of tl:e
people speak \\'(/olor that means that they do not mind having it as their
national or official language. This brings us to the interesting issue of the
rise of Wolof to the level of prominence it now enjoys.
In chapter 3, I suggested lint, more than anything, the colonial rule
paradoxically, gave more push to WoIof than it did to French, at least as fa
as their expansion is concerned. The relative national prestige that Wolof ha
now acquired is the consequ(nce of the combination of a number of factors
The more ohvious ones are the
fact
that
the
colonizers had
t11ei ..
headquarters in the Wolof areas, and used Wolof speaking people, as 2ids
guides, or soldiers to conquer the hinterland.
Because of their early experience Wilh the colonial pOlver, they WCI'
also the first people to constitute the bull; of the firsl generations of elites
For example, the'! communes, Le, Gore(, Dakar, Rufisque and Saint-Louis
gained French citizenship status very l~ady; and, by the el,d of the 18 tl
century, were both electors and eligible in the
French local ancl centi'a
system. At the same time, their brothers and sisten in the hinterJanc] wer
considered indigenes .(indigenous people) i.e, French SUbjects.
Also, while mOSl areas inside saw their first schools only at the end 0
World War II, the inhahitants of the 4 communes had alceady universit)
graduates working in the French government in various capacities. These at'
the people who inl'luenCl:d laws ilnd peddled influence. Tllesc Jrc "Iso llH
people who will later act as auxiliaries to french COI01:ial expansion, both i

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159
the colonial administration or as managers of French companie;: of commerce
such as lI'laurel &Prom, V.Q. Petersen ,etc.
Punya SJota Ray (1 %8: 763),
writing about how prestige is acquired says:
Success in language planning depends on the already existing
network of social com munication, that is, on the established
channels of commerce in material and intellectual goods. It
matters less with whom one constantly needs to communicate.
Such neecl may arise because the other fellow is able to supply
convenience 01' because the association with him gives him self-
respect. Prestige derives fl'om both utility and honor.
like this view ahout how prestige is acquired. The market place
terminology is also appropriate, in my opinion. People who have something
to orfer, whether materially or otherwise, are likely lo attract It-lGSe who are
in search of what is orfered. To illustrate this it suffices to recall tlHlI
the
triumph of colonial rule was rarlly based on reward. Those Who did not
oppose them quickly rose to positions of influence. Olher people who saw
this got closel' to the first group of 'converts" in ord'-,r to share in tile
advantages being bestowed
hy the colonial ruler. The closer you were to
the colonial master the more influential vou became.
The other key source of presUge was the emergence of
towns and
cities. These quickly developed under colonial rule. The devebpment of
cities, because of the historical factors indicated earlier, were first confirled
in the Wolof areas, before they re ache cl remoter areas. And even though the
hinterland started to have its share of modern towns later, th8 major
administrative figures are those who were trained in the French system. This
explains that the first local administrators that got in contact with the
interior were often those groups of people who were the fir'st to late
',-
.. , --.'
,

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160
advantage ··of the
colonial
educational
pOlicies.
Here
again,
the
[11'::t
benefactors were the Wolor.
Although the prestige that those [leorle enjoyed was due to their
orricial [lositions, one can imagine how easy it may h::ve become,
in the
mind of the [lopulace, to equate prestige with ethnic/ lingui~tic identity, all
the more SO because the only im[lortant people they enkr in contact \\'11th
are, by and large, Wolor. That easier accessibility of a Wolof administralcJl',
school master, policeman ur wl11ll1ercial repre~;entative, explains why Wolof
rather than French, in fact, benefittecl more frol11 colonization, in terms of its
eX[lansion,
French, hecause it dnes not have a really native community, can only
survive artiflci,llly, Le, hy the force of law, On tile contrary,
a f;;.vorahly
rated endoglossic language can I',old on for ever, given also it 11ao a go:;d
SU[lport from the people who make decisions at all levels of government and
academia. The differences between Wolof and French on the one han,!. <\\l1d
Wolof and the other national languages on the other hand, are nicely
explained by the following quotatiun from Sloka Ray (1968):
Prestige makes people \\vani 10 accept a praclic~. but only access
enables them to do it. If different groups of linguistic forms at'e
ordered on a scale of prestige and in one of access, the group
Which has the highest joint score will have the best chance for
general ado[ltion
In other words. any formal organized action by an acknowledged
authority, such as a state or a church Ot· a learned society or an
author. can be successful i£l its intention to encourage or
discourage linguistic habits only if it correlates maximaJlv to
informal unorganized action on the part of numerous lOC1l1v
more accessihle lesser autllorities ...

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161
One may wnnder ,vital about the other languages in the country?
Apart from WOlof. whose expansioll is ubvious and i" unanimously agreed
upon, no study is done to see exactly how the other languages are fal'ing. It
is not impossible that some of the minority language3 have also b2:l.efited
from the effect of the city, fur example. I think especially of to\\'im 'vhere the
majority of the inllabitanls are not Wolof. To what degree Wolof Spegkel's ot'
speakers of other languages learn other minority languages that hc,;)pen to
be in a majority position in a given area, is on interesting thing to rese,',rch,
but for now it is hard to tell.
The same question could be ash·cl of the
various people who live in the city among people of different
backgrounds. 23
One thing is sure, however, the bulk or tile Senegalese people are bi-
or multi-lingual. The other thing that is sure. as sligge~(ecl in tl',e ia,'
quotation. is that the interest in a langu"ge is often only instrumelltaL If a
language is judged useful. people learn it. If they feel that ll,ey do not gain
anything from learning it they will nOl rind
the motivation lo do SCI. It is
nevertheless important to make a distinction hetween instrUl1lenl,~llan~uage
learning and affective language learning. In other woeds, the flct Unt
someone learns a language does not mean they love tlie JRllgunge, it may
simply meail that Ihey need the language, for one rea;on or a11othe1'.'-;
23When I was living in Dabr for example J had a maid who was horn and grow up in
one of the townships around Dllkac. She was Sccrecr. but 1 \\1'a~ very ~t1rprjscJ to find
oUl that she had a pretty good level in PuJaar. She told me thal she picked PUlnJl' by
growing up among PlIlllar-speaking ntighbors. whose kids she used to pl?,y '','ith.
There also many cascsuf people Whfl arc posted in cei'lain areas and cnd up marrying
IhL're ur living thl're :-ill lung th:tllhl'y jU:-il l',nlllra!!y .\\t'!,Jllire the I;Hl~iH<l~;e.
~i.A good case in p01l1l is Afrikaans, the Jangu(lgc of lhe DOC1·~, :lmon~; the African
people of South Africa.

---

1(;2
Radio broadcasting and other media use is the most imeresting
example of the competition between the languages for survival. j;; Sencg,ll,
there is unly onc hl'oac!c;,sling company owned by the guvcrDllii;nL In view
of the laws 'that exist regarding the natlonal languages, one would expect
that the amount of broadcasting time allottee! to l~ach language would be
equal, or that it would commensurate with tlle relative demograp!lic
importance of caell language. Yet,
an interesting stud}' carried out by ~1
young
Haal,pulaar
journalist shows
quite
amazing
differences.
Abnu
Bane( 1988) finds that the 91 hours ancl 30 minutes of wel:k1y brcadc,lsting
is unequally divided between 8 languages 25 The following 1<lble shows the
lll'oadcasting ti me for each of the languages.
\\Volor
Pulaar
Seereer Joola
Soninke Manclinka Manjat
BaJante
451120
1211 25
1h30
211
1h10
Ih 25
30m!1
30mn
T:lhlc Ij
.'l\\{eel~ly BroadeastinlUimr;
!lane says that 61.')% of the broadcasting time is cleHJled le;
newscasting ancl religiolls broaclcasting. The latter is mainly concentrated un
Thursday ancl friday. The remaining 38.5:~ arc broadcaslings of ,/',,:'jOliS
gemes. Hane estimates that Wolof represent (,6% of the broacleaning time
Asked Why there was suell a discrepancy between the languages the Director
M Prog,',lIns at lllt' B"oadeasting company savs that it is su !l'-,c,lu:;e 'Wo;ol is
~5Remember that there arc only t> nationallang\\1ages. Sumehow two ",h",'langungcs
c:1.11ed in the study "n\\inorily languages" have manJged some shi.'.1'v ;jf lhe pie,
I·
'.'
---.-...._----_.--.~._ ......~_."~...._-~~._,.__...

---

163
a language of wide com munication, an(1 that according to sUtistics le is
spoken by 80% of the population". He fllrtiler acids that "this is also the result
of the colonialllcrita;;e since tile W'olof people 'vere the first to be In conlaCe
WIlh the colonizers.....(my translation, p.S2J.
The daily program of the nldio looks like this:
,,,
Program
" MinuTes
,(,
Wolof
760
6(. ~
,). I
Other National 1ges
no
20.2
French
130
114
English
20
' -,
1 . I
Total
1140
100
Tal1le I') (From !lane 1988)
Ti me of diillybroadc:1s1
Quoting
A J DlIdesq (n.d.l. Hane remarks t119.t the foilowing perjocic'
of the day are generallv considered orime time:
.
.
1. Bet\\veen 6 l\\J;k and
7,j0 l),r,'I.
2. Mound 1 P.M
.1. Delwcen 7 anci 9 P.M.
!lane says that \\Volof
hrocldcasts from 6 to 7 A.M , from i I /\\.!\\I) to
12J(] PM.; and t11en t'rom IJO P.M. to 2 P.!\\t French broadcasts at 7 AM
at 1 P.M [and at 8 and 10 PM.]

---

16 ,1
Note that work begins in S,megul at 2\\ o'clock in the mornins. The:1
there is a lunch break at 12 noon and works starts again at 2.30 or 3 P.M
until (, P.M.
What this study has shown is that not only does WDlof have ,1. clear
advantage in terms of broadcast lime but also it occupies th" best times of
the clay leaving to the other languages the part of the day when most people
are at their worK places. Note also that the answer of the Director of
programs uses sociolinguistic concepts to justify the advantage tl1at Y'iolof is
gIven.
Clearly, this is ill violation of the laws relating
to the !12tlon,J
languages. Or let us say this is an unwritten policy. What this shows !.s the
importance of the elite classes in defining policies that st:ir thell' o\\','n
interesls.
What happens in reality is that whoever has lhe po\\vcr, det,;rmines
the policies to be followed. This is so true that the time given to these
languages often fluctuate as the Information Ministry pas,.e, fro~n one ethnIC
group 10 another.
I
1)
The importance or Radio and TV cannot be underscored enough fot-
they are Ihe main vehicle or popular culture in the ucvelopu;g countri"s :wd
whoever controls these mean~ of COOl III unic~tion controls what gOl:, into tlie
minds or the people. There is no doubt that the Radio has been of great heip
to the expansion or Wolof, by making of it the main language of infocmalion
even more so than French, as can be seen rrom t~ilJ!e 15 ~b()vc.

---

r~;E\\;;;,F".~~;~·.c,~~:~'-',". <'" .
..
~~~:~i:'~:,_;t':,);~._i,.·.i.-;:;,~',,,;t'~~~.:;;..,:<.:c,·,,,.:_-\\5;·S,:~~1k;~,it"f,.;",•.~..~~.g...·~·".;.'."",..·>;.*.e,•...,,·.'.'.....T_.j'-.).~,;:_~.'•••.._!••.,•.•'_.,.,,'.•••',.'_'"
!i'J-~·~!1lll;jfli~-li;;· !l.!"!i-1:!i-~o,;S;!.!!!.iJ:-~'~fjl:,W:., il:i,l;i;··!ll.iE~'''··!!1'..Ol'!'''''rf:;;;-~,·,,lit·.lli;'::1;
•. :2~",?"''''£>';''""",
.." .....;._.:..:~l_..-;.:_~,,;..;..,.Ji.~~~. '~~~~'c:-'::.J.l';,-:..:..:.;:o_ .~__', t.j:':'·~''::''--t'<'':;~A'"~~'''''''_\\..-''' .~ •.."
165
I will attempt, briefly, to show bere how the differences bc,"),icen \\1'1':
young and the old noted in the preceding chapter could be explained by live
language issues just discussed. YOI; may rec,,!! that the ob~eivat.ion m;.ide in
the two communities under study is that tllC young are hardlv bilingual in
Wolo[-Pulaar, and more and more drawn towilrd Wolof-Frencl1 bilingua i isnl.
As regards the old people, tbey are primarily bilingm1.i in \\liolof-Pul[l"r . Tile
CJuestion is therefore to know why the young, born in tilt middle: of .Pulaar-
speaking people. no longer aCCJuire Pulaar but al'e more and rY1Ul'C dl',J.wn
toward a language they only meet in classrooms. ie. French,
i)
The relationship between SchOOl and la.nguage policy is wo obviolls to
necessitate lengtlw developments, In cllapter 3, "'le saw how' the French
coloniallsts insisted on developing their brand o[ education in their colonies.
For, as tlley say, it was the surest way o[ winning the young f.fl'icarls 0'1"1'
to the colonialists' values. Since tile promulgation o[ co!omal education law::
in the 19 tll and early 20 th century, the cOllfse of events seem to have
proved them right Since Frencll \\\\IilS inu'oducecl as the oiTlcinl langua,ic and
the language of education it has remained so, as is evident from earlier
discussions. Tlle child that goes cD school h;1s, tllerefol'c, to learn French,
Fl'ench was aCCluired by each school going child as the ['esult er [[la!.
Because schools opened only jn the 195Ds [or nanga ilnd much iat0r
for Sedo, the older people never attended the French schonis, and wh:itc\\icr
French they might lnve aCCJuired was not fi'om the schools This in itscjf
could, at least partially, explain the speech pattern differences between the
young who go to school and the old,

---

However, tl1e amazing thing in these t",TO communities is dJ,: fs.ct U~t:;t
many young people diclnot attend school and yet are closer in their speech
pattem to the young students, at least with respect to t.!wi( [~,d: ,-{
competence in Pulaar. This clearly suggests that educ,ltlon ,1.lCi1e canr,,,t
explain why these young people are less and less aUca.,:tecl to PuJ.aar.
i)
Remember that the \\Void rerei'recl to here is mainly what is 1:nov.'" as
\\Vo[of, i.e. the one mixecl with Prencl1.
As showed earlier, the prestige acquired by \\Volof is nry much tbi'
consequence of colonialism. \\\\l11at has happenec! is that the young people of
these communities which \\liet'e isolated and in a minoritv position gre'v up
seeing tl1at their language had a prestigious status nation-wick, and that the
language that had been the local dominant language, namely Pu!a'ir. did fiOl
have the same standing. Some kind of clemystiJ'ication of Pula~.r must the!'.
have occurred, prompting tile voung people to exhibit more their prjcie in
the dominant national language , which also happens to be th,.,irs. ivloreover.
their mother tongue has become the language which lOgether with French i,;
the city language.
This newly acquired consciousness of a \\\\rjder more prestigious entiiY
with which they can identify lhemselves may also be seen as a direct result
of the development by the colonialists or bette:, means of comlliL:nic:ltion in
the coloniC'~;, thus facilitating cOlllact hel\\\\'-Ceil
people. The creation of ~"nads
and the introduction of the automobile made mo\\'emf;!lit mud) caste,' and
much more comforlable. The creation of radio stations brought the outer

---

I" ,
world even closer to home and underscored their Ip]onglng 10 tile \\'fidei'
W0101' speak ing world
I\\1nccover, the life in the city, v/here VI o1,::,i' and
French dominate, was so much more comfortable and attractive cornparcd le
village life that the temptation to identify with the city bec8,me stronger',
The prestige that Pulaar enjoyeci was re[i).led to its bein1; the !ungu,',ge
of the learned Muslims, Indeed, onc of the reasons wiiy the older generatiun
of Secta and Nanga acquired Pulaa,' before they reached adokscence was ,,,at
most of them
went to study with Pulaar KCH'<1n1C teachers, some\\,mt:s [,It'
many years, That was the time when I-::oranic studies were the only TorULi!
teaching that existed, That was a11;0 the lime wlll'.Jl karninc: Loranic earned
the learner some level of respect and consideration, 2(,
But I have shown how victorious coloniD.lism cLlrtailed tIle spt-ere of
influence of Islam and hol'.' it introduced new status symbols 'While foc the
elders, completing the si udy or I:.:oranic sciences with prcl'liglous n1iisters
was a great source of prestige, colonialism introduced new, ccmplekl)'
c.lilTc,'cnt
status symbols,
ba"ed not ol1ly on pcr:;uIBI m;;",c:'i;1I gain:;, but
also on some level or influencc derived from serving the colonial <1Ei,$t,,1'.
These young men WCI'e born
at a tim(~ ',vllen the new '/2JU8 ~;Y2tem
llad already caught on, at a time when even the traditiont"! c2hgi::,us kadeis
were running after the new sign" or success and prestige,
,
In a \\'lay, then,
these young people grC\\V LiP when the direction pCDf11e !c,o[.;:c:ci i;( ",ias t!le
city, not the surrounding area, rllis expiains the c1ecceJ,SC ut' the 11t''"';[
of
" f
- )Remember that the ITaaJ"ptdaaccn an: among the rare Afl'iL'an:; \\\\7b,.n '-"ere: {he fir')t to
create an Ishlmic theocratic sta.le, in the prcscntfuuta '1'001'0. in th(; "!g L!.l cent:JI'} e.E.

---

. ,1:)
~ifl.~~~~i¥A'~1i~i\\f$~~:t;{jJ~~£lf!.t*~4«I~~}~' a~~\\'·;~·:"':l-i~',~·;'·~l;1<:"~~~,'.';~~;:"",'-i
~._
~_.,,'"- ~_~_~ .~_
.•:;" _ _'__.....:-'-",.,."""'..:.........:.:.-'...
..
._.:._..
....
.__
168
PlIlaar among these people, as the focus of attention is shifted from country
to city
When these children \\vere growing up, nothing in tlw.ir immec!l"tc
el1virol1 ment worked in favor or PlIlaar. Thus, as Pulaar ceased to h;lve any
perceivahle use for them, tbey did not see any point in learning it. If we ad(!
to tl1al the alienating aspect of western education which put more emr,iW.Sl';
on a completely different set of values than those that prevail.ed
in these
societies up until the coming of the French, we will then begin to unclerstand
what has happened In sum, as Wolof was being giwn a boost by colonlalhm,
Pulaar was being dealt a fatal bioI\\' by the same colonialism. I do nr,t think it
was planned to be this way, but it happened
Though tile reasons just revlCwed are not :l!! linguistic, it is the
linguistic policy that directly [a\\Torcd forcllch and indirectly WG1of, which
explains the demise of Pulaar among ttlese young people If thE' utientatiol1
of the policies had been completely different, if the local !;:ngu"gcs h2c! been
encouraged and given a chance to develop to their full potentl<tl, perh:ps
Pulaar would have been on the repertoire of these young peopk Likewise,
if a model of development that encouraged decentralization had been
adopted, people would not have felt that they had lo go to the citv to fin.d ,l
!.
!
better life. lnthe analysis, it is all these factors combined (hr,i E'xplain the
present situation in flanga and Seclo, although here I only focus on the
linguistic rroblem.
1n an attem pt to shOlv the influence o[ language policies on \\vhat hf!':
,
l:)
happened in Nanga and Sedo, I have pl'ucceded by presenting more than an

---

overview of language planning in Senegal. I 1nve SllV!.'ed the i(\\(;,lS in
conflicts and the different acto!'s behind rhese idea:,. In dOl!1:;; 50, I li:1Ve also
sho')./ed the complexity of the issues, provIding my (Y~Jn int2rpr2t?~i(!n of
people's molivatiolls. I have shown how expressed policies ;:om;;timcs differ
from real practices. I have suggested that this is ;;0 bCC,lU:'C the 11;;I;r;n;dist
elites are able sometimes to follow their own agenda despite the regulations
and laws that exist. Fi nally, I have suggested a way or relating the Llnguag,:
shirt observed in t[1e are;), under study and the past and present bng'.lage
and other policies in tbe country

---

170
CHAPTER 7
COr:CLUSIONS
The aim or this dissenation was to study two bilingual communIties
whose geographical situation is such that it is only logical to expect to sce <l
paltem of speech that should mainly reflect the interaction of two language"
Thc two communities have Wolof as their dominant language, but they are
completely surrounded by Pulaar-speaKing neigbbors. To use a geDgraphic
term: they represent Wolof islantls in a Pubar ocean
Mv initial expectation was therefore to find a good deat of language
mixing bet\\veen tile [WO languages. T!lis expectation is based on the fact that
I, manv areas with similar characteristics 1for example. Puerto-Ricans in New
Yor!: Ciivi tend to indicate that, \\vhen a group of people fincl themselves in
a
minority
SilUilllon. and tllat there al'e no particular natural 01' sociu-
polillcal barriers that constrain theIr contact with the majority host peopl,:.
tile likelihood for the minority to assimilate at le,lst certain traits of tIle host
language and cullure is generally high. Based on that hypothesis. I set OUt to
study the patterns or language
mixing of Setlo and
j\\LJnga the tW(I
com munities in question.
It did not take me long to discover, much to my surprise, that there
was a clear dirference between the older people (16 years plus) and the
younger people (16-45 years), the most extreme difference being between
the young men aged between 16-30 on [he one hand and the older people.

---

.'
~
UI
111. The main difference I found "vas t!L\\! the young pr:ople, educated ct' not,
have less and less competence in Pulaar. They Ll.lher tend to r'.,ix ':;idof and
French. More importantlv. it is round !hat WrJof-Pula2.l' mixing is "Cl';'
sligmalizecl among the young people
In contl·ast. the old pc:op1e nWi;,
generally speaking, a good nnstery or Pulaar. and th';!! :nfo1'01;;l speed!
reveals many Pulaar elements.
These preliminary results prom pled me tu modify my ,nitiO,l IJ,'I,jCCl !
deCided to not only look at the patterns or language-mixing D.r,C: tile (,uteo,:)c'
of that mixillg. but also to try and fillc1 an eXpL111afiol1 i'o,' [be '.1i[,,-"1'<:,1(85 I
Ihal the only way the things described ",acher could be unddslvxl 'in" h"
IiHlking at what was happening in the coulltryl.SenegaJ) at large
In the first rart of the dissertation, my focus \\I/<:S on LI;lguage mdl,g.
1-.1
I was mainly interested in issues that have caught the alteI,lion of Engul"ls
1'01'
more than a decade now: code-S\\'ii!ching. Claims <llH! cc·clrller-claims
about \\vhat constitutes a cudc-s'.vitching, \\vheil1er there ace constr(~lnts on
cocle-s\\·/ilcl1ing or not have been the nl::lln cuntentiou5 lssues i.:"l this ne'\\I
sub-field of linguistics. At the same time, the cootaci
involved were gencl'allj' from the Indo· EUl'ope:m SiC,:!:. The study or lor.k"

---

,~,
1 / f..
the two languages studied, namely \\Volof and Pulaar, are also from the same
familytNiger-Congo), they have some important differences that justify
studying their contact. In addition, the fact that these two language have
almost no written hIstory made of them attractive subjects for the study of
contact phenomena.
The data was coLled along five variables: borrowing, code-switching,
!t:xical-,;wilching, interference and otlkr. Tile overall quantitative results
b show that the mixes pt'oduced by the old people involved mainly ban"owing,
whereas the younger people (including the middle aged group) produced
mllre lexical-switclling an,1 code-switching. There was a slight tendencv for
the middle-aged group to have more interference, Since the main issues I
was interesting in were the first three variables mentioned above, I did rIot
dwell much on interference and the other phenomena.
Overall, borrowing and lexical-switching were the most frequent t\\'pes
of mixes. Code-switches represented a very small portion of the total mixes.
Borrowing, generally speaking, being the least problematic of the three, did
n01 receive any further discussion once its contribution to the mixes was
established. I was left then with lexical switching and code-switching, two
phenomena that continue to cause most of the L1ebate about language mixing.
The debate is the result of claims and counterclaims made in respect to
various constraints that were said to exist in some pairs of language, for
example various syntactic constraints in Spanish -English code-switching
(rim m, 1975; PfafL 1979, Sankoff and Poplack, 1980 to mention a few!, and
which later studies in other language pairs found to be violated I,e.g.
Bentahila et al 1983 for Arabic-f'rench, Nishil11ura 1ns,
fOI" Japanese-
English; Mol1amed 1987, 1989 foe Arabic-English, etc,l.

---

1-: ..,
. ,
1 ...
following the discl<,iillS about ,11<0 'iiolaliuus
r)
I
,. !()"-
.
1
t'['
'lr)'·' T"
' 1 ,
j 1"1'"
I-OP ,1Ci
·0), :-,alhJl
et (11
. 0), l"'OplJCi: et it
)t)~}r
syncl-Jconic bOITO\\ving , they are gOJn~ l(l be led t(l inaccucatf;' c~~:ndl!si~)ns
about
constraints
violation. A study 0[' wIletiler 'x not llollce-borrowins
existed became tl1erefore of paramount importance EJther one Cilll disprove
the claim about the existence 0[' nonce-IJorrowilJg Jnd by tlie san};: iU[·:i'n
borro\\ving cloes indeed eXlS[ and thct'cfon; one proceed:': to examine v/her.h~~['
dealing with true code-switching or nO!1cc-bOrt'Uwlng. 1 chose \\u cl:) the
ex plJnatory model.
Ll <j'11 g t hp' 111,)(1 el, I· r 0 n(\\ (' e(I h\\7 le, ~ 11 i I. C,l R:). r..l(}".tnr.' .! (1 1,'. •.~" ~:,'.',: j.','. \\.,' ;.-."..:.1 ri.."11,\\,','
• •1
, . _ "
.,!.o
. • .
' .
, -
..
..
borro\\ving and code-s\\vilching is neces:::ar\\' 1'e'1' us 10 ~~'E (;[:)le It) t;ener~\\t('
well-formed pht-ase-structure representations of the mixed ,;",,1e11','I;S, Once
the existence of nonce-brJl'rowing
a'lias lexical-s\\vllcbing a.li:',s synchcon;c
constraint arc easily
explained by tooL ing lIt th.e
P~':'")\\..'''>~s in\\'"ci':·};:1 in
\\~Tere vindicated. As it turned oul I all cases ",vhere thc~c 1\\':-'0 (\\)n~.;ti':1:nt~

---

prepositiOnal phrases (PPs), or noun phras,·~; (NPs)l, It was r"ril,er l'JIK(;d
that the places J! \\vhich the s\\vitdv:;::; (Jccul'ced are pal'dUel
li!. \\Vl}!.o[' :ll1d
i 111 pllssihk But 1 cannot maLe anv strong clai rn aL'oul the invloi"bilW: eX th,:'
have v,'['ious rhenomena,
[ sug,;e,:lecI that ,;incf: the m:ijori,y i:[ H,,:
synchronic-borrO\\Vlng
LlilU
code-s\\\\ritching \\verc !i"tJiniy a YCUL~, peor'lr:,'s
\\vas more stable, more fossilizell
1n contrast,
syncllroni( I)O(l'o-.\\~ing ~li~l(\\
process. I further concluded
th2.l the latter pl~el1uLLlenon might be ~i.
the same is I'ollnd in Wo\\of-frcnch l\\\\i'lilg'·~
1]\\1011 amtd ( 1909) co nsid~rs NP IDd t~) and FP i P NP) d5 0 pen c1,iss,:s. bt;! i h«' b.jt~t
cnnlJin closed class items. vi~. et.ctel'lnlUer ,\\nd llrcj\\\\l>ltion re~~pe\\'\\i\\·e1>r
'::This is not rt claim 1'n1' l110 enLi('c Cnlli1lrv ll!' all Lhe possible contexts. This r:h'.:;,~r\\':\\~l~)n
is unly abCiullhc young people stuuied here.

---

":~,••~.-_i.... ......:,-"".:,:",.:",,_.,_,"-_ , .._ •. ,.
< ••_/ ~.
1 I )
In the last part o[ the dissertation I !ooLed dt h,)','i Wolof ;i.nd Fll'iLll
nation-wide. This prestige is [''-'IMed to a numb;:r of [ilClOtS 1. the clOSe!kSS
flocht~(\\ to these pOles, in search of betle:t' opporl unities.
The main consequence of all these historical [i.lc(or~' \\'.'<is the cil:~"2." "l'
direction in the pattern o[ bilingualism among the young people (lr ~b!l'i;:l
and Sedo. The phenomenon ob::;crved r:UHung these yuung pi~()1:d'2 ?,tr<:~ts L'-1
,
.1)
the fact that linguistic balance in i.l given state is often vel".' fragik, ;me! 1L,ll
it is at the mercy of sodo-political clevclopl110!llS in sucict\\"<\\ Convers'cly, 1nl,'
on the ongoing social conClicts and social attitudes 1klt resuil from ,I;<;lil .
This study is , to rny l::no\\~/I::-dge, the ficst to loo~: at the conUid
bet\\veen two national languages in Seneg,)) It is al';o among the first tu i::d:
at llle contact between Frencl"I and tht: natiun~l! lcinguages, in t'2rm:; cl {bt;:
aClual cnnsequences of such contacl. FUrll1trmOI'e, the study stands out o\\S
the miCl'olinguistic level with lssues
al lhe rn'l.cJ'(l-iinguistic icvt!. FinaJly,
'~The observations described above shG\\\\' that it is possible to f[;\\'erSI2 in. .1 fcLtively
short period of time (abollt 40 years) Wh,H natucl.!ly occIH'red \\\\.rithin a ~pan of ilt 1'"3'JS[
300 years

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st \\Id ies,
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.
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Pi~ll'l" Huvsken
I () ~7 1}.:JJ!g l! ~tg~ J)lfl U!~~L;ln!jJ]J.!in2 ~i0jj;.lJ_. J.,on Gi~n:
Ecl\\i.-'Jrd Al'no!cl Puhlj,.;;h;.;,~r:~ ["ld.
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I ~jS) IJ[~ RO'{Al1}~i1E D(J \\X!_I\\.ALJ1-L~SClle'LU.l.j}~\\ ),-l:~J.;}_
conWl!iLQ.. Pari::;: Edition:,.: f~artb~tL~
I~['II, I!"ger T,
11)7(\\ S()Cl()linL:lIi~":t!cs: gi);~ls, ;'lppn)Jcljr.~ ;·:;ncJ
pruhlem~~, n~ilsrord . L~'IIJlI()n
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. ('h!f~~l(JO
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;:"
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Bof;amba, Eyam\\1a G,
"F\\'Cl1\\~h CUltinia! LLtnVU;~jJ,e Pu!iC\\: in AfricJ.
And i1.~; Leg:1cie:t in S.Ulilie~jr!._JJ5.!:J.,LtlgJ.1L~X.jJ~._
~Gh~nG£~~ 1~lf2;. l':rhdn;J; Ik:partt.:'::'·L! o~'
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b
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' ......1 J ,_ •• ~ _.I,'.. ,.', .'!:' _. ,1/
1988 "Coclc--~/lixing, Lan~u:lg(; Val'i(ltic~-l, 1'.. n:;
LingUistic TJ'~c:{)r~,,'" in LinEJ.B~ 7« pr. 21-(~2
Dof;amba, E. G, dnd
J S, Tloll
, (f1'7 'The C(Jn~eqll:.~nces uf T11eL"i\\nguagi~ P',)iici(~:j
of AJrican St~ItCS \\'i:;-j-VlS EdlJ:':d;~H:" i~~
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Cnlumhi,t, S.C: H(jrnbe~u~'l Pr(~s~: 11;(:.
CJlvet, L --.1

---

Casagrancle. Jean
1084 Ii1ej_~~)111Hl.Sy~teJ11_(~L_Ercrtch, VJr.l~:hing!on,
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Colvin, Ludc C
Corclet',S P
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Books Ltel.
Croweler, Michael
I 9() 8 Sr~iLALCli~jl 1iJl~ifLj:{~.LQ.i]j~-tLE.~lh!_, Evanston:
North\\vestern TJnive~~silY r· ':~~~~
De Lanessan, I-L
c1e Oliveil'a. NI. A.
j C) 8.,~
El1Qn~~d C~g 1:,.:;), l Vl1rj nJi011jlniL[JJ1111EL~J.n
_
DrlLL-ili 11n_~QJj.ug!-!g.~~~_'lJ\\ gj.~I~J~~)L_Lii-l tlj.~\\~.
Ph.n Di,;,·enation Phila,klphi,}: \\}'li'JerS!ly
or Pennsylvania.
] cJ7 1 (':"'1 III 11) 'l:r t-"'; (1,·\\ \\V.T(Jln( i\\1',rl'(\\d;_\\r:~I::> D'-l'~;\\"
_~~_0. ..
d_'~~"~~
"_,_c-~~~!"::., • <.<.;' .I.".
pcc·:Jenc;~ Afl'lcaine
flialo. Amadou
In.) Ele'rtent~
~_~l...!....!._:.
Svslernaliolle~
~ _ _ .. _._,_._ ..
tiu
•
\\Vnlnf_
('()111"~ll1n(11"'11'I'
.~ __ . _ .....:.,_ _ .L:........:. _~_-'--1 1-,,\\1"""
• '" ,\\ 1-1 I .
ren'l'P
~__
.."--'
llr' rI ;'lu"'~';''''P
J t .:~ l.•• , .1 -J l\\ '"
Appliquee..:le Dakar i,CLt\\DJ
[lior, A madou H.
"Language Planniilg Prohlclh,':.; in Sefleg~d'. In
The PennYcvic\\v D.LL1Dguisti~:~, 10: 60-67
Dior. Cheikh Anta
] lJ7q/107R F\\1i1c:.\\: A[rir:a: The j;mn"'l11'c3J,D Cuitmlll
Basis rou Fe1~rjJ1ed ~) 1lite ..,\\Vest porI Ct:
Lawlence Hill & Cu
J 974 The
_ _ _ African
_ _..__
ori"in
b
or civilization
.~_ ..
!\\iviil
.
Cl' Ee:,iit'i
______'_ __ . .'_
\\\\7 csport: L;J.\\\\TCnCC Hill ~ Co
l 977 Par c11l~U:;_QJ1clig tIC ~L~IEQ,~t2JltlJ.l..Pll ~1 C? (1.ll1~1!~L'L!;L
.de~,_LdllgJ. i!::U~·~~U~[!.:. !\\L[h~~1.BS. ]);J knr- A11 lcl j;l n'
L(;~, Nouvelif;s Editions ./:.J ricdin~~s I, I'JEA i

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~~,*~~W;¥q~WkJ:ii;J,~;;~M1&~f~~l!I~J>i';J;~i\\;';\\;0)',""c:'~"""';':""'i;;"L.:u.."~~""",u_,~~ ,,__',,.~__ ,_~
__
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,
: )
179
1987 P.c~·-co.1i"!l1t~lLBL1J;k.-i~.L~lGJ. ~X1e~~lport: L,~t\\V~'fnc0
Hill &, Cl)
[)ornn, r(iil
1CJR J "(In fnrnlzi! ,\\jnlllcl, or Cnrle-S':"'lIC;'::n,,J,', r""
11'111'."'1""[\\'
,
\\ v
' \\ ' .
('Jt'
_
TeY'l'
".L (. L
'\\1
\\ .
, ""'-'1'
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:,1
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Dulay, 1\\; ill Dul't;
Ne\\\\i
S. ~~rashen
1C)1i2
l.~lllRl.L;'lg.e T\\',:S!.. !'Ji~\\\\'. Yort:O:\\lcrd Unl\\"'er~~i\\V
Press.
El !\\ min, Abu Manga 19116
Fulrlllde in t!le Suc!an: Pri]cr~"" nt" (\\(1<\\;)!"I;r,,-,.
--- "----,-
-~------~._-----.---------.--------.---
Gerlin: Ver1ag Von DieLricll Eeimcr
[llis, Rod
Fagc!'bcrg, Sonja
1983 "Discourse Strategies In Pu!,1ur: '1'1;(: U~:e- (,1' Fo,:u{'
In ~t~l.rlitli~in l~Jri\\,jULLin~._\\oU~L.C~;, VD\\ !!i,
Numbec 2 !lP, 1-'il'l~7
Fao-old, lIaJph
i 9g"f I.hQ Soci;}11D-.glli;i1i.GBJ~L_5;~~h~1,{.
O::f(l[--(!:U;t~,il
Biacbvdl
Fishman, Josllua
1"'-7-/ "')'11e ~C"'l:':l! ~rl'enf'{:I P,ol·cT)P[~I;'Jt:l." iJl !"j'j'!i:ln'I'11
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_Ed 1.1 en1ion,_i:.w.:.rc !J.t Per sQ~;fl1:'_;!2~~_G~DJ~ r f~t.:_
;\\D.P\\if.~Lin~Ll.!X::~ \\CS, Vni i, pp \\ -';l~)
Fontana, J Iv! and
E. Vullduvl
1999 '"jvTecanlsl!lUS kxicos y gr'{lm~dY.:aies eli 1,.1
ailcrrlanc~a de cf)digo~"', ms, Phlladr.;lpili'-l.
University of PennS'i1'.'Jnii4, Lingllj:-~tic:~
dcp,irlnlCJll.
C;arvin, Paul L.

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L:.P, n;.~~~ £!~,_~J.~.LY;!Dl!_l."~_\\-!~J_E_f;_~;·'l.rl\\'.~l_ is.;_ Lt~..
NQ!lLLn.£lL Dakzlt': Ceni.f2 de Lin\\?,ur.stiqU(:
Appijquc'c c).s Dakar (CLAD)
Greenberg, J
l()(,'"
"j'h·:, I'll''-'I;''nl~l; ,,' ,\\r~I·:/~·."l tr,·-\\j'.ll"·,; !l\\ni,:: :'(;t~1
~ -' '. J
.__ ~:!:5:.:.. __ ;.~__.~b_--C.'~1_D~~:..-~_L_.",~_!....-.-~~:~~·
~ .... \\.J~'ld'~
.'~'J.'"., --"~.1
I\\~ c:-::e i:~ r c11 Ce nt e~' ln }\\ n111 [' (; p(llog~: y (i k~ t :IJ~~;;. '11:~ d
Lingllistics . PUhticZltion N"n 2S.JTilefIlD.tl0C:l1
l()ll
L.
- '
"I-~'li
,
I~~l r.[
\\.;
t\\fr;r"'
.1_(.......j
1 . 1 ;n0"\\';'~Ti(··~
.....,~_.~
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Grosje;<[L, FI,,'n~:ois
ell mperz, Jolln J
1q-;(\\ ''lii0 Sociolinguistic Significanc:c nr (>;\\lC:I:~;:tl,)rL}~
C{)(l i~ - ~,., r,", Ch i ,."\\Q"
',:.7 t'!" (,' ;,1'1 ("1 P',' llt-"""',':: :.~ n ....-; i:,
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IJ ~1n gu~lge Beha \\,·i(Jr He :,c ~j I'ch LZib:);' it lCCy,
Un!vet".~ity (le Ciliifol'nl~l: Bi..:;.rl-:..elc:/.
1982. Ih.~~~S~l.'~C~~:~.SIL£uQ.biQ;i, Cambcidgc, C;ltnhr~(\\gc
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1() 1 1 Llli~iJD.UJU.t~._\\i.tJ~l !\\·iiH!.r~:.lD.nL~_~~~:I}i;~~::i~l.i}i~:::~. !\\ !j, i..
EDD1NE. P·~I.~i':::' Er nt;S\\~ LE:I::~nn:, ~:(L ~ c: ~'.r.
1'1"1,1"':'11,
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.
L.BIH::,!l~,:~gQ., 2(l, pp 210-2,; J
1,1()I'llll"l-r~l'"I', l,',""DCV
! ()(if:, "L'j""!';:\\"i.' ul:-""t~j:nrr ('\\r~ :''I f ·:-ti·'\\'l'' .·11"\\(1 Pi;=I-;'ll?'.':
_
v
I
L4
_)
~
( _
~ .. ,,\\., ,l",t.,'-''''
.... !.;.., ~'i,:.
j . ~C'L.~,l~.. ~,~ >.' ;".'-'.;
~.. J'.~'(.,.",,:.
Ed llcaLinn ". In L;l ng!l£1~e 2((ibJ:::.rl~'__gll~LL.}nf: i.~0.~: ,~:
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I,
'.'
1~J1nes, Carl

---

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"
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,Johl1son, W, G,
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, .
. i ".
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"
",' '
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