The Fula language is a language of West Africa, spoken by the Fula people from Senegal to Cameroon and Sudan. It belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family.

There are many names for the Fula people and their language. The Hausa call them the Fulani, while the Wolof use Peul and the Mandinka Fula. The Fula call themselves Fulbe (pural), Pullo (singular). Speakers of western dialects call their language Pulaar or Poular, while eastern dialects use Fulfulde.

Dialects

While there are numerous dialects of Fula, it is typically regarded as a single language. Wilson (1989) states that "travellers over wide distances never find communication impossible." Ethnologue, however, treats several of the varieties as separate languages:

• East Central
  • Fulfulde, Western Niger (Niger)
  • Fulfulde, Central-Eastern Niger (Niger)
  • Fulfulde, Nigerian (Nigeria)
• Eastern
  • Fulfulde, Adamawa (Cameroon)
  • Fulfulde, Bagirmi (Chad)
• West Central
  • Fulfulde, Benin-Togo (Benin)
  • Fuuta Jalon (Guinea)
  • Fulfulde, Maasina (Mali)
• Western
  • Pulaar (Senegal)

Reference

• Wilson, W. A. A. (1989). Atlantic. In John Bendor-Samuel (Ed.), The Niger-Congo Languages, pp. 81-104.

External Links

• Ethnologue entry for Fulani
• Fulfulde Language Family Report (SIL) - includes maps of the dialects
• FULA (Fulfulde, Pulaar, Fulani, Peul) Language Page from MSU's Webbook of Afrian Language Resources