The Toucouleur People
of West Africa
Primary language: - Pulaar / Pular of the Futa Toro
Toucouleur people definitely speak only Pulaar. Their language is not called Toucouleur. This was an early error and has as of yet not been eradicated. Stretching from Senegal to Nigeria, 26 million Fula people speak 41 dialects of Pulaar, such as Pulaar Futa Tooro, Fulacounda and Fulfuta. The larger majority of Pulaar speakers are Muslims and have been for centuries.
Toucouleur mostly speak Pulaar, but the other major language they use is Wolof, the trade language of Senegal. French is also spoken some although mostly among the younger generation, especially the young men, who are adopting French more and more. Education and literacy is very low among woman, and only a very small minority speaks French. Older folks rarely use French. Many Toucouleur men have a very basic knowledge of Arabic because of Islamic Koranic instruction they received as children.
[ Try some very basic Pulaar Greetings! ]
Some Pulaar Dialects: -
Pulaar of the Futa Tooro (often incorrectly called Toucouleur) spoken in the northern Senegal and southern Mauritania region known as the Futa Tooro.
The Fulacunda (Firdou) dialect of Pulaar spoken in the Fulado(u) between Kolda and Velingara in the Casamance region of Southern Senegal. This region reaches into Guinea-Bissau (and Guinea-Conakry) to the South, and the Gambia in the North.
Fulfulde, Adamawa Dialect from Cameroon and Eastern Nigeria
Fouta Jallon Dialect from Guinea (Conakry) and found in southern Guinea-Bissau as well.
Fulfulde Massina Dialect of west central Mali, southeastern Mauritania, and Niger.
The Fulfulde Nigerian dialect
Fulfulde of Benin-Togo
Fulfulde Bagirmi and
Fulfulde Barani of Burkina Faso, spoken in the southwestern region of Houet / Komoe on the border with Southern Mali.
Fulfulde Jelgooji (Jelgoore) and
Fulfulde Liptaako of Burkina Faso, spoken respectively in the north and the south east of the Soum / Seno / Oudalan region in the North, on the Mali border.
Fulfulde Gourmantche of Burkina Faso, spoken in the Gourma / Tapoa region in the east, and in the Soum / Seno / Oudalan region in the North near the Niger border. Some Gourmantche (Gourmantchema) is also spoken across the border in neighbouring Niger.
Fulfulde Sokoto is spoken in a small region that spans the border of the northern most tip of Benin and the southern most tip Niger.
Fulfulde Kano-Katsina-Bororro is the dialect found in the central Nigerian regions of Darazzo, Fika and Misau.
Now, it is important to understand that all these sub-groups are definitely one language group - Pulaar! And yet there are very distinctive differences between them. Dialects vary and it can be difficult for a Toucouleur (from the northern Futa Toro, Senegal), for example, to understand the Fula Futa dialect (Pulaar of southern Senegal). In 1982 Fary S. Ka delineated 16 regional dialects in his research document "Le Pulaar au Senegal - Etude Dialectologique".
In 1979 Sonja Fagerberg-Djiallo (Director of ARED) identified 3 major dialect blocks in her paper "A brief survey of Pular/Fulfulde dialects in West Africa." On page 2 of this document she writes: - " The paradox is thus: While everyone recognises that Pulaar/Fulfulde is one language spanning the distance from Senegal to Ethiopia, everyone also recognises that there are dozens of dialects within that language…"
Trade language(s): Wolof in general.
Adult literacy: - (Est. 25%)
The Toucouleur like reading their language, which is not so among the other ethnic groups of the region. There are various current literacy programs among the Pulaar speakers, of which the standard is much higher than that of any of the other language groups in Senegal.
The literacy rate in Senegal, about 40%, is the highest for the sub-region, however the overall literacy rates stays low compared to the rest of the world. This also applies for the Pulaar, and thus the Toucouleur who are about 20-25% literate.
Pulaar Alphabet: -
Since UNESCO fixed a Roman alphabet for the Pulaar language in the middle 1970's, much has been published in Pulaar and a number of literacy projects are already underway.
There are only five non-English characters in the Pulaar alphabet. They represent three implosive sounds for b, d and y, and two additional different sounds for n. However, despite these similarities, the Pulaar alphabet contains no "Q", "V", "X" or "Z" and yet is counted as having 32 letters no less! These 32 letters include - 5 vowels (+5 non-counted doubled vowels) and 27 consonants.
The consonants include 17 standard consonants (except q, v, x, z), 5 special characters as explained above, and 4 double consonant-sounds - the "mb"; "md"; "nj"; and "ng". The final character in the Pulaar alphabet is the "Kojombowal" or glottal stop, represented by an apostrophe ( ' ). This glottal stop is used before leading vowels and to represent or replace the non-aspirated "H" sound.
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