Pular language

Infobox Language
name=Pular
nativename=Pular
states=Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Mali
region=Fouta Jalon (in Guinea), Africa
speakers=10–16 million
familycolor=Niger-Congo
fam2=Atlantic-Congo
fam3=Atlantic
fam4=Northern
fam5=Senegambian
fam6=Fula-Wolof
fam7=Fula
nation=
iso1=ff
iso2=ful
script=Fula alphabet
lc1=fuf

Pular is a Fula language spoken primarily by Fula people in the Fouta Jalon, in the West African state of Guinea and also into Guinea Bissau, and Sierra Leone, and with a small number of speakers in Mali. It is spoken by 3 million Guineans and is the most widely spoken indigenous language in the country. Some number of native speakers of this variety of Pular also have migrated to other countries in the region, notably Senegal.

Pular is not to be confused with Pulaar, another variety spoken natively to the north in Senegambia, Mauritania, and western Mali (including the Futa Toro region).

It can be written in Roman and Arabic script.

Linguistic features

There are some particularities to this version of Fula, including:
*Use of plural form for politeness (such as in German or French, unlike other varieties of Fula)
*A number of a number of separate verbal roots for politeness (these may exist only in Pular)
*There is no initial consonant mutation from singular to plural verb forms as is the case in other varieties of Fula (there is in nominal forms, however)
*In addition to the more standard long-form pronouns of Fula there are alternate forms in Pular (= hi(l) + pronoun). The table below summarizes these (question marks where the info is not complete) :

Writing

Like other varieties of the Fula language, Pular was written before colonization in an Arabic-based orthography called "Ajami." Although this is still used particularly in rural areas of Fuuta Jalon, Pular is mainly written in a Latin-based orthography that is basically the same as that used for Fula throughout the region.

Up until the mid-1980s, Pular in Guinea was written with an orthography set by the Guinean government that differed from that used in other countries.

External links

* [http://www.fulbefouta.com/greetings.htm Pular Greetings]
* [http://www.fulbefouta.com/people.htm The Fulɓe of Guinea]
* [http://www.ibamba.net/pular Miɗo Waawi Pular! Learner's guide to Pular (Fuuta Jallon)] by Herb Caudill and Ousmane Diallo