La notion de parole dans le dialecte peul du Mâssina (Mali)

This ethnolinguistic study of the conception of speech among the Fulbe of Massina resorts to a semantic analysis of basic terms. The root, haal- (verb, haalde ; noun, haala), the most productive and most used term, designates speech as the verbal expression of thought and as the communication of a message. The less frequently used root, wol- (verb, wowlude ; noun, woliide), tends to refer to speech as a phonic, acoustic phenomenon, as the oral pronunciation of thought with articulated, organized sounds. The noun form, konngol (with no corresponding verb), designates words, phrases and sentences as the material constituents of speech. Finally, bi'aangol (the passive participle of the verb wiide, « to say ») denotes the speech act itself and refers to the divine or prophetic Word which mixes ordinary utterances and admonitions together.