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Jola languages

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Jola
Diola
Geographic
distribution
The Gambia, Senegal (esp. Casamance) and Guinea-Bissau
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
Subdivisions
  • Bayot
  • Jola proper
Language codes
Glottolognucl1345  (Nuclear Jola)
bayo1255  (Bayot)

Jola (Joola) or Diola is a dialect continuum spoken in Senegal, the Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau. It belongs to the Bak branch of the Niger–Congo language family.

Name

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The name Jola is an exonym, and may be from the Mandinka word joolaa 'one who pays back'.[1] There is no widespread endonym used by all of the Jola speakers.

Languages

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The primary branches of Jola proper and to some extent Central Jola are not mutually intelligible. The main varieties are:

Bayot

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Bayot, spoken around Ziguinchor, is grammatically Jola, apart from a non-Jola pronominal system. However, perhaps half its vocabulary is non-Jola and even non-Atlantic. It may therefore be a language isolate with substantial Jola borrowing (relexification). In any case, Bayot is clearly distinct from (other) Jola languages.

Reconstruction

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Some Proto-Joola reconstructions of stable lexical roots by Segerer (2016) are:[2]

Gloss Proto-Joola
to take *-ŋar
to speak *-lɔb
rain *-lʊb
belly *-ar
eye *-kil
knee *-juul
nose *-ɲend
fat *-tɔf
to die *-kɛt
liver *-iɲ
to bite *-rʊm
mouth *-tum

References

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  1. ^ Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
  2. ^ Segerer, Guillaume. 2016. The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages. Towards Proto-Niger-Congo: Comparison and Reconstruction, 2nd International Congress. Paris, September 1-3, 2016.
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