Limits and potential of Dyula in Burkina Faso: instructions for use in cooperation

Dyula ISO 639-3 [dyu] (Niger Congo, Mande) is one of the major linguae francae of West Africa and it is spoken as a second language by at least 5 million people in Burkina Faso, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire (according to the most overcautious estimates). Spread along with Islam through the missionary work of the merchants of the Mali Empire after the conversion of Emperor Mansa Musa in 1324-26, it has been the major vehicular and commercial language of the entire region ever since, and is still passed down exclusively in oral form. In Burkina Faso, a highly multilingual country, 69 different living languages are currently spoken (Ethnologue 2005), most of which belong to the Mande and Gur families of the Niger- Congo phylum. In the province of Houet, whose capital is the city of Bobo Dioulasso, Dyula would seem to be the only useful tool for mutual understanding among speakers with little or no schooling (the average literacy rate among the 15+ population is around 41%). On the basis of these elements, it seems obvious that Dyula could represent in some way the future of intra- and inter-national relations in the country. If this is true, it should not be forgotten that a lingua franca, by its very nature, can be a simplified or a mixed language and that in order to make the most of it, it is necessary to consider both its potential and its limits. The aim of this contribution will therefore be to propose some applicative reflections on the actual possibilities and weaknesses that the choice of Dyula as an instrument of communication or mediation in Burkina Faso, in a specific field, such as that of development cooperation, may entail. In particular, critical factors that emerged during a basic research linked to a project related to mental health, which is currently still in progress (2019-2022), funded by AICS and coordinated by the NGO CVCS of Gorizia, in which the University of Trieste is a partner, will be discussed.