The influence of Jola Eegima'a on french in Senegal

1- EEGIMAA DESCRIPTION

The Eegimaa phonological system comprises 30 phonemes of which 20 consonants and 10 vowels¹⁰.

a- The Consonants

PLACE MANNER		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	+v	p	t	c	k
	-v	b	d	j	g
Nasal		m	n	?	?
Fricative	+v	f	s		x
	-v	v
Vibrant			r
Approximant			l	y	w

SOURCE: Bassène, Alain Christian. 2006, page 17.

Table 1: Eegimaa phonological consonants

The above phonological table was designed according to the distributional theory. This theory classifies the phonemes of a language according to the features which are present in all the allophones which realize the same phoneme. However, we recognize that the application of this theory poses problem when it comes to classify, in relevant features, the phonemes of Eegimaa. Indeed, the term `plosive' cannot be appropriate, actually, to classify the phonemes /p/, /b/, /c/ and /g/ because each of them have a plosive and fricative allophone.

The term `obstruent' could have been used in replacement of 'plosive' while making modifications concerning the places of articulation i.e. in classifying /p/ and /b/ in the

10 Alain Christian Bassène. 2006. ÇDescription du Djola Banjal _ Sénégal È, Lyon 2: Université Lumière, Thèse de Doctorat. Page 34

`bilabials', /f/ and /v/ in the `labiodentals', /t/ and /d/in the `apico -alveolars ' and /s/ in the `dorso-alveolar'. Unfortunately, a problem will arise concerning the classification of the phonemes /k/, /x/ and /g/ because the first two are all voiceless velar obstruents.

b- The vowels

The phonological vowels are 10. In the notation that we have adopted for the phonological transcription, the non marked vowels (with no accent) are the loose vowels (-ATR), while the marked vowels (provided with an accent) are the tensed vowels (+ATR).

	Tensed vowels			Loose vowels
Front		Back	Front		Back
'		iii	i		u
é		ó	e		o
	á			a

SOURCE: Sambou, Pierre Marie. 1989 page 194.

Table 2: Eegimaa phonological vowels

11

The graphs used represent tensed

here vowels and loose vowels in a

transcription adapted from the I.P.A according to the correspondence (=) below: tensed vowels: ' = i; é = e; á= ??; ó = o;iii = u

loose vowels: i = I; e = ?; a = a; o = ?; u = ?

It is worth noting that, in Eegimaa, length is for all the vowels ¹²

phonemic and

for all the consonants except from /r/, /x/, /w/ which have only one realization.

¹¹ This terminology is borrowed from Sambou (1989:192). The tensed vowel, unlike the loose one, is realized with the root of the tongue advanced and is perceived bass and dark.

2- FRENCH DESCRIPTION

This part of our work discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the
Parisian dialect. French is notable for its uvular ?, nasal vowels, and two processes

affecting word-final sounds: liaison, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced unless followed by a word beginning with a vowel; and elision, wherein a final vowel is elided before vowel initial words.

a- The consonants

Where symbols for consonants occur in pairs, the one on the left represents the voiceless consonant and that on the right, the voiced consonant.

Place Manner	Bi-labial	Labio- dental	Dental- Alveolar	Palato- alveolar	Palato-alveolar		Velar		Uvular
					Plain	Round	Plain	Round
Nasal	M		n		?		?
Plosive	p, b		t, d				k, g
Fricative		f, v	s, z	?,?					?
Approximant					j	?	W
Lateral			L		?

SOURCE: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_phonology#Consonants)

Table 3: IPA chart for French consonants

The velar nasal /?/ is not a native phoneme of French, but occurs in loan words in final position such as parking or camping. The French rhotic has a wide range of realizations. [?], [?] (both the fricative and the approximant), [r], [?], and [÷] will all be recognized as "r", but most of them will be considered dialectal.

The approximants [j], [?] and [w] correspond to [i], [y] and [u] respectively. While there are a few minimal pairs (such as loua [lu.a] 'he rented' and loi [lwa] 'law'), there are many cases where there is free variation.

12 Mamadou Bassène. 2003. «Some Aspects of Djola Eegimaa Phonology». Master Thesis. Saint-Louis: Gaston Berger University. p 31

b- The vowels

Standard French contrasts up to thirteen oral vowels and up to four nasal vowels.

		Front		Central	Back
		Unrounded	Rounded
Close		i	y		u
CloseÐmid		e	0	?	o
Open Ð mid Open	Oral	? (?:)	Ï		?
	Nasal	~?	(Ï~)		?Þ
					?Þ
	Oral	a			(?)

SOURCE: ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_phonology#Vowels)

Table 4: French phonological vowels

Some speakers contrast a front /a/ vs. a back /?/ but there are wide differences amongst such speakers as to which words have which vowel. Similarly, some speakers distinguish between long /?:/ and short /?/; maître [m?:t?] ('teacher') vs. mettre [m?t?] ('to put').

The phonetic qualities of the back nasal vowels are not very similar to those of the corresponding oral vowels, and the contrasting factor that distinguishes /?Þ/ and /?Þ / is the extra lip rounding of the latter. Many speakers have merged /Ï^Þ/ with /?Þ /.

The schwa (/??/ also called "e caduc" ('decrepit e') and "e muet" ('mute e') is a mid central vowel with some rounding. It is always dropped ("muet") before another vowel (un(e) âme [yn.?:m] 'a soul'), and usually when following a single consonant (rapp(e)ler

[?a.ple] 'to recall'). On the other hand, it is usually pronounced when its omission would

Þ

create a cluster of three consonants or more (gredin [g???.d? ], une porte [yn p??t], une
porte fermee [yn p??.t??.f??.me]). This vowel is phonologically distinct from [Ï], but for

most native speakers of French, they may be pronounced identically. For example, in le
boeuf /l?? bÏf/ or demi-heure /d??mjÏ?/, most French native speakers won't make any

phonetic difference between the two vowels, pronounced identically most of the time (or even swapped).