Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, The Gambia, Mali, Mauritania
Ethnicity
Fula, Toucouleur
Native speakers
6.3 million (2014–2022)[1]
Language family
Niger–Congo?
Atlantic–Congo
Senegambian
Fula–Wolof
Fula
Western
Pulaar
Writing system
Arabic (Ajami) Adlam script Fula alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3
fuc
Glottolog
pula1263
Pulaar (in Adlam: 𞤆𞤵𞤤𞤢𞥄𞤪, in Ajami: ݒُلَارْ) is a Fula language spoken primarily as a first[2] language by the Fula and Toucouleur peoples in the Senegal River valley area traditionally known as Futa Tooro and further south and east. Pulaar speakers, known as Haalpulaar'en live in Senegal, Mauritania, the Gambia, and western Mali. The two main speakers of Pulaar are the Toucouleur people and the Fulɓe (also known as Fulani or Peul).[3] Pulaar is the second most spoken local language in Senegal, being a first language for around 22% of the population. This correlates with 23.7% of the country in which Pulaar is the population's ethnicity.[4] Pulaar is one of the national languages of Senegal alongside 13 others.[4] It was admitted as an official language of Senegal by Presidential decree in 1971.[4] There are around 28 known dialects of Pulaar, most of which are mutually intelligible with each other.[5] The Pulaar dialects, as well as other West African languages, are usually referenced under the umbrella term ‘Fula’. Pulaar as a language, however, is not usually referenced as ‘Fula’.[6]
According to Ethnologue there are several dialectal varieties, but all are mutually intelligible.
Pulaar is not to be confused with Pular, another variety of Fula spoken in Guinea (including the Fouta Djallon region). The Pulaar and Pular varieties of Fula are to some extent mutually intelligible.
Pulaar is currently written in primarily in the Latin script. Historically, for centuries, Pulaar has a literary tradition based on the Arabic script, an orthographic tradition now known as "Ajami". More recently, Adlam script for Pulaar has been gaining ground as well. (see Fula alphabets).
The word Pulaar translates to 'the language of the Fulɓe' as the stem /pul/ is the singular form of Fulɓe and the suffix /-aar/ means language. The language is believed to have formed in Fuuta Tooro when the ancestors of the Toucouleur people began speaking the language of the Fulɓe. It is then believed that the term Haalpulaar'en (which means 'speakers of the language of Pulaar') was created to apply to non-Fulɓe speakers of Fulɓe, of which the Toucouleur people are the largest demographic.[3]
Map of the Fula languages including Pulaar.
^Pulaar at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^Pulaar.
^ abCite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abcDiallo, Ibrahima (2006). Language Planning, Language-In-Education Policy, and Attitudes Towards Languages in Senegal (Griffith thesis). My University, My University, Marilyn McMeniman. Griffith University. doi:10.25904/1912/1429.
^"Pulaar" (PDF). National African Language Resource Center - Indiana. 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
^Paster, Mary (2005), "Pulaar verbal extensions and phonologically driven affix order", Yearbook of Morphology 2005, Yearbook of Morphology, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 155–199, doi:10.1007/1-4020-4066-0_6, ISBN 978-1-4020-4065-8, retrieved 2020-11-02
Toucouleurs speak the Pulaarlanguage, a dialect of Fula, an Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family of languages. According to the oral traditions...
dish comes from Wolof words meaning 'rice' (ceeb) and 'fish' (jën). In Pulaar it is known as maaro e liddi ('rice and fish'). It is served on large trays...
communication. Pulaar, Soninke, and Wolof also serve as national languages. Despite having no official status, French is used as an administrative language and as...
refer to: United Front for Democratic Change, a Chadian rebel group Pulaarlanguage (ISO 639-3 code) Fucose (abberivation) Società Ferrovie Udine-Cividale [it]...
especially in Dakar, Wolof is the lingua franca. Pulaar is spoken by the Fulas and Toucouleur. The Serer language is widely spoken by both Serers and non-Serers...
languages have the status of "national languages": Wolof, Balanta-Ganja, Arabic, Jola-Fonyi, Mandinka, Mandjak, Mankanya, Noon (Serer-Noon), Pulaar,...
In The Gambia, Mandinka is spoken as a first language by 38% of the population, Pulaar by 21%, Wolof by 18%, Soninke by 9 percent, Jola by 4.5 percent...
newspaper texts. Pulaar lacks gender pronouns such as he/she. For example sentence "Himo He Jam" means (He/She is good). Either, Pulaar bends verbs and...
system, secondary to the larger Wolof, Halpulaar [speakers of the Pulaarlanguage i.e. the Fula and Toucouleur people] or Mandinka polities surrounding...
or that have status as a national language, regional language, or minority language. Official language A language designated as having a unique legal...
French. Wolof Soninke Pulaar is spoken in Mauritania by the Fula and the Toucouleur. Bambara Serer language Mauritania portal Languages portal Hassaniya Arabic...
speak Pulaar, a dialect of the greater Fula languages spanning West Africa from Senegal to Cameroon. They identify themselves by the language, which...
provinces that had once been part of Kaabu before Kansala. He promoted the Pulaarlanguage and settled Fulas in formerly Mandinka communities. He also consolidated...
Fulɓe) Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani) The Fula variety known as the Pulaarlanguage The Fula variety known as the Pular language The Fula variety...
West Africa, notably Senegal. Pular is not to be confused with Pulaar, another Fula language spoken natively in Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, and western...
In Manjaku (language spoken in Guinea-Bissau) and in Pulaar it means 'to chew' (pronounced "nyam"); it also means 'chew' in Luo (language spoken in East...
significant and remains in the memory of the Halpulaareen [speakers of the Pulaarlanguage in Senegal and the Gambia such as Fula and Toucouleur people]. According...
surname originated from Toucouleur or Laobe people, and is found among Pulaarlanguage speakers. It is not authentically Wolof, and only made its way to the...
film director and screenwriter Mauritania, called Moritani in the Pulaarlanguage This page lists people with the surname Moritani. If an internal link...
significant and remains in the memory of the Halpulaareen [speakers of the Pulaarlanguage in Senegal and the Gambia such as Fula people and Toucouleur people]...
related, and Serer is significantly closer to Fulani (also called Pulbe, Pulaar, or Fulbe) than it is to Cangin.[citation needed] The voiceless implosives...
droits d'auteurs. Caba Bah was the author of numerous works in the Pulaarlanguage, notably translations of works by French authors. He wrote a biography...
people. The languages spoken there reflect ancient settlement patterns, migrations, and its long history. Ethnologue counts more than 80 languages. Of these...
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