Ouaga ni Bobo

Intro

In the following video, I ask people in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso about the differences between their city (commonly shortened to "Bobo") and Ouagadougou (commonly shortened to "Ouaga".

Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso and a primarily Mooré-speaking city. It is located in the heart of the country’s central plateau and is almost exclusively populated by Mossi people. (Note: their language is called “Mooré” in French.)

Bobo-Dioulasso, in contrast, is the country’s second-largest city and predominantly Jula-speaking. It serves as an important hub for the entire west and southwest regions of the country. These areas are home to a diverse mix of ethnic groups, each with their own language, but Jula is the primary language of interethnic communication. In previous decades, Bobo was considered the economic capital of Burkina Faso, but that role has increasingly been taken away from it but Ouagadougou.

The video is roughly one question segment from Episode 9 of Na baro kè.

Watch

Watch the video without the subtitles. If they are on, click on the little "CC" symbol and turn them off.

Watch and Read

Now turn on the subtitles in Bambara/Jula (click on the little "CC" button) and read along.

If you are lost, you can also switch it into English and then re-watch in Bambara/Jula.

And remember, you can also slow down the video to make it easier to follow along. I recommend 75%. Click on the little gear symbol.

List of Selected Grammar Points

• Expressing "like; as if" with i n'à fɔ, i ko, etc
  (NOTE: Moved to Foli)
• Expressing "since" or "seeing as" with komi or ikomi
• Complex derivation or word-building with multiple suffixes (e.g., -bali plus -ya)
• Expressing "the same" with kelen
  (NOTE: Moved from Warimisɛn)

Grammar Points Explained

Let's dive into the core grammar points.

Expressing "since" or "seeing as" with komi or ikomi

The forms ikomi and komi (and their French loanword from which they stem: comme) are very prevalent as a conjunction often appears at the beginning of sentence. In such cases, the best translation is often "since" or "seeing as" in English. For instance:

Ikomi n ma se Ouaga, n tɛ se ka kuma à kan

"Since I haven't been to Ouaga, I can't speak about it"

This usage is almost identical with the way that comme is used in a similar way in French (e.g., "Comme je ne suis jamais allé, je ne peux pas en parler")

Complex derivation or world-building with multiple suxxies (e.g., -bali plus -ya)

Coming later

Expressing "the same" with kelen

In the video, we hear the following lament from a small-time market vendor:

Ɔ, butikibatigi ninnu b'a daminɛ waa fila, waa saba la.
I y'à dɔn, an tɛ kelen ye.

"Well, these big shop owners start it [their price] at 10,000 or 15,000.
You know, we aren't the same"

Within this quote, there is a basic sentence:

An tɛ kelen ye

"We aren't one" → "We aren't the same"

This is a good example of the common use of kelen ('one') to express the idea of "same".

It can be used in a range of different kind of constructions. For instance:

Kelen don!

"It's the same!" or "They are the same" (depending on the context)

Lit. "It is one!"

Or:

O ko kelen bɛ an fɛ Ameriki

"We have this same problem in the US"

Lit. "That one affair is at our place in America"