Yes we know for a fact that our local languages have a lot of foreign words and in most cases we have adopted, adapted and even re-invented them. So in my opinion, that means we now own our version of the said words. In fact, it should be illegal to use the original root version of a borrowed word in a local dialogue. We should be handing out jail-terms for such crimes. I’ll gladly be judge, jury and executioner.
It beats me why anyone speaking Ollof would say chewing gum instead of ‘chingum’ or corrugate instead of ‘korrget’. Doesn’t the localized version flow much better? Take this example of a friend’s friend who said “suma client bi” instead of “suma ‘kiliyaan’ bi”. Come on, you’re dealing with a trader in the middle of Maarseh Serekunda, so who are you trying to impress? Chill man, relax, the word is ‘kiliyaan’ alright.
I think we all know that some Wollof words are French derivatives but who are you trying to impress by saying ‘pomme des terres’ instead of ‘pompiterr’? I bet you don’t even understand French like that. You only saw the word on a bag of potatoes and you put two-and-two together. Like the other day I heard this TV chef on a Senegalese channel say poivre for ‘pobarr’ while presenting the show in Wollof. Even though I learnt a new word, it got me wondering what kind of toubabness got into her.
Take for instance saying ‘garage’ with the proper accentuation when you could say ‘gaaraas’ stress free; or even ‘lopitaan’, ‘lampa’ or ‘bitik’ and not bothering one bit because you’re speaking a local language.
Sure enough, there are tons of other borrowed and corrupted words from Arabic, English and French that form part of our daily vocab but don’t you think it’d be nice to keep them that way?