Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Language as a thing
Issues of one language or another Language planning, which lg. to use in school Wolof and Pulaar identity
Language as a Means
Wolof greetings: a means of establishing identity. A means of getting things done.
There are very few things that are accomplished without language.
Wolof Greetings
Basic Facts:
The Wolof are a pastoral/agricultural group who live along the Senegal River. The Wolof have a clearly defined set of classes (or castes) of Griots (praise singers), (former) Slaves, Freemen and Nobles. Wolof greetings are highly formal (they have a clearly identifiable form. 1. Stages: Salutation, Heath Question, Praise of God, body of conversation. Two distinct roles: Greeter and Responder
Wolof Greetings
Greeter:Salisu
Mohammed Salaam alikum. (Arabic) Peace be with you. Salisu (Says his own name) Mohammed Na ngga def? How do you do? Mbaa dyamm ngg'am? Don't you have peace?
Responder: Mohammed
Salisu Salaam alikum. (Arabic) Peace be with you. Mohammed (Says his own name) Salisu Maanggi fi rek. I am here only. Dyamm rek, naam. Peace only, yes.
Wolof Greetings
Ana waa kir gi? Where [i.e., how] are the people of your household? Ana __________ (e.g. Mustapha)? Where [how] is ____ (Mustapha)? Mbaa tawaatu loo? Isn't it that you aren't sick. Mbaa keen feebaru? Isn't it than anyone isn't sick? H'mdillay. (Arabic)/Tukbarkalla. Thanks be to God. Nyu-ngga fa. They are there [ok]. . Mu-ngga fa. He's there [ok]. ... Maanggi sant Yalla. I am praising God. Nyu-nggi sant Yalla. They are praising God. H'mdillay (Arabic)/ Tukbarkalla. Thanks be to God.
Moves to greet stays put High pitch, low pitch, soft loud Rapid, verbose slow, terse
Language as Thing
Language versus dialect How many languages are there in Africa?
Somewhere Around 1500
Language as Thing
Language as thing also involves issues of language planning.
What should be the language policy in South Africa? (Talk right after class). What should be the language policy in our schools?
Many African countries have a language policy, the United States does not.
The Serer
Since a common language does not unite the Serer, they have no concerns about speaking Wolof
6. Promoting research on African languages is vital for their development, while the advancement of African research and documentation will be best served by the use of African languages. 7. The effective and rapid development of science and technology in Africa depends on the use of African languages and modern technology must be used for the development of African languages. 8. Democracy is essential for the equal development of African languages and African languages are vital for the development of democracy based on equality and social justice. 9. African languages like all languages contain gender bias. The role of African languages in development must overcome this gender bias and achieve gender equality. 10. African languages are essential for the decolonialization of African minds and for the African Renaissance.
Language as potential
The study of language as potential looks at the structure of a language and how it goes together. This is the work of linguistics. One of the important work of linguistics has been to discover linguistic universals and the common principles by which human languages operate.
As a thing
What is language (dialect), what language should be used when and where, language policy, a means of negotiating identity, .
As potential grammar
How language is organized to allow us to communicate, the commonalties of human language.
The End