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A Wolof speaker, recorded in Taiwan. Wolof (/ ˈ w oʊ l ɒ f / WOH-lof; [2] Wolof làkk, وࣷلࣷفْ لࣵکّ) is a Niger–Congo language spoken by the Wolof people in much of the West African subregion of Senegambia that is split between the countries of Senegal, The Gambia and Mauritania.
Wolofal, like its parent system, the Arabic script, is an abjad.This means that only consonants are represented with letters. Vowels are shown with diacritics.As a matter of fact, writing of diacritics, including zero-vowel (sukun) diacritic as per the orthographic are mandatory.
chigger – possibly from Wolof and/or Yoruba jiga "insect" cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo) djembe – from West African languages; jazz – from West African languages (Mandinka jasi, Temne yas) jive – possibly from Wolof jev; juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah
This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Wolof on Wikipedia. It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Wolof in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them.
Senegal is a Francophone country, where, as of 2024, 5.13 million (27.73%) out of 18.50 million people speak French. [2] In terms of usage, Wolof is the lingua franca and the most widely spoken language in Senegal, as a first or second language (80%). [3] Mande languages spoken include Soninke, and Mandinka.
The Senegambian languages are well known for their consonant mutation, a phenomenon in which the initial consonant of a word changes depending on its morphological and/or syntactic environment. In Fula, for example, the initial consonant of many nouns changes depending on whether it is singular or plural:
Senegalese Wolof griot, 1890 A Hausa griot performs at Diffa, Niger, playing a komsa ().. A griot (/ ˈ ɡ r iː oʊ /; French:; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: ߖߋ߬ߟߌ, [1] djeli or djéli in French spelling); also spelt Djali; Serer: kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician.
The term "Serakhulle," although often claimed to be a Wolof word, was used for the Soninke at least as far back as the 16th century and is used by peoples as far apart as The Gambia and Hausaland. The Jahankas, a subgroup, refer to themselves as of Serakhulle extraction.