Jola (Joola) or Diola is a
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
spoken in
Senegal
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...
,
the Gambia
The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...
, and
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau, officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, is a country in West Africa that covers with an estimated population of 2,026,778. It borders Senegal to Guinea-Bissau–Senegal border, its north and Guinea to Guinea–Guinea-Bissau b ...
. It belongs to the
Bak branch of the
Niger–Congo language family.
Name
The name ''Jola'' is an exonym, and may be from the
Mandinka word ''joolaa'' 'one who pays back'.
[Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. ''Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification''. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.] There is no widespread endonym used by all of the Jola speakers.
Languages
The primary branches of Jola proper and to some extent Central Jola are not mutually intelligible. The main varieties are:
*
Bayot
*Jola proper
**
Kwatay (Kuwaataay), spoken along the coast south of the
Casamance River.
** Karon–Mlomp
***
Karon, spoken along the coast of
Casamance south of
Diouloulou.
***
Mlomp
Mlomp is a rural community and village in the Ziguinchor Region of Senegal in the Casamance, situated approximately south-west of Ziguinchor.
As of 2000, it had a population of 7,628, rising to around 8,500 in 2006. Most inhabitants are of Diola ...
**Central Jola
***
Jola-Fonyi (Kujamatay), spoken around
Bignona. The official standard.
***
Bandial, spoken in a small area south of the
Casamance River.
***
Gusilay, spoken in the village of
Thionck Essyl.
***
Jola-Felupe (Ediamat), spoken in a handful of villages south of Oussouye in
Oussouye Department. Kerak may be a dialect.
***
(Jola) Kasa, spoken around
Oussouye.
Bayot
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
A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...
with substantial Jola borrowing (
relexification In linguistics, relexification is a mechanism of language change by which one language changes much or all of its lexicon, including basic vocabulary, to the lexicon of another language, without drastically changing the relexified language's grammar ...
). In any case, Bayot is clearly distinct from (other) Jola languages.
Reconstruction
Some Proto-Joola reconstructions of stable lexical roots by Segerer (2016) are:
[Segerer, Guillaume. 2016. ]
The unusually unstable basic vocabulary of the Joola languages
'
Paris, September 1-3, 2016.
References
External links
Kujamaat Jóola Folklore and Language materials
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jola Languages
Bak languages
Languages of Senegal