Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-lpg2g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T20:29:59.619Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Big and thin; two Diola-Fogny meta-linguistic terms1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2008

J. David Sapir
J. David Sapir
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Diola-Fogny of Sénégal, West Africa, socially intuit with the meta-linguistic terms ‘big’ and ‘thin’ the tense/lax vowel contrast that is basic to their phonology. The two terms are primarily used to identify speech variation among individuals and groups. Examination revealed that speakers who made relatively greater use of vowel harmony were characterized as ‘big’ in contrast to others who were thought of as ‘thin’ speakers. The ‘big’/‘thin’ distinction provides the Fogny with one means by which they place the speech of an individual. In addition, this meta-linguistic device either is used to express indirectly the social place of an alter vis-à-vis an ego in terms of simple sameness or difference, or, when more than two people are involved, in terms of some form of segmentary opposition. (Sénégal, meta-linguistics, social interaction, phonology.)

Information

Type
Articles: Conversational devices and structures
Information
Language in Society , Volume 4 , Issue 1 , April 1975, pp. 1 - 15
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bohannan, L. (1958). Political aspects of Tiv social organization. In Middleton, J. and Tait, D. (eds), Tribes without rulers. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. 33–66.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. (1963). The languages of Africa. (IJAL 5. No. 1, Part II).Google Scholar
Harrington, J. P. (1974). Sibilants in Ventureno. IJAL 40. 1–8.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. & Halle, M. (1962). Tense and laxness. In Selected writings of Roman Jakobson, Vol. I. The Hague: Mouton. 550–5.Google Scholar
Ladefoged, P. (1964). A phonetic study of West African languages. (West African Language Monograph Series, No. I.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Painter, C. (1973). Cineradiographic data on the feature ‘covered’ in Twi vowel harmony. Phonetica 28. 97–120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Samarin, W. (1967). Determining the meanings of ideophones. JWAL 4. No. 2, 35–42.Google Scholar
Sapir, J. D. (1965). A grammar of Diola-Fogny. (West African Language Monograph Series, No.) Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sapir, J. D. (1971). West Atlantic: an inventory of the languages, their noun class systems and consonant alteration. In Sebeok, Th. (ed.), Current trends in linguistics, Vol. 7, Linguistics in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Hague: Mouton. 45–112.Google Scholar
Stewart, J. (1967). Tongue root position in Akan vowel harmony. Phonetica 16, 185–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, J. (1971). Niger-Congo, Kwa. In Sebeok, Th. (ed.), Current trends in linguistics, Vol. 7, Linguistics in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Hague: Mouton. 179–212.Google Scholar
Williamson, K. (1965). Ideophones in Ijo. Paper read at the 5th West African Languages Congress. Legon.Google Scholar