Fula language facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fulani
Fulfulde 𞤊𞤵𞤤𞤬𞤵𞤤𞤣𞤫 Pulaar 𞤆𞤵𞤤𞤢𞥄𞤪 Pular 𞤆𞤵𞤤𞤢𞤪 فولا
Native to	Western Africa
Region	The Sahel
Ethnicity	Fula
Native speakers	25.3 million  (2022)e25
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Atlantic Senegambian Fula–Serer Fulani
Writing system	Latin Adlam Arabic (Ajami)
Recognised minority language in	Burkina Faso  Cameroon
Core and peripheral Fula-speaking regions. Note that most of these areas, with the exceptions of Senegal and Guinea, are not primarily Fula-speaking, as this map only shows the absolute numbers of speakers.

Fula, also known as Fulani or Fulah, is a language spoken by about 25 million people. It's like a chain of different dialects that stretches across 18 countries in West and Central Africa. This language is part of the Atlantic group, which is a branch of the larger Niger–Congo family.

Many people speak Fula as their first language. These are mainly the Fula people (also called "Fulani") who live from the Senegambia region and Guinea all the way to Cameroon, Nigeria, and Sudan. Other groups, like the Toucouleur people, also speak it. Fula is also a second language for many people in the region, such as the Kirdi in northern Cameroon.

Names for the Fula Language

Just like the Fula people have different names, their language does too! In the western parts where it's spoken, people call it Pulaar or Pular. In the central and eastern areas, it's known as Fulfulde.

The names "Fula," "Fulah," and "Fulani" that we use in English actually come from other languages. "Fula" and "Fulah" come from Manding languages like Mandinka, while "Fulani" comes from Hausa. If you see "Peul" in French books, that name comes from the Wolof language.

How Fula Words are Built

Fula words are built from basic "roots." These roots can be changed by adding special endings called suffixes. These suffixes are added to the end of a word's root and can change its meaning. Sometimes, these suffixes work a bit like prepositions in English, telling you more about the word.

Noun Classes

One cool thing about Fula is its "noun class" system. Instead of just having masculine or feminine words like some languages, Fula has many different noun classes – usually between 24 and 26!

These classes are like categories for nouns. Some classes group words with similar meanings, like a class for long, stringy things, or a class for liquids. Other classes are more general. What's interesting is that gender (male or female) doesn't play a role in these noun classes. Instead, adjectives are used to show gender. Nouns get a special suffix (an ending) that tells you which class they belong to.

Here are a few examples of Fula noun classes:

Verb Voices

Fula verbs usually have three "voices":

• Active voice: When the subject does the action (e.g., "to wash something").
• Middle voice: Often used for actions done to oneself (e.g., "to wash oneself").
• Passive voice: When the subject receives the action (e.g., "to be washed").

For example, from the root -𞤤𞤮𞥅𞤼 (loot-):

• 𞤤𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤵𞤣𞤫 (lootude): to wash (something)
• 𞤤𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤢𞥄𞤣𞤫 (lootaade): to wash (oneself)
• 𞤤𞤮𞥅𞤼𞤫𞥅𞤣𞤫 (looteede): to be washed

Consonant Changes

Fula has a cool feature called "consonant mutation." This means that the first consonant of a word can change depending on whether the word is singular or plural. For example, the 'w' sound might change to a 'b' or 'mb'. This happens a lot with nouns and sometimes with verbs, though in some dialects like Pular, it only happens with nouns.

Pronouns

Fula has special pronouns for "we." There's an "inclusive we" that means "you and I and everyone else we're talking to." And there's an "exclusive we" that means "I and my group, but not you."

Also, the pronoun used for a noun depends on its noun class. So, even though "he" and "she" are the same pronoun in Fula (because men and women are in the same noun class), there are about 25 different pronouns in total, one for each noun class!

Different Kinds of Fula

Even though Fula is spoken over a huge area, most people agree it's one language. People who travel far can still understand each other. However, because there are so many different ways of speaking Fula, some language experts say that nine different versions are needed for translations. These different versions are listed in the box at the top of this article.

Where Fula is Spoken

Fula is an important language in many countries. It's an official language in Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, and Mali. It's also widely spoken in parts of Nigeria, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger, and Benin. You can also find Fula speakers in countries like Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Togo, Chad, and Sudan. In total, over 95 million people speak Fula!

How Fula Sounds

Fula has a variety of consonant and vowel sounds. Unlike many other languages in the Niger-Congo family, Fula does not use tones (where the pitch of your voice changes the meaning of a word).

Ways to Write Fula

People have tried to create unique writing systems for Fula for a long time.

Adlam Script

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, two teenage brothers from Guinea, Ibrahima and Abdoulaye Barry, created a new writing system called the Adlam script. This script is special because it perfectly matches all the sounds in Fula. It's written from right to left, just like Arabic, and has 28 letters.

Arabic Script

Fula has also been written using the Arabic script, sometimes called Ajami, for a very long time. Scholars and learned people used it even before Europeans came to Africa. Today, it's still used in some areas, especially in Guinea and Cameroon. Fula also has many words that came from Arabic.

Latin Alphabet

When Fula is written using the Latin script (the alphabet we use for English), it uses some extra special letters. These letters have "hooks" or other marks to show sounds that are different from English letters. For example, Ɓ/ɓ, Ɗ/ɗ, Ŋ/ŋ, Ɲ/ɲ, and Ƴ/ƴ.

• The letters c, j, and r are used for specific sounds.
• When you see a double vowel, like aa or ee, it means the vowel sound is longer.
• An apostrophe (ʼ) is used for a quick stop in sound, called a glottal stop.
• In Nigeria, they use 'y instead of ƴ, and in Senegal, they use Ñ/ñ instead of ɲ.

Here are the letters used in the Fula alphabet: a, aa, b, mb (or nb), ɓ, c, d, nd, ɗ, e, ee, f, g, ng, h, i, ii, j, nj, k, l, m, n, ŋ, ɲ (ny or ñ), o, oo, p, r, s, t, u, uu, w, y, ƴ or ʼy, ʼ

Letters like q, v, x, z are sometimes used for words borrowed from other languages.

Long vowels are written by doubling the letter: <aa, ee, ii, oo, uu>. The standard Fula alphabet was agreed upon at a meeting in Bamako in 1966. It includes: a, b, mb, ɓ, c, d, nd, ɗ, e, f, g, ng, h, i, j, nj, k, l, m, n, ŋ, ny (or ɲ or ñ), o, p, r, s, t, u, w, y, ƴ, and the glottal stop.

Example of Fula Text

Here's how Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights looks in Fula:

Fula: "Innama aadeeji fof poti, ndimɗidi e jibinannde to bannge hakkeeji. Eɓe ngoodi miijo e hakkilantaagal ete eɓe poti huufo ndirde e nder ɓ iynguyummaagu."

English original: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

See also

• Pular grammar (learn more about one type of Fula grammar)