Big and Thin; Two Diola-Fogny Meta-Linguistic Terms

The Diola-Fogny of S6n6gal, West Africa, socially intuit with the meta-linguistic terms 'big' and 'thin' the tense/lax vowel contrast that is basic to their phonology. The two terms are primarily used to identify speech variation among individuals and groups. Examination revealed that speakers who made relatively greater use of vowel harmony were characterized as 'big' in contrast to others who were thought of as 'thin' speakers. The 'big'/'thin' distinction provides the Fogny with one means by which they place the speech of an individual. In addition, this meta-linguistic device either is used to express indirectly the social place of an alter vis-a2vis an ego in terms of simple sameness or difference, or, when more than two people are involved, in terms of some form of segmentary opposition. (S6n6gal, meta-linguistics, social interaction, phonology.)