Laalaa

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A language of Senegal

ISO 639-3
cae
Alternate Names
Lala, Lehar, Serer
Population

12,000 (2007).

Location

Pambal area north of Thies, Mbaraglov, Dougnan; Tambacounda area.

Language Maps
Language Status

6a (Vigorous).

Classification
Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Atlantic, Northern, Cangin
Dialects

None known. 52% intelligibility with Noon [snf]. Lexical similarity: 84% with Noon [snf], 74% with Saafi-Saafi [sav], 68% with Ndut [ndv] and Palor [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. All ages. Positive attitudes. Adults bilingual in Wolof [wol]. Also use French [fra]. Used as L2 by Ndut [ndv].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L2: 60% French; 35% Wolof. Cultural association works on language development.
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.