Fulani - Massimiliano

[Massimiliano B]

This will be my personal thread for learning the Fulani language

[Massimiliano B]

I use this book:


http://www.ibamba.net/pular/


and this one (thanks to księżycowy):

http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl ... s.Fulfulde (book)
http://lss.wisc.edu/digital-learning-lab/691 (audio).


The Fulani language has these three implosive sounds:

ɓ, ɗ, ƴ

They are the English b, d, y, with a beginning glottal stop.

[Massimiliano B]

The Fulani language (known also as Fula, Fulfulde, Pulaar, Pular, and Peul) is spoken from Senegal, Gambia, and Guinea to Cameroon and Sudan. It has 25 million speakers, so it is one of the most widely spoken African languages.

There are numerous varieties of Fulani languages. The intercomprehension between them is not impossible, so it is regarded as a single language. Here is a map of the Fulani speaking area (from Wikipedia):



As I already said, I'll use this book:


http://www.ibamba.net/pular/

which teaches the variety known as Pular Fuuta (the orange spot on the left side of the above image), and this book:


http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl ... s.Fulfulde (book)
http://lss.wisc.edu/digital-learning-lab/691 (audio),

which teaches the Adamawa Fulfulde, spoken in Nigeria (the southernmost pink spot in the image).

Will the difference between them be too great to me?


Besides tha letters ɓ, ɗ, ƴ, which are preceded by a glottal stop, I've noticed that both varieties has the glottal stop between vowels. It is written as an apostrophe.

Fulani has also long vowels and double consonants, which are held longer.

Vocabulary:

gorko - man, husband

debbo - woman, wife

ɗum - he, she, it

moyjo - what type of person

Here's a short dialogue (taken from here: http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bi ... de&isize=M):


a: ɗum moyjo? (literal translation: he/she what type of person?)
b: ɗum gorko. (literal transl.: he/she man)
a: ɗum moy? (literal transl.: he/she who?)
b: ɗum Buuba (literal transl.: he Buuba)

Translation:
a: What type of person is this?
b: It is a man.
a: who is it?
b: it is Buuba.

[Massimiliano B]

The vowels in Fulani are pronounced like in Spanish or Italian
a as in father
e as in bed
i as in meet
o as in ball
u as in spoon

ny is pronounced like the French and Italian gn.

Some new words I've learnt:

ɓingel - child
ɓii or ɓiɗɗo - son, daughter
mawɗo - elder
mallumjo - teacher
pukaraajo - student


Some common personal names:

Zeynabu - female's name
Usumaanu - male's name
Buuba - male's name
Abdullahi - male's name


The verb 'to be' is often omitted in Fulani:

ɗum moy? - (literally: he/she who?) Who is it?
ɗum Buuba - (literally: he Buuba). It is Buuba.


In Fulani, the possessed precedes the possessor:

Gorko Zeynabu (literally: husband Zeynabu) - Zeynabu's husband


If I want to say "Buuba is whose husband?" I have to say:

Buuba gorko moy? (literally: Buuba husband who?)

(I've studied here: http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bi ... de&isize=M, pages 2-8)

[Massimiliano B]

Buuba gorko moy? - (literally: Buuba husband who?) = Buuba is whose husband?
Buuba gorko Zeynabu - (literally: Buuba husband Zeynabu) = Buuba is Zeynabu's husband.

Zeynabu debbo moy? = Zeynabu is whose wife?
Zeynabu debbo Buuba = Zeynabu is Buuba's wife.

Usumaanu ɓingel moy? = Usumaanu is whose son?
Usumaanu ɓingel Buuba = Usumaanu is Buuba's son


If I want to know the nationality, I have to say:

Buuba ɗumeejo? (Buuba what-nationality?) = What nationality is Buuba?
Buuba ɗum Pullo (Buuba he Fulani) = Buuba is a Fulani