Wolof

Story

Wolof stands apart from most West African languages because it is not tonal, using consonant mutation and a noun-class system to carry grammatical information instead. It rose to prominence as a commercial lingua franca through the powerful precolonial Wolof kingdoms of Jolof and Kajoor, and by the mid-19th century the city of Saint-Louis, then the capital of French West Africa, operated almost entirely in Wolof. Today roughly 80 to 90 percent of Senegal's population speaks Wolof despite only 40 percent being ethnically Wolof, a striking example of urban-led language spread. The informal urban variety spoken in Dakar, called Dakar Wolof or Wolof urbain, blends Wolof grammar with French and Arabic vocabulary and has become a marker of cosmopolitan identity across the region.

At a glance

• Also known as: Wolof lakk
• Family: Niger-Congo
• Region: West Africa
• Speakers: 18M (total speakers (l1 plus l2), wikipedia and ethnologue (2022 to 2023): approximately 8.2 million l1 plus 9.5 million l2)
• Writing system: Latin and Arabic script (Wolofal / Ajami)
• Greeting: Na nga def (how are you / hello)

Spoken in

Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania

Common questions