Introduction of Wolof

Overview

The Wolof language is spoken widely across the Senegambia region of West Africa including the current nations of Mauritania, Mali, The Gambia, and importantly Senegal where is acts as the lingua franca.¹ Including the large diasporic communities of France, there are over 10 million speakers of Wolof globally.² 

Dialects and Loanwords

An important distinction in Wolof exists between the dialects spoken in Senegal and The Gambia, tied historically to the different colonial administrations, France and Britain. With French and English, respectively imposed on African populations and the continued use of each as official administrative languages, loanwords derived from them were adopted, and adapted into Wolof. For example simis ‘shirt’ derives from the French chemise and many contemporary terms from English have found their way into the lexicon.³ Another subdivision exists in Wolof between urban and rural populations especially in Senegal in which the latter has a more conservative use of loanwords.⁴ The dialectical influence of Arabic overrides all of these boundaries and is fundamental to the current Wolof language. The ubiquitous formal greeting and response: salaamaaleekumI and maaleekum salaam demonstrate not only the intervention of Arabic loanwords but represents the majority religion of Islam, practiced by over 90% of the region.⁵

1. Encyclopedia Britannica
2. Ibid.
3. mustgo.com
4. Ngou, Fallou. Loanwords in the Senegalese Speech Community:
   Their Linguistics Features and Sociolinguistic Significance. 106.
5. Ibid.