Maasina Fulfulde

Maasina Fulfulde
Fulfuldeڢُلْڢُلْدٜ‎ Maasina Fulfuldeمَاسِنَ ڢُلْڢُلْدٜ‎ Maasinankooreمَاسِنَنْكࣷورٜ‎
Native to	Mali
Region	Macina
Ethnicity	Fula
Native speakers	1.6 million (2014)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Senegambian Fula–Wolof Fula West Central Maasina Fulfulde
Dialects	Eastern Macina Western Macina
Writing system	Arabic(Ajami) Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ffm
Glottolog	maas1239

Maasina Fulfuldeis a variety of theFula language.It is spoken mainly inMali,Ivory Coast,andGhanaby 1.6 million people.The language has several mutually intelligible dialects albeit with some differences. The variety is named after theMacina regionin Mali.

Maasinankoore is the most widely spoken dialect ofFulaspoken in Mali and is a national language of the country.

According toEthnologuethere are two dialects - Western and Eastern - and "There are some dialect differences, but popular opinion is that all dialects in Mali are inherently intelligible."

Maasina Fulfulde is grammatically basically the same as other varieties ofFula,with some particularities. For instance there are some slight differences in some verb endings.

The counting system retains a recapitulation of older systems historically used by other groups in what is now Mali. Tens from 60-90 have alternative versions not used in other varieties of Fula. In the table the general form, which would be understood by any Fulaphone person (basically counting by tens) and Maasina variant.

A progressive verbal expression is formed by inserting the word ni before the verb in the non-accomplished voice. For example,omo ni wara= she/he is coming (right now).

Orthography

Maasina Fulfulde is mostly written in a modifiedLatin Alpha betbut in limited instances and historically more commonly also written in theArabic script.

There have been attempts to standardize both the Latin and the Arabic script for Maasina Fulfulde. The Latin Alpha bet, consisting of 32 letters, was standardized by Government Decree No. 1 85/PG/RM on 26 May 1967.

Fulfulde Arabic Alphabet in Mali, comes from centuries of usage, literature, and tradition. Arabic script has been the common in the region since the conversion of local populations to Islam in the 12th century. However, its modern form was standardized in aUNESCO.BREDAconference in 1987 inBamako,whose results were published in a report.

Table below illustrates the Latin Alpha bet for Maasina Fulfulde. While Maasina Fulfulde has 5 vowel letters, long vowels are shown by writing the corresponding vowel letter twice. Digraphs are included as separate letters in Fulfulde Latin Alphabet, and there 4 of them, "Mb", "Nd", "Ng", "Nj". There also exist 6 additional letters in Fulfulde Latin Alphabet, including "apostrophe" representing a glottal stop, and 3 plosive letters.

Maasina Fulfulde Latin Alpha bet

’

A a

B b

Ɓ ɓ

C c

D d

Ɗ ɗ

E e

F f

G g

H h

I i

J j

K k

L l

M m

[ʔ]

[a]

[b]

[ɓ]

[t͡ʃ]

[d]

[ɗ]

[e]

[f]

[g]

[h]

[i]

[d͡ʒ]

[k]

[l]

[m]

Mb mb

N n

Nd nd

Ng ng

Nj nj

Ɲ ɲ

Ŋ ŋ

O o

P p

R r

S s

T t

U u

W w

Y y

Ƴ ƴ

[ᵐb]

[n]

[ⁿd]

[ᵑɡ]

[ᶮd͡ʒ]

[ɲ]

[ŋ]

[o]

[p]

[r]

[s]

[t]

[u]

[w]

[j]

[ʄ]

Maasina Fulfulde Arabic Alpha bet (Mali)

Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ا‎ ( - / ’ ) [∅]/[ʔ]	ب‎ (B b) [b]	ٽ‎ (Mb mb) [ᵐb]	ت‎ (T t) [t]	ٺ‎ (C c) [t͡ʃ]	ث‎ (S s) [s]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ج‎ (J j) [d͡ʒ]	ڃ‎ (Nj nj) [ᶮd͡ʒ]	ح‎ (H h) [h]	خ‎ (Kh kh) [x]	ݗ‎ (Ŋ ŋ) [ŋ]	د‎ (D d) [d]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ڌ‎ (Nd nd) [ⁿd]	ذ‎ (Z z) [d͡ʒ]	ر‎ (R r) [r]	ز‎ (Z z) [d͡ʒ]	س‎ (S s) [s]	ش‎ (Š š) [ʃ]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ص‎ (S s) [s]	ض‎ (D d) [d]	ط‎ (Ɗ ɗ) [ɗ]	ظ‎ (Z z) [d͡ʒ]	ع‎ ( ’ ) [ʔ]	غ‎ (G g) [ɡ]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ݝ‎ (G g) [ɡ]	ڠ‎ (G g) [ᵑɡ]	ڢ‎ (F f) [f]	ݠ‎ (P p) [p]	ڧ‎ (K k) [k]	ك‎ (K k) [k]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ل‎ (L l) [l]	م‎ (M m) [m]	ݥ‎ (Ɓ ɓ) [ɓ]	ن‎ (N n) [n]	ه‎ (H h) [h]	و‎ (W w) [w]
Arabic (Latin) [IPA]	ؤ‎ ( - ) [ʔ]	ي‎ (W w) [j]	ئ‎ ( - ) [ʔ]	ࢩ‎ (Ɲ ɲ) [ɲ]	ۑ‎ (Ƴ ƴ) [ɲ]

Vowel at the beginning of a word

A	E	I	O	U
Short Vowels
اَ‎	اٜ‎	اِ‎	اࣷ‎	اُ‎
Long Vowels
Aa	Ee	Ii	Oo	Uu
آ‎	اٜيـ / اٜي‎	اِيـ / اِي‎	اࣷو‎	اُو‎

Vowel at the middle or end of a word

a	e	i	o	u	∅
Short Vowels
◌َ‎	◌ٜ‎	◌ِ‎	◌ࣷ‎	◌ُ‎	◌ْ‎
Long Vowels
aa	ee	ii	oo	uu
◌َا / ◌َـا‎	◌ٜيـ / ◌ٜـيـ‎ ◌ٜي / ◌ٜـي‎	◌ِيـ / ◌ِـيـ‎ ◌ِي / ◌ِـي‎	◌ࣷو / ◌ࣷـو‎	◌ُو / ◌ُـو‎

Sample Text

Passage from theBible,Book ofRomans,Chapter 1, verses 8, 9, and 10:

Translation	8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.9For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers10making request, if by any means now at length I may be prospered by the will of God to come unto you.
Latin Script	8Ko adii fuu, miɗo yetta Laamɗo e innde Iisaa Almasiihu saabe mooɗon on fuu, sabi haala goonɗinal mon haalaama e aduna oo fuu.9Laamɗo mo ndewiran-mi ɓernde laaɓunde e ley ko njottinan-mi Kabaaru Lobbo haala Ɓiyiiko oo koo, o seede miɗo miccitoo on wakkati fuu10e ley duwaawuuji am fuu. Miɗo ɲaagoo Laamɗo newnana kam laawol e ley muuyɗe muuɗum no mi warda to mon.
Ajami Script	۸كࣷ اَدِي ڢُو، مِطࣷ يٜتَّ لَامْطࣷ اٜ اِنْڌٜ عِيسَى اَلْمَسِيحُ سَابٜ مࣷوطࣷنْ اࣷنْ ڢُو، سَبِ حَالَ غࣷونْطِنَلْ مࣷنْ حَالَامَ اٜ اَدُنَ اࣷو ڢُو؞۹لَامْطࣷ مࣷ ڌٜوِرَنْمِ ݥٜرْڌٜ لَاݥُڌٜ اٜ لٜيْ كࣷ ڃࣷتِّنَنْمِ كَبَارُ لࣷبّࣷ حَّالَ ݥِيِيكࣷ اࣷو كࣷو، اࣷ سٜيدٜ مِطࣷ مِٺِتࣷو اࣷنْ وَڧَتِ ڢُو۱۰اٜ لٜيْ دُوَاوُوجِ اَمْ ڢُو؞ مِطࣷ ۑَاغࣷو لَامْطࣷ نٜوْنَنَ كَمْ لَاوࣷلْ اٜ لٜيْ مُويْطٜ مُوطُمْ نࣷ مِ وَرْدَ تࣷ مࣷنْ؞‎