Page Type: languageLaalaa | Ethnologue

CAE ISO 639-3

Laalaa

Kelaalaa Autonym

A language of Senegal

ISO 639
cae
Alternate Names
Lala, Lehar, Serer
Autonym
Kelaalaa
Population
17,300 (2019 SIL).
Location:
Tambacounda region: Tambacounda department, Missira district, Nguene and Saal villages; Thiès region: Tivaouane department, Pambal district.
Language Status
5 (Developing).
Classification
Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Atlantic, Northern, Cangin
Dialects
Yung, Yendane-Terokh. Minor differences between the 2 dialects. 52% intelligibility with Noon [snf]. Lexical similarity: 84% with Noon [snf], 74% with Saafi-Saafi [sav], 68% with Ndut [ndv] and Paloor [fap], 22% with Serer-Sine [srr].
Typology
SVO; nontonal.
Language Use
Children learn Laalaa first. Youth being lost to cities causing decrease in L1 speakers. Shifting to Wolof [wol]. All domains. Used by all. Positive attitudes. Many also use Wolof [wol], as the language of commerce and interethnic communication (Sarr and Thiaw 2012). Some also use French [fra], as the language of education and government (Diouf et al 2017). Used as L2 by Ndut [ndv].
Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 60% in French [fra], 35% in Wolof [wol]. Cultural association works on language development. Dictionary. Grammar. Texts.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Laalaa
Writing
Latin script [Latn].
Other Comments
Often identified by themselves and by the majority population as Serer, a widely used name for a cultural and linguistic group which includes the Serer-Sine language and the 5 Cangin languages. Muslim, Christian, traditional religion.

Also Spoken in

Map

Location: Tambacounda region: Tambacounda department, Missira district, Nguene and Saal villages; Thiès region: Tivaouane department, Pambal district.