Wolof

Discover the language

Wolof is spoken not only in Senegal, but also in Gambia and Mauritania. It is one of the 1,500 languages in the world's largest language family called Niger-Congo. Wolof is associated with the so-called Atlantic languages, a branch of Niger-Congo that brings together a good forty West African languages.

In the Atlantic branch, there are well-known languages such as Peul, Sereer, Diola, Temne and Kisi, but there are others that are endangered, such as Safen and Lehar (Senegal), Tanda and Buy (Guinea-Bissau), Mmani and Krim (Guinea) and a group of languages known as Baga. Today, we only know the Pen language (Senegal) thanks to the three remaining speakers.

For a long time, it was thought that the languages closest to Wolof were Peul and Sereer. Today, linguists have accumulated enough arguments to see Wolof as a particular offshoot of the Atlantic branch.

Studying Wolof at Inalco

At Inalco, our aim is certainly to train Wolof speakers, but there are already so many who speak it perfectly that it's also and above all (and this is more ambitious), for those who do not have a university degree and wish to obtain one, to teach them the grammar of Wolof, to make them aware of the different levels of the language, to teach them the history of the language and of the people who speak it; it's also about introducing them to traditional culture as well as the many books written about Wolof and Wolof people.