1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
Wolof belongs to the Northern Branch of the West Atlantic Group of Niger Congo. It is spoken in Senegal and The Gambia. A few speakers are reported for the southwest corner of Mauritania.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
Estimates for Senegal range from 1.2 million first-language speakers (Voegelin and Voegelin 1977), to 1.5 million (Sauvageot 1981), to 2 million (WTPR l982). The WTPR also estimates around 40,000 first-language speakers in the Gambia, or about 13 percent of the population.
3 DIALECT SITUATION
Wolof has some dialectal variation, although no detailed survey has come to our attention. The major reported differences between the dialects of Senegal and The Gambia are in the areas of phonology and lexicon (Ka, personal communication, l984).
4 USAGE
Wolof is a major language of Senegal, the first language of more than one-third of the population. In addition, it serves as the most widely used non-European lingua franca. Although French is the official language of Senegal, the current policy objective is to have students read in the predominant language of their region. These include Wolof, Serer, Fulfulde (Pulaar), Diola, Mandingue (Manding), and Sarakole (Soninke). Wolof is used in radio and television broadcasts and by civil servants (Nussbaum l970). In The Gambia, Wolof follows behind Malinke and Fulfulde in importance. Plans have been made to use Wolof as the medium of education at the primary level.
5 ORTHOGRAPHIC STATUS
A standard Wolof orthography has been in use since l975.
1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele are languages in the Nguni group of Bantu (Guthrie S40). Xhosa is spoken in the Transkei coastal region of South Africa; Zulu, south of Swaziland inland and along the coast; Swazi, in Swaziland; all three are spoken in South Africa. Ownby (personal communication, 1986) notes that "there are three distinct dialects of Ndebele: Northern Transvaal Ndebele (on the verge of extinction), Southern Transvaal Ndebele and that spoken in Zimbabwe."
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
WTPR (l982) notes 380,000 Ndebele speakers, 7l6,000 Swazi speakers, 4,435,000 Xhosa speakers, and 5,42l,000 Zulu speakers. Figures from South Africa's Race Relations Annual Survey (l98l) show 480,000 Ndebele speakers.
3 USAGE
Zulu is spoken in Zululand. Xhosa is the national language of the Transkei and the Ciskei. Swazi is the national language of Swaziland. Ndebele is taught as a subject in Zimbabwean schools.
4 DIALECT SURVEY
J.A. Louw (personal communication, l982) reports (Ndzunda-Manala) Ndebele is "a Zulu dialect insofar as it is mutually intelligible with Zulu."
5 ORTHOGRAPHY STATUS
All four languages have standardized orthographies.
1 CLASSIFICATION AND WHERE SPOKEN
Yoruba belongs to the Yoruba Group of Kwa and is spoken in the southwestern part of Nigeria (Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, and parts of Kwara states) as well as in enclaves in Benin and Togo.
2 NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
WTPR (1982) estimates 15 million speakers in Nigeria.
3 USAGE
Yoruba is one of the major languages of Nigeria and is an official (national) language.
4 DIALECT SURVEY
Herault (1981) states there are 17 dialects of Yoruba. Various respondents consider Oyo-Ibadan Yoruba to be the literary standard.
5 ORTHOGRAPHY STATUS
Oyo-Ibadan Yoruba is generally taken to be the literary standard, thus representing a standardized orthography..
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