Gaston Berger University of Saint-Louis

Faculty of Arts and Humanities English Department

Master 1

Topic:The Influence of Djola Eegimaa

on French in Senegal

OPTION: LINGUISTICS / GRAMMAR

PRESENTED BY: SUPERVISOR:

Sébastien TENDENG Pr Mawéja MBAYA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1

ACADEMIC YEAR  2007-2008ACADEMIC YEAR  2007-2008

Dedication ...............................................................................................................……...3

Acknowledgements........................................................................................................…4

List of Charts, Maps, Tables and Appendices....................................................................5

List of Codes and Abbreviations .......................................................................................6

GENERAL INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................7

Chapter One: BACKGROUNDS .................................................................................11

Eegimaa in Casamance ........................................................................................12French in Casamance ...........................................................................................14

Chapter Two: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .....................................................16

Eegimaa Description.............................................................................................17French Description ..............................................................................................19Languages in Contact...........................................................................................21Review of Related Literature ...............................................................................23

Chapter Three: THE FIELDWORK ...........................................................................26

The Field of Research .........................................................................................27 The Research Population .....................................................................................27The Sample ..........................................................................................................28Tools of Investigation...........................................................................................28

Chapter Four: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION.................................29

The Corpus Presentation.......................................................................................30Morphophonological Analysis.............................................................................34Reporting the Findings.........................................................................................43

GENERAL CONCLUSION............................................................................................ 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................... 46

APPENDICES..................................................................................................................49

DEDICATION

2

This work is dedicated to:

my dear parents Fidéle, Rosalie Bassène and all my brothers and sisters. for their cherishing love and constant concern for my success. Boundless thanks for all.

and

Patrick COLY (1979-2005) who did not have the chance to defend his Master dissertation. He was taken away from our affection by the suddenness of death. May God, Lord of peace and forgiveness welcome him in His Holy Paradise.

Amen.

3

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need. He lets me rest in fields of

green grass and leads me to quite pools of fresh water”. Psalm 23:1-2

My first thanks go to my dear parents Fidéle and Rosalie Bassène for their

cherishing love and constant concern for my success and to my uncle and godfather

Léon Bassène for all those years spent under his shelter. Boundless thanks for all.

My special thanks go to Professor Mawéja Mbaya for accepting to supervise this

work. He has made numerous proposals for improvement; both in regard to the overall

structure of the work and to countless details, and have painstakingly read through the

various drafts from the proposal.

I owe also a very special debt of gratitude to all my professors at Gaston Berger

University: Dr Abdoulaye Barry for his useful linguistic classes, Dr Omar Fall for his

fruitful grammar courses, Pr Baydallaye Kane, Dr Badara Sall and all the others who,

from the first year were always present.

The following relatives, friends and colleagues have read the whole or substantial

parts of the manuscript in various stages and have made valuable suggestions: Pr Pierre

Marie Sambou, Dr Serge Sagna and Dr Alain-Christian Bassène for their continuous

support and invaluable advice through all the stages of my writing, Michel Mbodji,

Cécilia Faye, Carmen Ndour and all the members of the “Gadiaga Family”.

Thanks are also due to Etienne Bassène and Louis Eketbo Bassène who provided

me with valuable information on Eegimaa people and their culture.

I am much indebted to the people at the CEM of Enampor for all their support

and constant availability. My heartfelt thanks also go to all those who have helped in the

fieldwork: Rolande Virginie Sagna, Amiral Bassène, Thibaut Bassène and all the

members of A.E.R.M.A (U.C.A.D/Dakar).

Last but not least, my special thanks go to my roommates Joseph Senghor and

my cousin and brother Pierre Bassène, with whom I shared years of peaceful

neighbouring. My thanks also go to Jules François Diatta who has been a constant

source of encouragement.

All my classmates (The Class 2003-2004) and the residents of G7G and G7E are

associated with these thanks all without any exception and all those who knowingly or

otherwise have contributed in making this work what it is.

4

LIST OF CHARTS, MAPS, TABLES AND

APPENDICES

ChartsChart 1: Classification of the Djola group languages........................................................ 9

MapsMap 1: The location of Mof Ávi within Senegal............................................................. 10

Map 2: The Eegimaa speaking area..................................................................................10

Map 3: The migration from Burofay towards Mof Ávi...................................................13

TablesTable 1: Eegimaa phonological consonants.....................................................................17

Table 2: Eegimaa phonological vowels............................................................................18

Table 3: IPA chart for French consonants........................................................................19

Table 4: French phonological vowels.............................................................................. 20

Table 5: Age of the informants........................................................................................ 32

Table 6: Sex of the informants.........................................................................................32

Table 7: Level of study of the informants........................................................................32

Table 8: Languages spoken by the informants.................................................................33

Table 9: Mastery of Eegimaa............................................................................................33

AppendicesAppendix 1: Portrait of Affiledjo Manga the last “king-priest-of-the-rain”....................49

Appendix 2: Questionnaire...............................................................................................50

Appendix 3: List of the informants..................................................................................51

List of codes and abbreviations

5

(=) : means “corresponds”

: means “becomes”

[+ATR] : Advanced Tongue Root

[-ATR] : Non-Advanced Tongue Root

A.E.R.M.A : Association des Etudiants Ressortissants de Mof Ávi

A.N.S : Archives Nationales du Sénégal (National Archives of Senegal)

Aff. : Affix

C : Consonant

I.P.A : International Phonetic Alphabet

L1 : First language

L2 : Second language

× : means “nothing”

Rad. : Radical

Suff. : Suffix

U.C.A.D : Université Cheikh Anta Diop (University of Dakar)

V : Vowel

+v : Voiced

-v : Voiceless

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Djola is a linguistic unit which, with Mandjako, Mankagna and Balanta,

constitutes the Bak sub-group of the West-Atlantic group, which belongs to the great

6

Niger-Congo family. It was classified in the West-Atlantic group by Westermann and J.

H. Greenberg. But French linguists Delafosse and Lavergne de Tressan classified Djola

in what they called the Senegalo-Guinean group1. The classification of Greenberg, until

now up to date, is the one retained for this research work.

Djola is spoken in The Gambia, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. It is the language of

the Djola people who occupy the area which extends on these three countries. All over

this linguistic shelf, Djola is respectively in contact with English, French, Portuguese

and other local languages.

Basing ourselves on the truism according to which when one or more languages

are in contact, they influence one another, we have chosen to work on the influence of

Djola on French in Senegal. In one word, this work will be concerned with the study of

the influence of a national language, namely Djola, on the official one, French, in

Senegal.

Senegal is a linguistic shelf where many languages are in contact. From this

contact arises the phenomenon of mutual-influence but we will concentrate our work

more on the study of the influence of Djola on French than the contrary.

The Djola language, according to Sambou (1979), comprises around fifteen

dialects2. Among this set of dialects, our choice laid on that commonly known as

“Eegimaa”. This choice is justified by the fact that these people were in early contact

with the colonizers and that’s the same for their language. Another reason is that their

location is very enclosed and thus less exposed to the phenomenon of Wolofisation.

The dialect was variously named by the linguists who worked on it: Palmeri

called it Bandial, Doneux, Gusilay, while Odile Tendeng, a native speaker, labeled it

Endungo at the end of a long term investigation.

To find a name in which all the speakers of the linguistically delimited entity

would recognize themselves, such was one of the concerns which animated the

researchers. In spite of the provided efforts, it appears today that these denominations do

not cover the whole of the speech community, certain villages feeling indicated by none

of the three names. In order to answer this concern, the name Eegimaa was selected

designating the people of this dialect.

1 Pierre-Marie Sambou. 1979. « Djola Kaasaa Esuulaalur : Phonologie, Morphophonologie et Morphologie ». Thèse de doctorat de 3ème cycle, Dakar : Université de Dakar, Page 42 Refer to Chart 1, page 3.

7

Indeed, to be distinguished from other Djola people, the native speakers call

themselves: “ájoola eegimaa”, which means: a Djola who uses the expression

“eegimaa” to say: “here is what I say to you ". And this expression is very recurrent in

the speech of this community. Apart from these authors, we can find other people

naming it “Djola Essil” or even people from that area calling it “Guláay” or “Gujólay

gamoyen”.

In front of this situation of uncertainty, we have chosen to label it “Eegimaa”

because it is the one mostly used in the academic sphere (Bassène 2001 and Bassène

2003) and we would not depart from the rule. Even for the spelling of the word “Djola”

itself, we noticed many types (Diola, Dyola, Jóola and Jola), but we will use “Djola” in

this work.

We found an interest on this topic and it lays on the fact that not only it is one in

which we will be pioneers on researching and findings from this work will be original

ones but also because it will allow us to study the contact between local and official

languages in a multilingual context.

To bring a true contribution to the present field of language contact in

multilingual societies, we have conducted a fieldwork in which we tried to bring as

much reliable data as possible. We went to “Mof Ávi3” in the department of Ziguinchor,

to Dakar and Saint-Louis where we found a high concentration of Eegimaa people.

To collect these data, we proceeded by means of a questionnaire in which people

were asked to give their identification (names, age, sex, address and country of birth)

and also answered a limited set of questions such as their mother tongue, other

languages they speak or understand and their level of study4 etc.

Apart from the questionnaire, we observed people speaking and chose a sample

of fifty persons (twenty five [25] from Ziguinchor and the remaining 25 others from

Dakar and Saint-Louis) whom we interviewed by means of a voice recorder. The people

interviewed were all native speakers of Eegimaa aged between 15 and 66. All of them

went to school for at least 7 years.

This work will be divided into four main chapters. In Chapter One, we will

present these two languages giving their historical background in the field of research.

Then in Chapter Two, we will give a theoretical approach concerning the description of

3 “Mof” is the word for land, soil and “ávi” stands for both King and hundred or cent franc CFA but here, it is for the first meaning that prevails. Thus “Mof Ávi” means the king’s land and is the original location of the Eegimaa people (for more information see Map 1 and 2, page 4). 4 For more details see Appendix 2: Questionnaire, page 44.

8

the two languages of our study, all the theories about languages in contact and the

inventory of works related in some way or other to ours. In Chapter Three, we will

present the fieldwork and show in what way we have conducted the data collection. And

at last, in Chapter Four, we will analyze the data we gathered during the fieldwork

before giving the findings and then conclude.

Chart 1 : Classification of the Djola group languages

(“BAK” LANGUAGES SUBDIVISION: Djola group)

DJOLA GROUP

Bayot group Proper Djola

Karone group Kwataay group Central Djola

Fogny group Kaassa group Ejamat group Gusilay group *Fogny *Huluf *Ejamat *Gusilay *Buluf *Ayun *Her *Eegimaa *Kombo *Selek *Elun *Narang *Esuulaalur *Fluvial *Bliss

SOURCE: Translation and adaptation from Hopkins 2005, page 7.

Map 1 : Localisation of Mof Ávi whithin Senegal

9

SOURCE: Bassène, Mamadou. 2003, page3.

Map 2 : The Eegimaa speaking area

SOURCE: Bassène, Mamadou. 2003, page3.

10

CHAPTER ONE

***

Backgrounds

11

1- EEGIMAA IN CASAMANCE

The history of the establishment of the Eegimaa people in Mof Áví is partly based on

mythical stories on the one hand and real facts on the other.

Thus, according to legend, all ethnic groups of Senegal were said to come from

Mecca where, they originally all live in peace: Serer, Djola, Fulani, Mandingo etc. But

once came the day when they had to separate from each other because it was said that

they were cramped for room. So, they decided to break into pieces the “big black stone”

used in pagan rituals and allegedly called in Arabic “siat”. This same noun is found in

the Eegimaa language and is the plural form of the word “eat” which is also a black

stone but of an unsettled size. This stone is buried in the shrines.

Always according to legend, the Eegimaa people sojourned a long time in the ancient

Kingdom of Gaabu with the Fulani and the Mandingo.

After their sojourn in the empire of Gaabu, the Djola left and moved northward until

they reached the present region of Casamance precisely in a place called Burofay where

they lived peacefully with their fellows the Baïnouk for a long period of time.

But according to Palmeri, at a certain period of their cohabitation, drought cropped

up and life with their fellows Baïnouk became harsh leading to internal fights between

them. The Baïnouk left Burofay and settled in Brin where they live still now. The

Eegimaa people as to them, stayed there for a while before a hunter named Djiméguéré

discovered the bed of a stream in a place somewhere between Badiat and Badjokotong.

Once back to Burofay, he told the king about his discovery and the latter sent three other

hunters one from each of the three clans composing the kingdom. They went there, came

back and confirmed what was said previously.

All Eegimaa people left Burofay together under the king of that time named

Djimanga and went westward to join Essil5. In their way, they stopped over at Gunih and

waited for the king who left last bringing with him the fetishes called Ufulung.

Once in Essil, which is the first village to be occupied officially by the Eegimaa, the

families began to spread out all around the new lands. Thus, the Bassène stopped in

Essil. The Jiben clan, composed by different families: the Sagna, Manga, Sambou,

5 For more details, see Map 3: Migration from Burofay towards Mof Ávi, page 7.

12

Diatta and the Aghène continued further and stopped in Enampor; while the Batendeng

clan which was the most numerous, occupied the villages of Séléki and Gheubeul.

After a certain number of years spent in the newly discovered lands, a quarrel broke

out in the royal family of Enampor, which caused its scission. This family broke up into

two branches: the Manga remained in Enampor and the Sagna took refuge in Essil

carrying with them their respective fetishes. From this moment on, the royalty belonged

alternatively to Manga and Sagna families and the "kings" are selected once in Enampor

and the following time in Essil. This tradition of royalty in Mof Aví lived on until 1978

with the death of Affilédio Manga6 the last “king-priest-of-the-rain”.

Map 3 : Migration from Burofay towards Mof Ávi

SOURCE: Palmeri, Paolo. 1995, page 77.

2- FRENCH IN CASAMANCE7

6 See Appendix 1: Affiledio Manga, the last “king-priest-of-the-rain”, page 43.

13

In 1455, the Portuguese discovered the estuary of the river populated by the Baïnouk

on the right bank and the Floup on the left one. The Venetian Alvise Da Cada Mosto, at

the service of Portugal, baptized this place Casamansa (Casa which stands for house or

ownership and Mansa for the name of the Floup's king of that time) which became later

Casamance.

One of the first official reports mentioning the contacts between French settlers and

the people of Mof Ávi stated the destruction of Séléki in reprisals to an action of

plundering which the men of this village had carried out on Karabane in 1857.

In response, the French attacked and burned Séléki on January 26 th, 1859, (ANS,

1016,25)8 and to conclude peace and put themselves under French protection, the village

committed themselves giving three heads of cattle (ANS, 1D16,54).

At the end of 1886, as he did not yet perceive any intention on behalf of Djola to pay

their debt, Lieutenant Truche decided to go to Séléki, accompanied by a small escort and

about fifty volunteers of Karabane. After sailing up the Backwater of Gheubeul with a

steam-driven boat, the men disembarked close to the village carrying a cannon and some

grenades to intimidate the population.

But, once close to the first districts, they found armed villagers awaiting them.

Truche thought of having to face only the men of Séléki but he was in fact, in front of

the warriors of Enampor, Etama, Gheubeul and those of Essil who surprised him in a

heavy crossfire and encircled him.

The soldiers panic-stricken, fled in all the directions and Truche himself was

wounded by a poisoned spear. Rather than to fall between the hands of the enemy, he

preferred to shoot himself in the head with the last cartridge that remained to him, while

his men withdrew in disorder, leaving on the ground deaths of thirteen people9.

The French counterattack was quick. On January 5th, 1887 the "Aviso Poder"

approached the banks of Séléki and showered the village. The Djola people, too

independent and not accustomed to live under any kind of authority, rebelled once again

7 When writing this part, we mainly used researches by Palmeri (1995: 128-140) from where is extracted the major part of the historical quotations from the National Archives of Senegal.8 Archives Nationales du Sénégal (National Archives of Senegal) the number is that of the bookshelf and the bar code.9 Christian Roche. 1976. Conquête et Résistance des Peuples de Casamance. Dakar-Abidjan : Nouvelles Editions Africaines. Page 185.

14

against the French settlers and attacked their fortified camp in Séléki during the night on

May 17th, 1906.

Djignabo Bassène, one of the most influential priests of the Circumcision fetishes,

accompanied by warriors such as Adjalubay, Alandisso, Khulécho, Abekker and some

other volunteers, was killed that night. His death plunged the village in consternation

and the following day, the Elders resigned to the defeat and gave to the French eight

heads of cattle. At the end of that same day, almost all had finished paying the due tax.

15

CHAPTER TWO

***

Theoretical

Framework

16

1- EEGIMAA DESCRIPTION

The Eegimaa phonological system comprises 30 phonemes of which 20

consonants and 10 vowels10.

a- The Consonants

PLACE

MANNER

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar

+v

Plosive -v

p

b

t

d

c

j

k

g

Nasal

m n ɲ ŋ

+v

Fricative -v

f

v

s x

Vibrant r

Approximant l y w

SOURCE: Bassène, Alain Christian. 2006, page 17.

Table 1: Eegimaa phonological consonants

The above phonological table was designed according to the distributional

theory. This theory classifies the phonemes of a language according to the features

which are present in all the allophones which realize the same phoneme. However, we

recognize that the application of this theory poses problem when it comes to classify, in

relevant features, the phonemes of Eegimaa. Indeed, the term `plosive' cannot be

appropriate, actually, to classify the phonemes /p/, /b/, /c/ and /g/ because each of them

have a plosive and fricative allophone.

10 Alain Christian Bassène. 2006. « Description du Djola Banjal _ Sénégal », Lyon 2 : Université Lumière, Thèse de Doctorat. Page 34

17

The term `obstruent' could have been used in replacement of 'plosive' while making

modifications concerning the places of articulation i.e. in classifying /p/ and /b/ in the

`bilabials', /f/ and /v/ in the `labiodentals', /t/ and /d/ in the `apico-alveolars' and /s/ in the

`dorso-alveolar'. Unfortunately, a problem will arise concerning the classification of the

phonemes /k/, /x/ and /g/ because the first two are all voiceless velar obstruents.

b- The vowels

The phonological vowels are 10. In the notation that we have adopted for the

phonological transcription, the non marked vowels (with no accent) are the loose vowels

(-ATR), while the marked vowels (provided with an accent) are the tensed vowels

(+ATR).

Tensed vowels Loose vowels

Front Back Front Back

í ú i u

é ó e o

á a

SOURCE: Sambou, Pierre Marie. 1989 page 194.

Table 2: Eegimaa phonological vowels

The graphs used here represent tensed11 vowels and loose vowels in a

transcription adapted from the I.P.A according to the correspondence (=) below:

tensed vowels: í = i; é = e; á = ә; ó = o; ú = u

loose vowels: i = I; e = ɛ; a = a; o = ɔ; u = ɔ

11 This terminology is borrowed from Sambou (1989:192). The tensed vowel, unlike the loose one, is realized with the root of the tongue advanced and is perceived bass and dark.

18

It is worth noting that, in Eegimaa, length is phonemic for all the vowels12 and for

all the consonants except from /r/, /x/, /w/ which have only one realization.

2- FRENCH DESCRIPTION

This part of our work discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the

Parisian dialect. French is notable for its uvular ʁ, nasal vowels, and two processes

affecting word-final sounds: liaison, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced

unless followed by a word beginning with a vowel; and elision, wherein a final vowel is

elided before vowel initial words.

a- The consonants

Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the one on the left represents the voiceless

consonant and that on the right, the voiced consonant.

Place

Manner

Bi-labial Labio-dental

Dental- Palato-Alveolar alveolar

Palato-alveolar

Plain Round

Velar

Plain RoundUvular

Nasal M n ɲ Ŋ

Plosive p, b t, d k, gFricative f, v s, z ʃ,ʒ ʁ

Approximant j ɥ W

Lateral L ʎ

SOURCE: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_phonology#Consonants)

Table 3: IPA chart for French consonants

The velar nasal /ŋ/ is not a native phoneme of French, but occurs in loan words

in final position such as parking or camping. The French rhotic has a wide range of

realizations. [ʀ], [ʁ] (both the fricative and the approximant), [r], [ɾ], and [χ] will all

be recognized as "r", but most of them will be considered dialectal.

The approximants [j], [ɥ] and [w] correspond to [i], [y] and [u] respectively.

While there are a few minimal pairs (such as loua [lu.a] 'he rented' and loi [lwa] 'law'),

there are many cases where there is free variation.

12 Mamadou Bassène. 2003. “Some Aspects of Djola Eegimaa Phonology”. Master Thesis. Saint-Louis: Gaston Berger University. p 31

19

b- The vowels

Standard French contrasts up to thirteen oral vowels and up to four nasal vowels.

Front

Unrounded RoundedCentral Back

Close i y u

Close – mid e ø ǝ o

OralOpen – mid NasalOpen Oral

Ɛ (Ɛ:) œ ɔ ɛ̃ (œ̃)

a

ɔ̃

ɑ̃(ɑ)

SOURCE: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_phonology#Vowels)

Table 4: French phonological vowels

Some speakers contrast a front /a/ vs. a back /ɑ/ but there are wide differences

amongst such speakers as to which words have which vowel. Similarly, some speakers

distinguish between long /ɛ:/ and short /ɛ/; maître [mɛ:tʁ] ('teacher') vs. mettre

[mɛtʁ] ('to put').

The phonetic qualities of the back nasal vowels are not very similar to those of

the corresponding oral vowels, and the contrasting factor that distinguishes /ɑ̃/ and /ɔ̃/ is

the extra lip rounding of the latter. Many speakers have merged /œ̃/ with /ɛ̃/.

The schwa (/ə/ also called "e caduc" ('decrepit e') and "e muet" ('mute e') is a

mid central vowel with some rounding. It is always dropped ("muet") before another

vowel (un(e) âme [yn.ɑ:m] 'a soul'), and usually when following a single consonant

(rapp(e)ler [ʁa.ple] 'to recall'). On the other hand, it is usually pronounced when its

omission would create a cluster of three consonants or more (gredin [gʁə.dɛ̃], une

porte [yn pɔʁt], une porte fermée [yn pɔʁ.tə.fɛʁ.me]). This vowel is

phonologically distinct from [œ], but for most native speakers of French, they may be

pronounced identically. For example, in le bœuf /lə bœf/ or demi-heure /dəmjœʁ/,

most French native speakers won't make any phonetic difference between the two

vowels, pronounced identically most of the time (or even swapped).

20

3- LANGUAGES IN CONTACT

Language contact occurs when speakers of distinct speech varieties interact.

When speakers of different languages interact closely, it is typical for their languages to

influence one another. One of the main consequences arising from language contact is

the influence exerted by one language on the other and in most of the cases that of the

superstratum over the substratum. This influence can be mutual or non mutual. Other no

less important consequences of language contact are: borrowing, mixed languages, or

even language endangerment or death to mention only these few.

Change as a result of contact is often one-sided. Chinese, for instance, has had a

profound effect on the development of Japanese, but the Chinese language remains

relatively free of Japanese influence, other than some modern terms that were re-

borrowed after having been coined in Japan. In India, Hindi and other native languages

have been influenced by English up to the extent that loan words from English are part

of day to day vocabulary.

In some cases, language contact may lead to mutual exchange, although this

exchange may be confined to a particular geographic region. For example, in

Switzerland, the local French has been influenced by German, and vice-versa. In

Scotland, the Scots language has been heavily influenced by English, and many Scots

terms have been adopted into the regional English dialect.

All languages can borrow words from a language with which they are in contact.

Most of the time, these borrowed words undergo transformations in conformity with the

phonology of the target language. For example, given that French words are stressed on

the last syllable, the word walkman, which has an initial accent in English, the source

language, is pronounced with a final French accent. However, there are also cases in

which such an adaptation does not take place; consequently, the sound structure of the

borrowing language undergoes a change. For example, further to the contact with

English and Italian, French has affricate consonants today, as in match and pizza.

A mixed language is a language that arises through the fusion of two source

languages (both being clearly identifiable), normally in situations of thorough

bilingualism. It differs from either a pidgin, a Creole and Code-Switching.

21

Concerning pidgin, it differs from it. The speakers of a mixed language are fluent in

both languages, whereas a pidgin develops when groups of people with little knowledge

of each other's languages come into contact and have need of a basic communication

system, as for trade, but do not have enough contact to learn each other's language.

As for the second, they differ because a Creole language generally has one

identifiable parent in addition to diverse input which cannot be traced to any particular

language. While creoles tend to have drastically simplified morphologies, mixed

languages often retain the inflectional complexities of both parent languages.

Finally, a mixed language differs from code-switching, such as Spanglish and

Frenglish13, in that speakers do not need to know the source languages. The fusion of the

source languages is fixed in the grammar and vocabulary, not left to the speaker.

However, it is believed that mixed languages evolve from persistent code-switching,

with younger generations picking up the code-switching, but not necessarily the source

languages that generated it.

Language death is a recurring phenomenon in Sociolinguistics. We can consider that

generally language death occurs in a linguistic situation of domination i.e. when a

dominant language A replaces completely a dominated language B. However the

complete substitution of a language leading to its death proceeds by stage. Three

principal types of causes can be called upon to explain the death of a language: physical,

political and socio-economic causes14.

4- REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

As pointed out by Yasmine Marzouk (1993), after the era of great monographs

by Louis-Vincent Thomas in Ethnology (1959) or by Paul Pelissier in Human

13 Spanglish is a word coined to label the language composed of the mix of Spanish and English same case as Frenglish which is the mixture of French and English.

14 Henri Boyer. 2001. Introduction à la Sociolinguistique. Paris: Dunod. Page 70

22

Geography (1966): « La bibliographie sur les Djola pèche plutôt par son abondance et

par son éclatement, comme si les auteurs avaient adopté la structure de l’objet étudié »

[The bibliography on Djola is full of get-up-and-go rather by its abundance and its

bursting, as if the authors had adopted the structure of the studied object].

Considerable works related to the Djola language and people in general and the

Eegimaa dialect in particular, were consulted for the working out of this part of our

research.

This part, as its name suggests, is an inventory of fixtures but also a central and

essential part of every academic research. Mbaya (1999:21) understood that and stated it

clearly saying the following: “this stage is essential since it helps to master the field of

investigation and methodologies and to generate hypotheses or questions for further

studies”. This stage is also important in so far as it allows us to set down the relationship

between the existing document and our project and also helps us diminish the risk of

coming up with unreliable conclusions.

Concerning the sociolinguistic situation of Senegal as a whole, Mbaya (2005) in

his last work entitled Pratiques et Attitudes Linguistiques dans le Sénégal d'Aujourd'hui

carried out a meticulous analysis on the situation of language use and attitude in Senegal

and it appears in the light of his conclusions that the diversity of the national parlances is

at the origin of a vast complex network of influences and interferences.

This work could be useful for us for a good reading of the current Senegalese

sociolinguistic situation since it is, to some extent, an update of the relational life of the

languages (official and vernacular) in Senegal.

In his book published in 1983 and entitled Le Français et les Langues Africaines

au Sénégal, and most precisely in the second part: chapter five, page 196, Pierre Dumont

talks about languages in contact and does a clear and concise exposé of the diversity of

the languages in presence.

This work will particularly call our attention because it presents the situation of

the contact between the official language and the other national languages but focuses

most on Wolof and Serer in some parts. Our interest in this study will be to push on

further and try to see the real relationship between Djola and French in Senegal.

On the typically regional level, Caroline Juillard (1995) in her study carried out

on the town of Ziguinchor, tried to bring out the major issues for an efficient

management of multilingualism in urban environment. Her greater merit would be to be

23

able to decline two issues as well micro as macro-sociolinguistic, to have gone in search

of the linguistic life of Ziguinchor citizens without any particular preconceived idea.

This work will be for us of great academic importance in so far as it describes the

complex reality of multilingualism in action in the everyday life of the townsmen. It

poses the problematics of the emergence of new models of behaviour within a composite

society in rapid change, with fast and unstable influences.

Another work carried out on the Eegimaa population itself is that of Paolo

Palmeri published in 1995 and entitled Retour dans un Village Diola de Casamance:

Chronique d’une Recherche Anthropologique au Sénégal. In this book, the author, as a

good anthropologist, penetrates deeply in the way of life of the Djola people of Mof Avi.

The work of Palmeri is characterized by its ethnographic quality. Basing himself on a

vast quantitative survey carried out in the majority of the villages of the area, he delivers

invaluable data on the composition of the population and collects several oral versions of

the history of the settlement in Mof Ávi starting from the emigration of the inhabitants

from Burofay.

Among the various works devoted to Eegimaa so far, we can add Sambou's

“Approche phonologique du Djola Eegimaa” (1989). In this article, the author describes

the phonology of Eegimaa. He provides phonological tables for both vowel and

consonant phonemes, discusses the realizations of the phonemes as well as the various

phonetic environments which condition the different allophones. Sambou also devises

some morphophonological rules for an 'accurate transcription' of Djola Eegimaa. The

work is valuable and the rules devised by the author prove very useful. This article also

proposes to provide to the linguist all information on the paradigmatic phonemics and

some practical rules for an exact phonological transcription of the language.

Alain Christian Bassène, after his Master (2001) and DEA (2003) dissertations

devoted respectively to the phonology of Djola Eegimaa and the nominals in this same

variety, has supported on October 13th, 2006 at the University Lumière Lyon 2 in France,

his doctoral dissertation on the following topic: “Description du Djola Banjal (Senegal)”.

In this work, Bassène presents a general and as complete description as possible

of the Eegimaa grammar. This description made it possible to review the study of

phonology, morphophonology, morphology and syntax, in a typological and functional

point of view.

Mamadou Bassène (2003), as to him, worked in the framework of his master

dissertation on the following topic: “Some aspect of Djola Eegimaa phonology” . He

24

devoted his entire work to the vowel system. In so doing, he described the organization

of Eegimaa vowel segments as well as their features. He also described the following

phonological processes: vowel harmony, vowel elision, vowel coalescence, vowel

lengthening, vowel juxtaposition and vowel insertion which are very common in

Eegimaa.

Both works mentioned here above are of a high linguistic importance and the

conclusions carried out will be very helpful to us mainly in the presentation of the

Eegimaa language because nothing was apparently neglected.

To emphasize on the studies that stick much more than every other one, we have

found the master dissertation of Ms. Adja Khady Thioune (2006) entitled “The influence

of Wolof on African French and African English: a comparative study”. In her work she

studied the influence of Wolof on both popular French and English as spoken in the

streets by ordinary people.

Following her example, we will devote our work on the study of the nature of the

influence of a national language on French in Senegal. But the sole difference between

our two studies will be that we will exclusively work on educated people.

Another study that is closely linked to our topic is the article of Mr. Edmund

Biloa entitled “L’influence du Français sur l’Anglais Camerounais”. In this paper, he

studied the contact between the two Cameroonian official languages namely French and

English. He discovered a high frenchisation of the English language and pointed out that

this phenomenon is due to the situation of a minority English-speaking community in a

country where the vast majority of its citizens are French-speaking.

His paper, as pointed out previously, treats the contact of two official languages

and the influence arising from that but ours will be somehow different talking about

official and a vernacular language.

25

CHAPTER THREE

***

The Fieldwork

1- The field of investigation

Ziguinchor, capital of Basse Casamance, is located in an area of economical,

political, cultural and linguistic contacts.

Estimated to about 10,125 people all around Senegal in 200215, the Eegimaa

people live in the Casamance region in an area known as Mof Ávi. The area is bounded

by the Casamance River on the north, the Kamobeul Bôlon on the west, the Ziguinchor-

15http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=SN

26

Oussouye road on the south, and the Brin-Nyassia road on the East. The area is

composed of a set of ten villages which are: Essil, Badiatte, Kamobeul, Séléki, Enampor,

Batighère Essil, Batighère Bôlon, Elubalir, Etama and Banjal16.

As for the two remaining places of the research zone: Dakar and Saint-Louis,

they are both towns where a great number of Eegimaa people are found. Dakar being the

capital city of Senegal is also the favourite destination of the Djola who drifted away

from Mof Ávi in search for better living conditions or for studies. The Djola people

found in the town of Saint-Louis are, most of the time, student at the university.

2- Research population

On the two banks of river Casamance, in the south of Senegal, between Gambia

and Guinea-Bissau, live populations labeled under the term of Djola. Approximately

550 000 (all dialects) in the 1990s17, Djola people constitute 5% of the Senegalese

population.

The political organization of Djola people comprises a nobiliary chieftaincy

which has nothing more than religious functions, advisory committees composed of old

wise men who regulate the local litigations and heads of villages or cantons chosen by

the administration and who have the special responsibility of collecting the tax. But the

real power is held by adepts of animistic practices. But a part of the population adheres

however to Islam or Christianity.

3- The Sample

In the choice of our informants we tried to find a certain number of people

capable of reflecting the general tendency (25 from Ziguinchor and 25 others from

Dakar and Saint-Louis)18. All the informants fulfilled a certain number of criteria: they

were Eegimaa native speakers, men and women aged of at least fifteen years and having

attended school for at least seven years.

16 See Map 2: The Eegimaa speaking area, page517Encyclopædia Universalis 1995 France S.A. All rights of intellectual and industrial ownership reserved.

18 See Appendix 3: The list of the informants, page 45.

27

4- Tools of investigation

Concerning our tools of investigation, we used different methods and among

these, we can mention: the questionnaire and the conversation recordings.

a- The questionnaire

The choice of our informants was done via a questionnaire. The paper in question

comprises two major parts namely the identification and the questions. In the first one,

people were asked to give personal information such as their family name, surname(s),

address, age, sex and their birth country. As for the second part, people were asked a

limited set of questions among which: their mother tongue, other spoken languages, if

they have studied French and up to what level etc19. Once all those information

collected, we picked up people likely to help.

b- The conversation recordings

For this research work, the topic chosen for our discussion was “education in the

Eegimaa society”. By this topic, we meant to talk about the specificities of education in

the Eegimaa environment.

To foster discussion, we sometimes ask our informants to choose one ceremony or

one aspect of their culture and tell us something about it. The main aim in doing so was

not to test their knowledge concerning their culture but to make them fill free to speak so

as we could record data for analysis. The conversation recordings lasted between five

and seven minutes free discussions per informant.

19 See appendix 2: Questionnaire page 44.

28

CHAPTER FOUR

***

Data analysis

And

Interpretation

1- CORPUS PRESENTATION

29

The corpus presented here after is the result of the recordings made within the

framework of our fieldwork. It consists of all the information collected from our fifty

(50) informants: 35 men (70%) and 15 women (30%) all aged between 15 and 66 years

old and all educated native speakers of Eegimaa. The topic for discussion was about

Education in the Eegimaa society.

Standard French Integrated word Context of production

1- avancer [avɑ̃sƐ] [vɑ̃se] Woli ni ɟi vɑ̃sewul maa20

2- brousse [bʁus] [burus] Ici on fait le buhut pour emmener

les garçons dans la bourousse.

3- c’est-à-dire [sƐtadiʁ] [sa:dir] Etre éduqué c’est être sympathique

saadir ne pas être n’importe

comment.

4- choisi [ʃwazi] [ʃwazise:] Achila a choisisee gaɟow gagu gaa

Affiledio

5- chose [ʃoz] [soz] Ils veulent faire leurs propres soz

6- commencé [kɔmɑ̃se] [kumasime] Woli ɟi kumasime tale a-b-c-d ni

lekkol yauye

7- comportement

[kɔ̃pɔʁtǝmɑ̃]

[kɔp:ɔrtǝmɑ] Mbu kan nu ɟuh copportema yola

8- comprendre [kɔ̃pʁɑ̃dʁ] [kɔmprǝne] ɟama ni ɟi baɟ si sabu, Omoi babu

matu comprene

9- d’abord [dabɔʁ] [da:bɔr] Il y a daabor papa et maman au

sein de la famille.

10- dépandre [depɑ̃dʁ] [depɑnde] Do pan depande ni buroŋ babu

11- dernier [dƐʁɲe] [dǝrɲer] Bugo gu ʃilo dárɲer

12- école [ekɔl] [lek:ɔl] Inɟe ni ɟoge buoh na halekalen

lekkol katin an aam ni iniversite

13- l’historique [listoʁik] [listɔrik] U maŋmé u etuɟé listorik yaa Mof

Ávi

14- inscris [ɛ̃skʁi] [ɛskrive] U escrive aŋil ahu

15- leçon [lǝsɔ̃] [lǝsɔŋ] Nu liŋene su lesoŋi?

16- maman [mamã] [mam:a] Il y a d’abord papa et mamma au

20 Sentences in Eegimaa, in the corpus, will be translated in the next part before analysis same for French ones.

30

sein de la famille.

17- monsieur [mǝsjø] [musƐ] A muse ahu na oblige-oblige

18- papa [papa] [pap:a] Il y a d’abord pappa et maman au

sein de la famille.

19- parce que [paʁs(ǝ)k] [paskǝ] Paske c’est à cause des guerres

tribales que ces gens-la ont quittes

20- politique [pɔlitik] [polotih] ɟi hat polotihay yo ɟi kaneme.

21- pratiquement [pʁatikmã] [paratikma] Au village, on est paratikma tous

de la même famille. 

22- premier [pʁǝmje] [prǝme:] Woli ɟi comasime tale a-b-c-d, woli preme

23- problème [pʁɔblƐm] [pɔrɔbulƐm] No Sálagi gu baɟme e porobulem

yauye 

24- saleté [salǝtƐ] [saltƐ:] To nu ɟuge an a saltee

25- suivre [sɥivʁ] [si:ve] U siiveutme

26- temps [tã] [taŋ] Nu ɟuge ni taŋ yauyu

27- une [yn] [ín] ín personne mal éduquée est un

marginal.

28- université [ynivƐrsite] [inivƐrsite] Inɟe ni ɟoge buoh na halekalen

lekkol katin an aam ni iniversite

29- voilà [vwala] [wa:la] Waala! Wolof hum nu munde uun

30- vue [vy] [ví] De mon point de vue

This is the corpus to be analyzed in the next chapter. It is composed of thirty (30) words.

In this part, which is one of the most determining in the work because conclusions

will arise from it, we will present and analyze the data collected from our informants.

These following tables will help achieve our goal.

31

Table 5: The age of the informants

Age 15-25 25-45 45-65+ Total

Number 37 8 5 50

Percentage 74% 16% 10% 100%

Table 5 shows that the sample is relatively very young. Almost ¾ of our

informants are aged between 15 and 25 years old. They represent 74% versus 16% aged

between 25 and 45, the remaining 10% being the age bracket 45-65 and over.

Table 6: Sex of the informants

Sex Male Female Total

Number 35 15 50

Percentage 70% 30% 100%

In the table above, one can notice that 70% of the people interviewed are men

versus 30% women. This is mainly due to the fact that men are far better represented in

the schools and they were more available than women to answer our questions.

Table 7: Level of study of the informants

Level of study

Primary Secondary Tertiary Total

Number 4 20 26 50

Percentage 8% 40% 52% 100%

Table 7 is about the level of study of our informants. It shows that all of them

have been to school. The greater majority (52%) has reached the university level, 40%

rose the secondary level and only 8% of the sample stopped at the primary level. One of

the most significant information to be retained is that our sample is highly educated.

Table 8: Languages spoken by the informants

32

Djola Spanish French Wolof Mandingo Fulani English Creole Mankagne Portuguese

50 8 50 45 7 1 16 4 2 4

100% 16% 100% 90% 14% 2% 32% 8% 4% 8%

From this table, it is noticeable that ten languages are spoken by our informants.

Among this set of ten languages, Djola and French are spoken by all of them and 90%

speak Wolof. Further details show that almost all our informants are bilingual (Djola –

French) or trilingual (Djola- French -Wolof).

Table 9: Mastery of Eegimaa

Languages Eegimaa Other (s) Total

Number 41 9 50

Percentage 82% 18% 100%

Among the people interviewed, all are Eegimaa native speakers. But table 9

shows that nine (9) persons out of fifty master other languages better than Djola. Out of

these nine informants, six master French, two Wolof and only one Spanish more than

Eegimaa. The reason is that it is the languages, (except for Spanish) used at home with

their parents and relatives.

To sum up, we can point out that fifty persons have been interviewed among whom

70% are men and 30% are women, all aged between 15 and 66 years. They all have been

to school and 52% of them reached the tertiary level. They all speak, at least, two

languages and the most spoken ones are Eegimaa, French and Wolof but they also speak

other languages such as English, Portuguese, Mandingo, Spanish etc. Concerning the

mastery of the mother tongue, only 18% of our sample affirms mastering French and

Wolof more than Eegimaa because they are the languages spoken in the family circle

with parents and relatives.

2- MORPHOPHONOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

This part will take into account all the thirty words composing our corpus. The

analysis will be carried out following the order in which the words occur in the

presentation of the corpus. For the sentences in Eegimaa, they will be translated both in

33

French and English before being analyzed in order to ease comprehension. As to those in

French, they will only be translated in English as it is the language in which the analysis

will be done. After each analysis, a rule is formulated if necessary.

1. “Woli ni ɟi vɑ̃sewul maa”

a. French : Nous avançâmes de ce côté-ci.

b. English : We advanced this side.

[avɑ̃sƐ] in standard French becomes [vɑ̃sƐ] in Eegimaa. The phonological process

used here is truncation. As its name suggests, it consists in truncating or shortening the

word. Here the initial [a] was taken away so as [avɑ̃sƐ] becomes [vɑ̃sƐ]. We also have

another process called lexical hybridization consisting in using the features of different

languages in the same word. The word, as it is used in the spontaneous speech gives

[vɑ̃sewul] which, decomposed, will give [vɑ̃se+wul]. The suffix “wul” comes from the

contraction of “woli” meaning “we/us” in Eegimaa.

The rule for truncation: Aff. + Rad. + Suff. × + Rad.+Suff

The rule for lexical hybridization: feature of L2 + feature of L1

2. “Ici, on fait le Buhut pour emmener les garçons dans la bourous”

a. English : [Here, we organize the Buhut21 in order to bring the boys into the

forest].

Two processes are noticed in this sentence. The first is related to cluster

simplification by vowel copying or simply called vowel intrusion/insertion and the

second is an alveolarization. [bʁus] becomes [burus]. Not only another [u] is

copied/inserted between the two first consonants of the word but the uvular [ʁ] is

replaced by the alveolar [r] this process is commonly known as alveolarization.

The rule for alveolarization: [ʁ] [r]

The rule for vowel intrusion/insertion: CCV CVCV

3. “Etre éduqué c’est être sympathique saadir ne pas être n’importe comment”.

21 Buhut is the Eegimaa word for the big ceremony of Circumcision which is a central event in Djola societies.

34

English: [To be well-mannered is to be nice meaning not to behave any old how]

[sƐtadiʁ] becomes [sa:dir] by three processes. The first one is known as omission or

deletion, the second as alveolarization as seen in sentence 2 and the third as

lexicalization. Concerning deletion, it consists in omitting or deleting a sequence in the

word. The gap left here by the deletion of the sequence [Ɛt] occasioned by the liaison is

filled by the immediate following vowel [a] which is lengthened. As for lexicalization,

it is materialized here by the fact that the French word “c’est-à-dire” is composed of

three syllables whereas in Eegimaa we have only two.

The rule for deletion: [sƐtadiʁ] [sa:dir]

The rule for lexicalization: sƐ-ta-diʁ sa-dir

4. « Achila a choizisee gaɟow gagu gaa Affiledio »

French: [C’est lui qui a choisi le nom Affilédio]

English: [He has chosen the name Affilédio]

The phonological process noticed in this sentence is lexicalization simply because

[ʃwazi] becomes [ʃwazise:]. [se] is added to the radical of the verb, the sound [e] being

the marker of the past participle in Eegimaa.

5. « Ils veulent faire leurs propres soz »

English: [They want to do their own things]

In this sentence, [ʃoz] became [soz]. The change noticed here is that the palato-

alveolar sound [ʃ] is substituted by the alveolar [s]. This phenomenon is known as

alveolarization as already seen in some previous examples.

6. “Woli ɟi kumasime tale a-b-c-d ni lekkol yauye”

French: [C’est nous qui avons commencé ici le a-b-c-d dans cette école]

English: [We are the one who began a-b-c-d here in this school]

[kɔmɑ̃se] becomes [kumɑsime], we notice in this word phonological phenomena

such as closing, denasalization and cluster simplification by consonant copying.

Concerning the closing, we know that both [ɔ] and [u] are back rounded vowels but the

first one which is mid-opened is substituted for a totally closed one. This process is

called closing. As to denasalization, it is materialized by the substitution of a nasal

35

sound for an oral one [ɑ̃] becomes [a]. In addition to this, the [m] of [kumasi] is

reduplicated and added to the radical of the verb only for the sake of simplification and

conjugation.

7. “Mbu kan nu ɟuh kopportema yola”

French: [Essaie de voir son comportement]

English: [Try to see his/her behaviour]

[kɔ̃pɔʁtǝmɑ̃] becomes [kɔp:ɔrtǝmɑ]. In this word, we have a denasalization of both [ɔ̃]

and [ɑ̃] which become respectively [ɔ] and [ɑ].The sound [p] is lengthened. We also

have an alveolarization the uvular [ʁ] is replaced by the alveolar [r].

The rule for denasalization: [nasal sound] [oral sound]

Examples: [ɔ̃] [ɔ]

[ɑ̃] [a]

8. « ɟama ni ɟi baɟ si sabbu, Omoi babu matu comprene »

French: [Maintenant vous avez plusieurs types de savons, de détergents à la fin

on ne comprend plus]

English: [Now you have different types of soaps, detergents that at last no one

understands]

In this word, the French nasal vowel [ɔ̃] broke up to be [ɔm]. The process

described here is known as nasal unpacking. As a nasal vowel is the contraction of an

oral vowel plus a nasal consonant, the nasal unpacking, as its name suggest is its break

into two distinct sounds because nasal vowels do not exist in Eegimaa but nasalized ones

only. Another important aspect to be studied is the break or deletion of the cluster [ndʁ]

replaced by [ne] so as the [CCC] cluster becomes a [CV] one much more frequent in

Eegimaa than the previous.

The rule for nasal unpacking: [nasal sound] [oral vowel + nasal

consonant]

The rule for cluster simplification by vowel copying: [CCV] [CVCV]

9. « Il y a daabor papa et maman au sein de la famille »

English: [There are first dad and mum in the bosom of the family]

36

In the pronunciation of the word “d’abord” the first phenomenon to be studied is

that of the lengthening of the sound [a] which became [a:] this, is certainly due to the

deletion of the liaison. We also have the alveolarization of the final [ʁ].

10. “Do pan depande ni burong babu”

French: [Ceci dépendra de la vie]

English: [This will depend on life]

[depɑ̃dʁ] in standard French becomes [depɑnde] in Eegimaa. The observation of this

word shows that we have two processes. In the first, we have a nasal unpacking with [ɑ̃]

becoming [an] and in the second, a cluster simplification by consonant deletion and

vowel addition. The [dʁ] at the end of the word is replaced by [de]. The consonant was

deleted because it would be difficult for an Eegimaa speaker to pronounce [depɑ̃dʁe:].

The rule for cluster simplification by consonant deletion and vowel addition:

[dʁ] [de]

11. “Bugo gu chilo dárɲer”

French: [Ils sont venus en dernier]

English: [They came in last]

In the pronunciation of this word, the [ɛ] is replaced by [ә]. This can be considered

as centralization because the front vowel sound [ɛ] is substituted by the central one.

Another important phenomenon is that of alveolarization of the Parisian [ʁ] but most

important and very surprising is the pronunciation of the final [r] due to the orthographic

influence of French. This final [r] is written but not read in French this could have

misled Eegimaa native speakers.

12. “Inje ni joge buoh na halekalen lekkol kattin an aam iniversite”

French: [Pour moi il a abandonné les études alors qu’il est à l’université]

English: [For me he has left school while he is at the university]

This word presents features of a phonological process known as lexicalization as we

have seen in many examples above. [ekɔl] becomes [lek:ɔl] by fusion of the article and

the noun linked by the liaison. We also have the lengthening of the sound [k].

13. « U maŋme u etuɟe listorik yaa Mof Ávi »

French: [Si tu veux étudier l’historique du Mof Ávi]

37

English: [If you want to study the history of Mof Ávi]

[listoʁik] becomes [listɔrik]. The [o] is replaced by [ɔ] which is lower and more

opened. The lexicalization process in this word consists in its spelling in one word

whereas in standard French it is written in two words. We also have an alveolarization

[ʁ] becomes [r].

14. « U eskrive aŋil ahu »

French: [Inscris l’enfant]

English: [Enrol the children]

[ɛ̃skʁi] becomes [ɛskrive] thanks to three phonological processes

namely denasalization, alveolarization and lexicalization. In the first

one, the nasal vowel [ɛ̃] lost its nasality replaced by [ɛ]. Concerning

the phenomenon of alveolarization, the velar sound [ʁ] is replaced by the

alveolar sound [r]. As for lexicalization, we noticed that the word has

changed to become [ɛskrive] thanks to the deletion/substitution

process. The final [ʁ] of the infinitive in French was deleted and

substituted by the [ve] for matters of simplification and conjugation.

15. « Nu liŋene si lesoŋi? »

French: [As-tu appris tes leçons?]

English: [Have you learnt your lessons?]

This word presents features of either lexicalization [lǝsɔ̃] became [lǝsɔŋi] here

the [i] represents the second person possessive pronoun in Eegimaa it is placed behind

the possessed object contrarily to French, and nasal unpacking [ɔ̃] became [ɔŋ].

16. « Il y a d’abord papa et mamma au sein de la famille »

English: [There are first dad and mum in the bosom of the family]

[mamã] becomes [mam:a] by two processes. The first is the lengthening of the nasal

consonant [m] which is an allophone of [m] in Eegimaa and the denasalization of the

final nasal vowel [ã].

17. « A muse ahu na oblige-oblige »

French: [Le monsieur été obligé]

English: [The mister was obliged]

38

[mǝsjø] [musƐ]. In this word, we first have a backing of the central

vowel [ә] which is substituted for a back [u] and then the depalatalization of the sound

[j]. At last, we have the [ø] which is replaced by [Ɛ]. The phenomenon is known as

opening.

18. « D’abord il y a pappa et maman au sein de la famille »

English: [There are first dad and mum in the bosom of the family]

No special process is to be noticed here apart from the lengthening of the second [p].

So, the French word for dad “papa” as pronounced by the Eegimaa people, is a little bit

heavier than as if it was done by French simply because of the lengthening of the [p].

One of the reasons that can account for this is that in Eegimaa, the original word for dad

is ‘appa’ with a slight insistence on the [p].

19. « Paske c’est à cause des guerres tribales que ces gens-là ont quittées »

English: [It’s because of the tribal wars that those people left]

[paʁskǝ] becomes [paskǝ] by means of cluster simplification by consonant deletion of

the [ʁ]. The reason of the deletion is justified by the simplification of the clusters in

Eegimaa.

The rule for cluster simplification by consonant deletion:

[CVCCCV] [CVCCV]

20. “ɟi hat polotihay yoɟi kaneme”

French: [Arrêtez cette politique que vous faites]

English: [Stop this kind of politics you are involved in]

The word “politique” as it is pronounced in this spontaneous speech is no longer

[pɔlitik] but [polotih]. The closing of the initial [ɔ] give [o]. The first [i] which is a front

vowel is replaced by a back [o] by the process known as backing. The final velar

consonant [k] is replaced by the glottal sound [h] which is not “muet” (mute) in

Eegimaa. The process here is known as glottalization. Words ending in [ik] in French

such as “boutique” and “politique”, are realized [bitih] and [polotih].

21. « Au village, on est tous paratikma de la même famille »

English: [At the village, we are practically all from the same family]

39

In the pronunciation of this word, we have a cluster simplification by vowel copying

the [a] is copied and inserted between two consonants [p] and [r]. The velar sound [ʁ] is

replaced by the alveolar [r] causing then an alveolarization. The last thing to be reported

is that the nasal sound at the end of the word is denasalized because nasal vowel sounds

are not allowed, in word final position, in Eegimaa.

22. « Woli ɟi comasime tale a-b-c-d ni lek:ol yauye, woli preme »

French: [C’est nous qui avons commencé ici le a-b-c-d dans cette école, nous les

premiers]

English: [We are the one who began a-b-c-d here in this school, we the first]

The only two things to be noticed in the pronunciation of this word are the

alveolarization of the French velar [ʁ] and the deletion of the [j] so as the word in

Eegimaa becomes [prәme:] and not [pʁәmje].

23. « No Sállagi gu baɟme e porobulƐm yauye »

French: [Au temps où les villageois de Séléki ont eu ce problème]

English: [At that time when people of Séléki got that problem]

The analysis of this word presents features of a cluster simplification by vowel

copying. The [ɔ] is inserted between the [p] and the [r] alveolarized and copied so as the

word is read simply and more easily. Another vowel to be inserted is the [u]

incorporated between [b] and [l]. The lexicalization is at the origin of the shift from

[pʁɔblƐm] to [pɔrɔbulƐm].

24. « To nu ɟuge ana saltee »

French: [C’est à ce moment là que tu vois une personne sale]

English: [It’s at that time when you see a dirty person]

[salǝtƐ] becomes [saltƐ:] by the process of deletion of the central vowel [ǝ]. But we

also have a lengthening of the short vowel [Ɛ] which becomes [Ɛ:].

25. “U siiveutme”

French: [Si tu ne suis pas]

English: [If you do not follow]

The most obvious phenomena to be noticed in this word are the depalatalization of

the sound [ɥ] replaced by [i:] and the deletion of the final uvular [ʁ]. The gap left by the

deletion of [ɥ] is filled by the lengthening of [i]. To this, we can add the lexicalization of

40

the verb [sɥivʁ] which becomes [siive] plus [ut] which, put behind a verb, stands for the

negation in Eegimaa and plus the [me] which accounts for the condition in this case.

26. « Nu ɟuge ni taŋ yauyu »

French: [Tu vois en ce temps]

English: [You see at that time]

[tã] in French becomes [taŋ] in Eegimaa by process of nasal unpacking. The single

nasal vowel is divided into two sounds: an oral vowel and a nasal consonant simply

because not only we don’t have nasal vowels in Eegimaa but it is not allowed in word

final position.

27. « ín personne mal éduquée est un marginal »

English: [An ill-mannered person is a fringe of society]

[yn] becomes [ín]. The French back vowel [y] is replaced by the front vowel sound [í]

simply because we do not have [y] in Eegimaa.

28. « Inɟe ni ɟoge buoh na halekalen lek:ol kattin an aam ni iniversite »

French: [Pour moi il a abandonné les études alors qu’il est à l’université]

English: [For me he has left school while he is at the university]

The French word “université” is pronounced [inivƐrsite] in Eegimaa. The [y] sound

is substituted for [i]. As we have said in the previous example, the [y] does not exist in

Eegimaa.

29. « Waala ! Wolof hum nu munde uun »

French: [Voilà ! c’est le Wolof que tu as appris en premier]

English: [Well! It’s Wolof that you learnt first]

[vwala] becomes [wa:la] by means of cluster simplification by consonant deletion.

The simplification consists in the fact that the labio-dental consonant followed by a

bilabial is omitted and the first [a] is lengthened.

30. « De mon point de ví personnel. »

41

English: [To my personal standpoint]

The pronunciation of the French oral sound [y] is realized so as people hear the

Eegimaa vowel sound [í]. The rounded vowel sound [y] in standard French is substituted

for the unrounded vowel [í] of Eegimaa. This can be justified by the fact that in

Eegimaa, the sound [y] does not exist.

3- REPORTING THE FINDINGS

After the analysis of all the thirty words composing our corpus, we discovered that

the influence exerted by Eegimaa on French is mostly noticeable on the words borrowed

from that language. During their integration within the Eegimaa language they are

subjected to various transformations. These transformations are materialized through

different phonological and morphophonological processes such as lexicalization, cluster

simplification, vowel or consonant intrusion/insertion, deletion/omission, alveolarization

etc. Apart from that major discovery others are also to be reported hereafter.

We have discovered that:

The French sound [y] is not part of the Eegimaa phonological alphabet. When

it occurs in this variety it is substituted for [í] as in [ynivƐrsite] and [yn] which

becomes respectively [íniversite] and [ín]. Any word in which it is found is

undoubtedly a borrowing from French or other languages.

Eegimaa does not have nasal vowel sounds but nasalized ones such as [an] in

[depande], [aŋ] in [taŋ] and [ɔŋ] in [lәsɔŋ].

42

Nasal vowels are not allowed in word final position. If a nasal is to happen, it

is either denasalized as in [kɔp:ɔrtǝma] or nasally unpacked as in [lәsɔŋ] and

[taŋ].

Words in Eegimaa do not or rarely end with the central vowel [ә]. French

borrowed words and most precisely verbs ending with this sound are

simplified or deleted as in [kɔ̃pʁɑ̃dʁ] which becomes [kɔmprǝne] and

[depɑ̃dʁ] which becomes [depɑnde].

French words with a [CCV] cluster are simplified either by means of deletion

as in [paʁskǝ] which becomes [paskǝ] or by vowel intrusion as in [bʁus]

which becomes [burus].

In most of the cases, when a consonant is deleted for the sake of

simplification, the following vowel is lengthened to fill the gap left as in

[sƐtadiʁ] which becomes [sa:dir] and [sɥivʁ] which becomes [siive].

GENERAL CONCLUSION

Almost a set of twenty local languages are spoken in Ziguinchor (Djola,

Mandingo, Fulani, Portuguese Creole, Mandjak etc.) on which is superimposed the

official language: French. The Djola language is, in Casamance, more than a vehicular

language and enjoys a prestigious status. It is at the same time the language of the Djola

people, the language of the South and the language of unification.

Our main objective in this work was to study, as clearly as possible, the

relationship between Djola and French, particularly the influence exerted by the former

on the latter. In so doing, we decided to focus mainly on the educated native speakers of

Eegimaa a variety of Djola spoken in the Ancient kingdom of Mof Ávi. This choice was

motivated by the fact that they were the fringe of the society most closely in contact with

the official language French.

To achieve the goal we had set ourselves, a methodology was designed

consisting in first travelling to the south side of the country, the centre of the Djola

language and civilization, in order to meet native speakers whose fifty were chosen to

compose our sample. Then, we proceeded to the conversation recordings from which,

43

the raw material for data analysis was taken. And at last, those collected data were

analyzed and interpreted so as major conclusions could be drawn.

After a deep analysis of all the data, we came up with the major conclusion that

Eegimaa, contrarily to what people may think, exerts a great influence on French which

is not only the official language but above all the most prestigious in the community.

That influence is mostly felt on the borrowed words, as they are integrated into Eegimaa;

it mostly affects, as we have studied, the fields of morphophonology, syntax, vocabulary

and even grammar, morphophonology being the most affected of all.

We discovered that:

Eegimaa do not have nasal vowel sounds, contrarily to French, but nasalized

ones.

Whenever a word with nasal vowel is borrowed from French, it is denasalized

when integrating the Eegimaa dialect. Concrete examples for that are words such

as “comportement” [kɔ̃pɔʁtǝmɑ̃] and “commencer” [kɔmɑ̃se] etc. which

become respectively “copportema” [kɔp:ɔrtǝma] and “kumasi” [kumasi].

Illustrations: [ɔ̃] [ɔ]

[ɑ̃] [a]

French words ending with a nasal vowel sound are nasally unpacked because

nasal vowel sounds are not allowed in word final position, in Eegimaa. Examples

in point will be found in words such as “temps” [tã] and “leçon” [lǝsɔ̃] which

become respectively [taŋ] and [lǝsɔŋ]

Illustrations: [ã] [aŋ]

[ɔ̃] [ɔŋ]

The standard French sound [y] does not occur in Eegimaa. So, all words in which

it is found are borrowings from other languages. When [y] occurs in Eegimaa, it

is substituted by [í] in words such as “université” [ynivƐrsite] and “une” [yn]

which become respectively “iniversite” [ínivƐrsite] and “ín” [ín].

Illustration: [y] [í]

44

Some difficulties can be mentioned: the major one was concerned with finding

works dealing with a scientific description of Eegimaa. We succeeded, however, in

finding some (Bassène 2003, Bassène 2006 and Sambou 1989) that helped us to achieve

the goals we set ourselves from the beginning. Another one is that almost all the

documents used in this work were written in French so as we were obliged to translate

some part where needed.

Despite the problem of documentation, we found that Eegimaa was, linguistically

speaking, a virgin land. This made our desire to keep on working on this variety grows

up. Our interest, in future researches will surely be turned towards studying the influence

of Eegimaa on English and why not comparing the results with the ones already found

for French.

BIBLIOGRAPHYMAIN BOOKS

BERANGER, Ferraud. 1879. Les Peuplades de la Sénégambie. Paris : F. Leroux.

BOYER, Henri. 2001. Introduction à la Sociolinguistique. Paris : Dunod.

DIOUF, Makhtar. 1999. Sénégal : les Ethnies et la Nation. Dakar : NEAS

DONEUX, Jean Louis. n.d. Les Systèmes Phonologiques des Langues de Casamance. Dakar : CLAD.

DUMONT, Pierre. 1983. Le Français et les Langues Africaines au Sénégal. Karthala.

GUMPERZ, J-J. 1989. Sociolinguistique Interactionnelle. Paris : L’Harmattan et l’Université de la Réunion.

JUILLARD, Caroline. 1995. Sociolinguistique Urbaine : la Vie des Langues à Ziguinchor (Sénégal). Paris : Editions du C.N.R.S.

MBAYA, Mawéja. 1999. Exploring Primary and Secondary Research. Dakar:

ELU.

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MBAYA, Mawéja. 2005. Pratiques et Attitudes Linguistique en Afrique d’Aujourd’hui: Le Cas du Sénégal. Munich: LINCOM Europa Gmbh.

PALMERI, Paolo. 1995. Retour dans un Village Djola de Casamance:

Chronique d'une Recherche Anthropologique au Sénégal. Paris: l'Harmattan.

PELISSIER, Paul. 1966. Les Paysans du Sénégal. Fabrègue, Saint-Yrieix.

ROCHE, Christian. 1976. Conquête et Résistance des Peuples de Casamance.

Dakar-Abidjan : Nouvelles Editions Africaines.

THOMAS, Louis Vincent. 1958-1959. Les Djola. Essai d'analyse fonctionnel1e sur une population de Basse Casamance. Tomes I et II. IFAN, Dakar.

TRUDGILL, P. 1996. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language and Society. Penguin Books.

WEINREICH, Uriel. 1963. Languages in Contact. La Hayes : Mouton.

MASTER DISSERTATIONS AND THESES

BASSENE, Alain Christian. 2001. « Phonologie du Djola Eegimaa ». Mémoire de Maitrise, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département de linguistique générale.

BASSENE, Alain Christian. 2003. « Les Nominaux en Djola Eegimaa ». Mémoire de DEA, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département de linguistique générale.

BASSENE, Mamadou. 2003. “Some Aspects of Djola Eegimaa Phonology”. Master Thesis. Saint-Louis: Gaston Berger University, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, English Department.

HOPKINS, Bradley Lynn. 1995. « Contribution à une Etude de la Syntaxe Djola Fogny ». Thèse de doctorat de 3ème cycle, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département de linguistique générale.

KEBE, Moustapha. 2006. « La Domination Coloniale Française en Basse Casamance 1836-1960 ». Thèse de doctorat de 3eme cycle, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département d’histoire.

NDAO, Papa Alioune. 1996. « Contact de Langues au Sénégal, Etude du Code-Switching Wolof-Français en Milieu Urbain : Approche Linguistique,

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Sociolinguistique et Pragmatique ». Thèse de doctorat d’Etat, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département de Lettres Modernes.

SAMBOU, Pierre-Marie. 1979. « Djola Kaasaa Esuulaalur : Phonologie, Morphophonologie et Morphologie ». Thèse de doctorat de 3ème cycle, Dakar : Université de Dakar, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département de Linguistique générale. 211 pages.

TENDENG, Antoine. 1974. « Les Sources de l’Histoire de la Casamance aux Archives du Sénégal 1816-1920 ». Thèse de doctorat, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département d’histoire.

TENDENG, Odile. 1984. « Contribution à une Phonologie du Djola Edungo ». Mémoire de Maitrise, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP, Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, Département de linguistique générale.

THIOUNE, Adja Khady. 2006. “The Influence of Wolof on African French and African English: a Comparative Study”. M.A Thesis. Saint-Louis: Gaston Berger University. English Department.

ARTICLES

BILOA, Edmund. « L’influence du Français sur l’Anglais Camerounais » in

Sudlangues numéro 2, Juin-Juillet 2003.

DONEUX, Jean Louis. « Hypothèses pour la Comparative des Langues

Atlantiques » in Annales du Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale. n° 88, 1975, pp.

43-129.

DUMONT, Pierre. « Les Nouveaux Rapports entre le Français et les Langues Nationales au Sénégal » in Réalités Africaines et Langue Française numéro 8, Octobre 1978.

JOB, A. «  Une Analyse Sociolinguistique de l’Emprunt dans le Contexte Multilingue Gambien » in Plurilinguismes numéro 9-10, juin-décembre 1995 C.E.R.P.L (Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Planification Linguistique).

JUILLARD, Caroline, « Répertoire et Acte de Communication en Situation Plurilingue : le cas de Ziguinchor au Sénégal » in Langage et Société numéro 54, décembre 1990.

MARZOUK, Yasmine, « Du côté de la Casamance : Pouvoirs, Espaces et Religions », in Cahiers d’études africaines, 1993, XXXIII (3), 131 : 485.

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SAMBOU, Pierre Marie, «  Approche Phonologique du Djola Eegimaa » in Annales de la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines, numéro 19, 1989. pp 191-205

WEBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=SN 14th, May, 2007 at 07:09

http://www.freedomfaith.org visited on 03rd, June, 2008 at 18:08

http://www.sudlangues.org visited on 20th, May, 2008 at 16:55

http://www.uquebec.ca/diverscite visited on 24th, June, 2007 at 16:45

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Portrait of Affiledio Manga the last “King-priest-of –the-rain”

48

Portrait by: Louis Eketbo Bassène (1992)

Appendix 2: The questionnaire

IDENTIFICATION

Nom :………………………………………………………………………………………

Prénom(s)……………………………………………………….………………………

Adresse :……………………………………………...…………………………………

Age :……………ans

Sexe : MASCULIN FEMININ

Pays de naissance :…………………………………………...

QUESTIONS

Quelle est votre langue maternelle?

…………………………………………………………………………………...……

Quelle(s) autre(s) langue(s) parlez-vous  et comprenez-vous?

……………………………………….……. ……………..…..………………………… ………………………………………….…. ……………………………………………

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Parmi ces langues y- a-t-il une que vous connaissez mieux que votre langue maternelle ?

OUI NON

Si oui laquelle ?...............................................................................................................................

Pourquoi ?.............................................................................................................................

Avez-vous étudié le français ?

OUI NON

Si oui, jusqu’à quel niveau ?

Primaire Secondaire Supérieur

Appendix 3 : List of the informants

FAMILY NAME FIRST NAME(S) AGE /SEX ADDRESS LEVEL OF STUDY1- BADJI Serghinho D. Male / 25 Saint-Louis Tertiary2- BASSENE Amiral Trésor Male / 25 Banjal Tertiary3- BASSENE Bienvenu Missa Male / 24 Cite Conachap Tertiary4- BASSENE Charlotte A. Female / 18 Kameubeul Secondary5- BASSENE De Gonzag Louis Male / 23 Fass Delorme Tertiary6- BASSENE Dembo Male / 26 Grand Yoff Tertiary7- BASSENE Djibril Michel Male / 22 Niary Tally Tertiary8- BASSENE Erik Male / 25 Thiaroye Tertiary9- BASSENE Erikol Male / 65 Séléki Primary10- BASSENE Etienne Male / 54 Séléki Primary11- BASSENE Florence D. Female / 17 Séléki Secondary12- BASSENE Florent F. Male / 23 Grand Dakar Tertiary13- BASSENE Frédéric Male / 29 Sicap rue 10 Tertiary14- BASSENE Jean Christophe Male / 17 Essil Secondary15- BASSENE Juliette Female / 18 Essil Secondary16- BASSENE Louis Eketbo Male / 55 Séléki Primary17- BASSENE Mamadou Vieux Male / 27 Thiaroye Tertiary18- BASSENE Marius Male / 25 Grand-Dakar Tertiary19- BASSENE Sandrine Butai Female / 24 Fass Delorme Tertiary20- BASSENE Martin Male / 24 Saint-Louis Tertiary21- BASSENE Djibril Gachili Male / 20 Saint-Louis Tertiary22- BASSENE Ibra Male / 66 Séléki Primary23- DIATTA Barthélemy Josué Male / 19 Essil Secondary24- DIATTA Diouma Female / 17 Kameubeul Secondary25- DIATTA Félicité Nadège Female / 18 Badiatte Secondary26- DIATTA Pascaline Female / 26 Sicap rue 10 Tertiary27- DIATTA Simplice Male / 24 Grand Médine Tertiary28- DIEME Ababacar Mbaye Male / 15 Kameubeul Secondary29- GOUDIABY Aliou Male / 25 Dieuppeul Tertiary30- MANE Berthe Awa Female / 21 Parcelles Ass. Tertiary

50

31- MANGA Fansou Male / 15 Enampor Secondary32- MANGA Ndella Edith Female / 18 Enampor Secondary33- MANGA Robert Ousmane Male / 17 Enampor Secondary34- MANGA Eugénie A. Female / 23 Saint-Louis Tertiary35- SAGNA Amadou Male / 17 Enampor Secondary36- SAGNA Ibrahima Male / 16 Banjal Secondary37- SAGNA Moussa Male / 17 Banjal Secondary38- SALL Ousmane Male / 25 Guédiewaye Tertiary39- SAMBOU Assane Kassén Male /26 Parcelles Ass. Tertiary40- SAMBOU Léna Female / 21 Guédiawaye Tertiary41- TENDENG Charlotte Female / 19 Batighère Secondary42- TENDENG Danfa Male / 41 Séléki Secondary43- TENDENG Donat Male / 26 Fass Casier Tertiary44- TENDENG Gérard Ampa-B. Male / 17 Batighère Secondary45- TENDENG Madeleine Female / 18 Enampor Secondary46- TENDENG Malang Male / 16 Séléki Secondary47- TENDENG Souadou Dialika Female / 17 Banjal Secondary48- TENDENG Théodore Male / 24 Sacré-Coeur Tertiary49- TENDENG Youssouph Male / 27 Ouakam Tertiary50- TENDENG Ndèye Léna Female / 26 Saint-Louis Tertiary

51