Maasina Fulfulde


Maasina Fulfulde is a Fula language spoken primarily as a first language by Fula people and associated groups in the Inner Niger Delta area traditionally known as Macina in the center of what is now the West African state of Mali. It is also spoken elsewhere in Mali, parts of Cote d'Ivoire and Northern Ghana.
Maasinankoore is the most widely spoken dialect of Fula spoken in Mali and is a national language of the country.
According to Ethnologue there are two dialects - Western and Eastern - and "There are some dialect differences, but popular opinion is that all dialects in Mali are inherently intelligible."
It is written in a modified Latin alphabet but historically was written in the Arabic script.

Linguistic features

Maasina Fulfulde is grammatically basically the same as other varieties of Fula, with some particularities. For instance there are some slight differences in some verb endings.
The counting system retains an interesting 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 and Maasina variant:
#General formMaasina variant
60cappanɗe jeegonmali hemere
70cappanɗe jeeɗɗimali hemere e sappo
80cappanɗe jeettihemere bambara
90cappanɗe jeenayihemere bambara e sappo

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

Particularities of greetings

As in other varieties of Fula, common greetings in Maasinankoore relate to the time of day. In addition to the standard Fula response - jam tan - one may also respond jam ni or sago men tan.
A common general greeting is saɗi. The standard response to this is a hisii.

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