000_JLC3_debut_FL - SOAS Research Online

24 G. Tucker Childs
Map 1. The Atlantic languages (Segerer 2004 revised by the author 2008)
Map 2 shows the less widely spoken Atlantic languages more revealingly. In this display
the more widely spoken languages being shifted to, Wolof (1), Fulfulde (2), and Temne (34),
appear in red. The general picture that emerges is that of smaller groups being pushed towards
the sea and in a few places being pushed into forests and highland areas.
Several features of this map show how peripheralized and reduced these smaller groups
are. I will indicate only a few examples (the reader may want to refer back to Map 1 for
others after this brief illustration). “Diola” represents a cluster of languages (n = 6? (Bassène
2007)), a number of which are threatened. “Cangin” is similarly a set of languages (Pichl
1966)) rather than a single language. Finally, the Gola area is much smaller than is
represented on the map (Dalby 1962).
Journal of language contact – THEMA 3 (2010)
www. jlc-journal.org