VOWELS
|
| WOLOF LETTER |
PHONETIC SYMBOL |
PHONETIC DESCRIPTION |
WOLOF EXAMPLES |
NOTES |
| a |
ʌ |
voiced half-open central unrounded |
and (incense pot)
lal (bed)
xamb (poke a fire)
kaala (turban) |
and
xamb
As in English "b utter".
As in English, in Wolof there is some degree of variation in certain contexts
towards [ə] or even [u]. Thus man (can) can be said as [mʌn],
[mən] or [mun]. But man (myself) is always [mʌn]. It
bears no relation to an English " a" as in " cat", the
sound of which does not exist in Wolof. which is [æ].
|
| aa |
a: |
|
baaraam (finger)
aada (tradition) |
It exists in standard British English as
part of the diphthong [a:i] (time, nine).
It is different to the normal English long
"a" as in star which is [ɑ:]. |
| à |
a |
voiced open front unrounded |
àlluwa (writing board)
ànd (to accompany)
xàmb (spirit shrine)
dàll (shoe) |
ànd
xàmb
Contrast between ànd & and
Contrast between xàmb & xamb This
is the same as the French a. It exists in standard British English
as part of the diphthongs [ai] (l ife, b uy, cr y);
and [au] ( owl).
|
| ã |
ɑ̃ |
voiced open central unrounded nasalised |
sãs (very hot) |
This is very rare. As for the ɑ̃ in temps,
gant in French. |
| é |
e |
voiced half-close front unrounded
(cardinal 2) |
béy (goat)
génn (to leave)
dég (thorn) |
dég
génn
Same as French é or the German e. In normal Wolof, there
is some variation in pronunciation with drift towards [ə] or [ɪ].
In German as in edikt.
|
| ée |
e: |
|
téeñ (cloth for carrying on head)
séer (skirt)
réer (to get lost)
|
réer
|
| e |
ɛ |
voiced half-open front unrounded
(cardinal 3) |
dem (to go)
deg (type of soil)
genn (a, one)
fen (lie)
estomaa (stomach) |
deg
genn
Contrast between génn & genn
Contrast between dig, dég & deg
Same as the English e in b ed or the French è as
in p ère. This is the ä of German as in fällen, or e as in T eller.
|
| ee |
ɛ: |
|
seede (testimony)
reer (evening meal)
jeex (to be finished) |
reer
Contrast between riir, réer & reer In
German, ä as in the German word gähnen.
|
| ë |
ə |
voiced half-close central unrounded |
kër (house)
ëmb (pregnant)
ëf (to blow) |
ə Same
as the French e as in d emain. In normal speech this
sound may replace [a], [ʌ], [ɛ], [e], [u], or [o] especially
when they occur at the end of a word. This is the e of German, as in hack e.
It is more closed than the German ö.
|
| ëe |
ə: |
|
|
As in English bird. |
| i |
i |
voiced closed front unrounded
(cardinal 1) |
cin (cooking pot)
dig (promise)
Ibliis (Satan)
bukki (hyena) |
The tongue is humped as far forward as
possible and as near to the palate as possible without causing any friction.
This is like the French "i" rather than the English short "i" [ɩ]. That is in
comparison with [ɩ], the lips are less rounded (more spread) and the tongue is
more humped, further forward and nearer the palate. |
| ii |
i: |
|
biir (stomach)
riir (to roar) |
As in English beat. |
| o |
ɔ |
voiced half-open back rounded
(cardinal 6) |
bopp (head)
golo (monkey)
oto (car) |
Same as in English pot hot, not, and the
open French o as in pomme. Same as in
German doch, offen. |
| oo |
ɔ: |
|
boot (carry on back)
door (to begin)
woom (to be abundant)
andandoo (to go together) |
door As
in the English p ort, or b ought. Hence the English word
bought is phonetically the same as the Wolof word boot
(carry someone on one's back) and the English word your is said
the same as the Wolof yoo (mosquito).
|
| ó |
o |
voiced half-close back rounded
(cardinal 7) |
jóge (to come from)
sómbi (rice porridge) |
Same as the closed French o as in beau,
chose. Does not exist in English. Sometimes this sound will be
interchanged with [u], but when it differentiates between [ɔ] or [o:] it is
invariable. |
| óo |
o: |
|
wóom (knee)
dóor (to hit)
bóom (to murder) |
dóor
Contrast between dóor & door
Contrast between wuum, wóom & woom As in the German word n ot,
B ote, S ohle
|
| u |
u |
voiced close back rounded
(cardinal 8) |
bukki (hyena)
ubbi (to open)
toxu (to relocate) |
u It is the same as the French ou as in
vous or the German u as in Mut. Similar
to the English [u] in book, except that it is closer, rounder and stronger. The
tongue is as far back as possible and as near to the roof as possible so that the
opening between the tongue and the palate is as narrow as possible. The
lips are heavily rounded. |
| uu |
u: |
|
buur (king) |
|
Wolof has a large number of diphthongs as does English. These include [ai] nay; [ei] béy; [ɛi] tey; [ɔi] doy; [əi] xëy; [ui] duy; [ɛu] sew; [iu] diw; [au] daw; [ɔw] sow;
[a:i] baay; [e:i] féey; [ɛ:i] teey; [ɔ:i] nooy; [o:i] tóoy;[u:i] fuuy; [e:u] réew; [ɛ:u] reew; [i:u] siiw; [a:u] baaw; [ɔ:w] soow;
Unlike English the duration of the vowel is important to differentiate minimal pairs such as bay (to cultivate) and baay (father); béy (goat) and béey (whitlow). Other
minimal pairs include words like réew (country) and reew (impolite).
As in English the glide is always of the falling type (open vowel moving toward a more closed one).
Because Wolof differentiates length of diphthongs while English doesn't the length of an English diphthong tends to be between a long and short Wolof diphthong. Thus the
English speaker needs to shorten how he would say doy [dɔi] or woy [wɔi] in relation to how he says boy [bɔi] which is closer to how theWolof would say booy [bɔ:i] or
nooy [nɔ:i].
