Table Of Content

FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE FULA BASIC COURSE o EPA R T MEN T 0 F S TAT E FULA BASIC COURSE t: **** ., *t:* _ '\):*'(*'* (j i\... t: ?) ~l1l1l1t~~ -£ ~"-~ t(tiR~ This work was compiled and pub. lished with the support of the Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, United States of America. LLOYD B. SWIFT KALILU TAMBADU PAUL G. IMHOFF FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE WASHINGTON, D.C. 1965 o o EPA R T MEN T F 5 TAT E FULA UNIT FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE BASIC COURSE SERIES Editedby LLOYD B. SWIFT BASIC COURSE PREFACE Fula (also known as Peul, Fulani, etc.) is wide ly spoken throughout the grassland areas of West Africa from the Atlantic to Cameroun. It has been extensively studied by scholars interested in its linguistic struc ture or in the ethnography and culture of its sp~akers. Few of these studies are of much assistance to the be ginning student of the language. The present brief in troduction to the essentials of Sene-Gambian Fula is de signed to provide the basic grammatical structures like ly to be needed early in the student's experience with Fula, plus a more generalized 'feel' for the structure of the language, in the context of a limited vocabulary, likely to prove useful in everyday situations. This text is one of a series of short Basic Courses in selected African languages being prepared by the For eign Service Institute under an agreement with the Unit ed States Office of Education, Department of Health, Ed ucation and Welfare, under the National Defense Educa tion Act. The linguist in charge of the project has been Lloyd B. Swift, Chairman of the Department of Near East ern and African languages. Fula texts, drill sentences and vocabulary were provided and checked, and the tapes voiced by Kalilu Tambadu, Language Instructor. Major assistance in the selection of dialog situations, their elicitation, the construction of drills and the tape re cording of the text has been provided by Paul G. Imhoff, Scientific Linguist. The tapes were recorded in the language laboratory of the Foreign Service Institute un der the direction of Gabriel Cordova. Howard E. Sollenberger, Dean School of Language and Area Studies Foreign Service Institute Department of State iii FULA TABLE OF CONTENTS L1sted are those port1ons of each un1t 1n wh1ch new mater1al 1S 1ntroduced. Un11sted sect10ns of the un1ts prov1de systemat1c pract1ce of the prev10usly 1ntroduced mater1al. Page PREFACE 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1V INTRODUCTION UNIT 1 Morn1ng Greet1ngs 1 1.2 Order of Noun and Pronoun ObJects of Inf1n1t1ves 4 1.4 Reference Note on the Sound System of Fula and the Transcr1pt10n Employed 1n these Mater1als 5 1.6 Long and Short Vowels 8 UNIT 2 - Afternoon Greet1ngs 11 2.2 Reference Note on Consonant Alternat10n 14 2.4 The stop Sounds 17 UNIT 3 Add1t1onal Morn1ng Greet1ngs 21 3.2 Sh1ft of Root-F1nal Long Vowel to Vowel plus Con sonant before Vowel-In1t1al Suff1Xes 24 3.4 The Act1ve Inf1n1t1ve Verbal Noun 26 3.6 Reference Note on Phrase Stress 27 UNIT 4 Add1t1onal Afternoon Greet1ngs 31 4.2 Short-Form Person SUbJect Pronouns 35 4.4 Reference Note on Verbal Forms 38 4·6 Long-Form Personal SubJect Pronouns w1th Imperfect1ve Verb Forms - the Progress1ve Form 40 UNIT 5 Useful Classroom Express10ns 45 5·2 Spec1f1c or Demonstrat1ve Pronoun Part1cles 47 5.4 PosseSS1ve Suff1Xes, the Possess1ve or Mod1fy1ng Construct1on 51 ObJect Personal Pronoun Forms 59 UNIT R 1 - Rev1ew of Un1ts 1-5 63 UNIT 6 Even1ng Greet1ngs 75 6.2 Act1ve Perfect1ve Verb Forms - Stat1ve Verbs and Act10n Verbs 78 Optat1ve and Imperat1ve Verb Forms - Act1ve V01ce 86 UNIT 7 - A Remedy for a Headache 91 7.2 Negat1ves to Date 94 7.4 Noun Classes (I) 98 1V BASIC COURSE UNIT 8 - Yompats W~fe ~s S~ck 109 8.2 Sentences w~th ko ,~t ~s'; the Emphat~c Pronoun Forms 113 8.4 Act~ve Perfect~ve Relat~ve Verb Forms 115 8.6 The 'Retrospect~ve' Pronoun Suff~x [-(V)n] , 'the one prev10usly ment10ned' 125 8.8 Narrat1ve 128 UNIT 9 - An Acc~dent on the Road 129 9.2 Act~ve Potent~al Verb Forms 134 9.4 Act~ve Imperfect1ve Relat1ve Verb Forms 139 9.8 Narrat~ve 143 UNIT 10 - Inqu~r~ng about a Job 145 10.2 Rev~ew of Stat~ve and Act10n Verbs 149 10.4 S1mple Imperfect1ve and InJunct~ve Forms of Act1ve Verbs 153 10.8 Narrat~ve 157 UNIT R 2 - Rev~ew of Un~ts 6-10 159 UNIT 11 V~sJ.tors 169 11.2 PassJ.ve Verbal Forms 174 11.4 Interrogat~ve Sentences 179 11.8 Narrat1ve 186 UNIT 12 - What Day WJ.ll He Be Here? 189 12.2 Imperfect1ve NegatJ.ves 194 12.4 Verbal Extens~on [-an] 'Benefact~ve' or 'Appl1cat~ve' 198 12.8 Narrat~ve 201 UNIT 13 L1vestock 203 13.2 The M1ddle VOJ.ce 207 13.4 The Verbal ExtensJ.on r-oy] 'D1splac1ve' 212 13.8 Narrat1ve 218 UNIT 14 - At the Market 219 14.2 Noun Classes (II) 223 14.4 The [-d] Verbal Extens10n - 'Assoclat1ve' 231 14.8 Narrat1ve 234 UNIT 15 - Weather 237 15.2 Agent Verbal Nouns - the Doer 241 15.4 ComparJ.son 245 15.8 Narrat1ve 248 v UNIT FULA UNIT R 3 ReV1ew of Un1ts 11-15 UNIT 16 At the Butcher's 259 16.2 Verbal Extenslon f-ondlr] - the 'Reclprocal' Form 263 16.4 The 'Transformatl0nal' Verbal Extensl0n [-w/-n] and the 'Causat1ve' Verbal Extensl0n [-(l)n] 267 16.8 Narratlve 270 UNIT 17 Kumba's Chl1d lS Cold 273 17.2 The Negatlves of the Mlddle and PaSSlve VOlces (I) 279 17.4 The Negatlves of the Mlddle and Passlve VOlces (II) 284 17.6 The [-ante] Constructlon - 'for you' etc. 291 17.8 Narratlve 293 UNIT 18 Fatu Returns from Market 295 18.2 The Perfectlve Form of the Verb wlthout SubJect as an Imperatlve 300 18·4 The f-(l)t] Verbal Extensl0n - Iteratlve, Revers1ve and Reflex1ve 301 18.6 Spatlal Relatl0nshlps 303 18.8 Narratlve 310 UNIT 19 Cook thlS F1ShJ 311 19.2 The Instrumental / Locatlve Verbal Extenslon [-(V)r] 315 19.4 Noun Derlvatlon from Roots 318 19.8 Narratlve 327 UNIT 20 Frank Learns the Values of Money 329 20.2 Numbers, Addltlon and Subtractlon 332 20.4 Measurements 336 20.8 Narratlve 337 UNIT 21 Koba, the Okra Salesman 339 UNIT 22 What's for Lunch~ 345 UNIT 23 A Snack and an Errand 351 UNIT 24 Lots to Do 358 UNIT 25 Qalfa Does Some Chores 365 UNIT 26 Asklng Dlrectlons 370 UNIT 27 Frank's Car Has a Breakdown 377 UNIT 28 Kumba's Baby was Slck 383 Vl BASIC COURSE UNIT 29 Frank 1S Interested 1n Farm1ng 388 UNIT 30 Kumba's Daughter 18 Gett1ng Marr1ed 394 UNIT 31 Ramadan 1S Com1ng 400 UNIT 32 BUy1.ng Cloth 406 UNIT 33 A V1.S1.t to the D1.spensary 411 UNIT 34 G01.ng to the Bantanto V1.11age 417 UNIT 35 The Teacher M1.sbehaves 423 UNIT 36 Frank Does Some Vocabulary Learn1.ng 429 UNIT 37 The Case of the M1.staken Drunk Dr1.ver 436 UNIT 38 Dgay Wants to Reg1.ster H1S Ch1.1d 1.n School 441 UNIT 39 News of Fr1ends and Fam1.1y 447 UNIT 40 Rent1.ng a House 452 GLOSSARY 459 V11. FULA