Language use along the urban street in Senegal: perspectives from proprietors of commercial signs

Abstract

Senegal adopted French as the country's sole official language at the time of independence in 1960, since when the language has been used in administration and other formal domains. Similarly, French is employed throughout the formal education system as the language of instruction. Since the 1990s, however, government has mounted an ambitious adult literacy programme, in which Wolof, widely spoken as the lingua franca in multi-ethnic urban communities, together with other national languages are used as the media of instruction. Results from a study of language use in shop signs conducted in a suburban town near Dakar, the capital city, reflect these policies. Nearly half the shop proprietors had chosen to display signs entirely in French, some in the belief that the use of French was obligatory, others regarding French as the language the customers they wished to attract would best understand. Nevertheless it is evident that Wolof is also emerging as a written language. Nearly one-quarter of the proprietors employed Wolof in their signs, generally in combination with French. The results point to important issues which need to be addressed in the planning of language instruction both in the formal schools and in non-formal literacy programmes.

Keywords:

• advertising
• linguistic diversity
• language choice
• Senegal
• language planning
• linguistic landscape

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Tony Somerset for his editorial assistance on an earlier draft.

Notes

1. The wider study was a DPhil project completed in 2007 (Shiohata 2007, 2010).

2. The Human Development Index measures human well-being from dimensions such as life expectancy, literacy and gross enrolment in education and income (UNDP 2010).

3. The Arabic script is thought to have arrived in Senegal with Islam around the eleventh century.

4. McLaughlin (2008a).

5. Wolof belongs to the Atlantic group of Niger-Congo language family. Within this group, Wolof is further categorised into the North sub-group along with Seereer and Pulaar.

6. A pseudonym is used in order to preserve anonymity.

7. ‘Sur la Ville de Saanjaay’: a four-page document I received from an administrative office at the Town Office. No dates.

8. Pulaar speakers are called Haalpulaar. They are the second largest ethnic group in terms of population in Senegal.

9. Wolof is also spoken in Mauritania.

10. And of course the government is expected to respect the use of the official language.

11. The Pulaar from the northern part, along the Senegal River near the Mauritanian border are called Toucoulour. In Saanjaay, there is another group of Pulaar, from Fuuta Djalon mountain area in Guinea. Their accents are slightly different from each other, but they can communicate easily.

12. Touba is around 200 km east of Dakar. Touba means ‘happiness’ in Arabic.

13. Riccio (2001) discusses the roles played by marabout in organising emigration for his disciples. It is generally considered that marabouts provide focus for their followers’ spiritual lives and help them considerably in their occupations. In return, the followers give money to their marabouts.