Ibrahima speaking Pular

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CC BY-SA 4.0

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This video was recorded by Peter Julian in the Guinean province of Mamou. Pular is the most widely spoken Indigenous language of Guinea, constituting nearly a third of the nation's population. It is spoken primarily by the Fula people of Fouta Djallon, Guinea, but also by migrants in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Mali. According to Glottolog, Pular has three varieties, including Fula Peta, Kebu Fula, and Krio Fula. Like other Fula languages, Pular does not contain tones, a distinction from the larger trend of tonality within Niger-Congo. Together the Fula languages comprise a dialect continuum spanning twenty countries in West and Central Africa. Pular is not to be confused with its relative, Pulaar, another Fula language that bears some mutual intelligibility, but posseses a distinct literary form. Pular is spoken by nearly 3 million people worldwide. It is a West Central Fula-Wolof language belonging to the Atlantic-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family.

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