Young people in urban areas of Ivory Coast are rejecting their country's colonial past by making the French language their own. Nouchi emerged in the 1970s and is one of the world's newest languages.
Video by Olga Khrustaleva
All copyrights remain with their owners.
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Article Excerpts #1 and #2 were previously posted in this 2017 pancocojams post: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/03/magic-system-cote-divoire-band-1er-gaou.html "Magic System (Cote D'Ivoire Band) - "Premier Gaou ("1er Gaou") Video & Lyrics"
I revisited the subject of Nouchi language because I read that at least one word (and probably more words) in Aya Nakamura's hit song "Djadja" were from Ivory Coast's Nouchi language. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/06/french-malian-singer-aya-nakamura.htmlfor the pancocojams post entitled "French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura - "Djadja" (video, English translation, & article excerpts)."
EXCERPTS & COMMENTS ABOUT NOUCHI
Excerpt #1:
From https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouchi&prev=search Nouchi
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This excerpt is given "as is" with no attempt to change the translation to standard English.]
"Nouchi (or Noussi) is a form of slang present in Ivory Coast and West Africa .
Origin
The nouchi (or noussi) is a mixture of French and several languages of Cote d'Ivoire , it appeared in the early 1980s 1 . It was originally spoken by young city dwellers who were ill-educated or delinquent, who did not have a good command of the French language . The Nouchi was practiced by them especially near markets, stations, cinemas before being carried in most social strata. The language of the little thugs, the Nouchi became the language of the Ivorian popular comedy, even of the Ivorian music . It is also the language of the "debrouille" in the poor districts of Abidjan . " Nou " in malinké means "the nose", while " chi " means hair. This gives in a word, "hair of nose" therefore "mustache" to designate the villain, to whom everyone wanted to resemble. A "nouchi " is a strong man (notably a Mexican bandit leader of the westerns who is often a mustachio), feared by all and fearful of nothing and nobody. The nouchi was popularized especially by the song Premier gaou of the group Magic System 3 .
Description
The nouchi was born in Côte d'Ivoire , but it is not known who owns the paternity. This language feeds on the many dialects of the country and French . The speakers of this language are called "nouchis".
Nevertheless, the nouchi differs from the familiar language in Côte d'Ivoire. For the familiar language, the sentences will be devoid of their articles, and adverbs like "there" punctuate the end of sentence.
Many terms of the nouchi aim to evoke social phenomena specific to the Ivory Coast...
Construction of sentences
Nouchi is a language that is based on short sentences or additions of terms drawn from the experience of the street, English, French and Ivorian ethnic groups or even those of the West African subregion. However, there are expressions specific to nouchis and ziguéhis (the bad-boys of the Abidjan ghettos)...
Some terms are sometimes used in a pejorative way, such as "gaou", "gnata", "albert" and "brézo". The gaou is the naive person, his state is less serious than that of gnata. The latter presents a difficulty of adaptation. The "albert" or the "brézo" is the one that persists in the maladjustment. The formation of expressions is unlimited and develops according to happy or unhappy events. It is a language in full expansion in Côte d'Ivoire, which inspires and is inspired by popular culture...
Origin of expressions
Strongly based on French, he uses English and Spanish words 4 , inserted by the pupils, with words from almost all the languages spoken in Côte d'Ivoire. However, Malinké and Baoulé 5 , the most widely represented ethnic groups in the markets and popular squares, are highly dominant.
The nouchi also has the particularity to vary according to the environment and evolve very quickly, taking inspiration from current events."...
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That page includes a list of Nouchi words.
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Excerpt #2
From http://www.lingref.com/cpp/acal/44/paper3142.pdf "Nouchi as a Distinct Language: The Morphological Evidence" by Hannah Sande
"Introduction
In this paper I argue that Nouchi, a relatively young Ivoirian contact variety, is and should be treated as a full-fledged language distinct from French and its other source languages. Nouchi, an emerging language spoken in Côte d’Ivoire since that late 1970’s (Ayewa 2005), has been treated in the literature as a slang vocabulary or an urban youth dialect of French. Though Nouchi began as a lingua franca among uneducated youth in urban centers, it is now the preferred language of Ivoirians in Abidjan and the surrounding areas of Côte d’Ivoire (Kube-Barth 2009). This paper focuses on morphological properties of Nouchi, which demonstrate that Nouchi is a full-fledged language with a grammar distinct from its source languages...
Nouchi is a contact language that emerged on the streets of urban Côte d’Ivoire between the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. It began as the lingua franca of uneducated, unemployed youth, though it quickly gained status as the language of Ivoirian identity (Kouadio 2005; Kube 2004; Newell 2009). Abidjan and the other urban areas of Côte d’Ivoire are centers of language contact, home to over 66 different languages. While most of the languages spoken in the area are linked with a local ethnic identity, Nouchi is not specific to a given ethnic group. Due to its ethnic neutrality and daily use, first by urban youth, Nouchi has spread rapidly (Kouadio 2005). It is the language most frequently used in the Ivoirian Zouglou style of music, and it has been promoted online through dictionaries, satirical news sites, and chat rooms.
Excerpt #3
According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup%C3%A9-D%C3%A9cal%C3%A9 , the words "Coupé-Décalé" come from the Nouchi language:
"Coupé-Décalé is a type of popular dance music originating from Côte d'Ivoire and the Ivorian diaspora in Paris, France. Drawing heavily from Zouglou and Zouk with African influences, Coupé-Décalé is a very percussive style featuring African samples, deep bass, and repetitive minimalist arrangements.
History
While Coupé-Décalé is known as Côte d'Ivoire's definitive pop music, it actually began in Paris, created by a group of Ivorian DJs at the Atlantis, an African nightclub in northeast Paris.[1][2] These Djs, known as the 'Jet Set', became popular for their flamboyant style, often showing up at the club with large amounts of cash which they would hand out to audiences on the dance floor. Their aesthetic defined the early sounds of Coupé Décalé, apparent in the genre's name. *In Nouchi (Ivorian slang), Coupé means "to cheat" and Décalé means to "run away", so Coupé-Décalé basically means to cheat somebody and run away.[1] The 'somebody' cheated is generally interpreted to mean France or the West/Europe, finding parallels to the idea of "The Man" in American culture. Especially in the beginning, the songs often celebrated those who had used guile to 'make it' abroad."
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I added italics added to highlight that sentence.
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Excerpt 4
From https://www.okayafrica.com/journal-gbaye-ivorian-street-slang-nouchi/ "This Rap News Webcast Is Keeping It Real By Using the Ivorian Street Slang: Two Ivorian rappers, Nash and Smile, host Journal Gbayé in Nouchi, the street dialect of Abidjan" by Aude Konan, Apr. 11, 2016
" “Au port ya un vrai championnat: l'argent de dédoua même, ça met drap sur prizo de ton djoho!"
In Abidjan, when you want to import your car, the bribes you pay to the custom officer are so high you could buy a new one instead!"
The Ivorian rapper, Nash, is decrying the daily corruption that's part of life in Abidjan on her YouTube series. Unlike other shows, this newscast is presented entirely in rap verses. Welcome to the first episode of Journal Gbayé, a news show proving popular among Ivorian youth. With only 25 episodes, it has more than 3,000 subscribers on YouTube, who come for its mix of comedy and daily news delivered as an extended hip-hop track.
Nash delivers the news in Nouchi, a slangy Ivorian street dialect that has exploded in popularity in recent years and is finding converts from across the French-speaking world.
Its method of delivery is a lively creole of indigenous and European dialect that, while popular with young Ivorians, hasn't entered mainstream broadcasting yet. Despite its lack of official recognition, Nouchi has long been a way for working class Ivorians to express themselves. Lately, it's spread across Ivorian pop culture, helping to bridge the gap between classes.”…
[…]
Nouchi appeared in Abidjan, Ivory Coast at the end of the 70s. The word Nouchi comes from the Manding word nou (nostrils) and chi (hairs) or “nose hairs," a nickname for street kids in Ivory Coast. It is a mix of French and other languages spoken in Ivory Coast such as Dioula, Baoulé and Guéré.
Nouchi is a melting pot of sayings and accents, borrowing words from foreign languages like Spanish or English. For example, the words' enjailler or "having fun," comes from the "enjoy" in English. The language is constantly changing, with new words appearing every day. The Nouchi spoken by Magic System, a popular Ivorian hip-hop group, in 2000 is completely different from the Nouchi spoken today.
“Speaking it is part of my daily life," Nash says. “I'm an Ivorian girl from the ghetto in Yopougon, a neighborhood in Abidjan where most people speak Nouchi. I had it rough growing up. My family had barely any money."
Nouchi Glossary:
Y'a pas drap – It's all right
Tu te fais yèrè – You're getting duped
Gué dans gué – Give and take
Les zigehis – The thugs
Tchieu way! – Really!
Initially, Priss'K, one of the first female Ivorian rappers, inspired Nash to rap in French.
“When I started rapping I would send my mixtapes to producers," she says. "I was rapping in French at first and it became obvious that I wasn't a French rapper and I wouldn't pretend to rap like one, so why use the language?"
For Nash, Nouchi is much closer to her as a language than French.
“Many young people are not educated and don't understand French that well," she says. "But Nouchi is the language of people from the ghetto. They speak it, understand it, and I can convey my message directly to them."
[…]
Over the last decade, Nouchi went from being the language of the misfits and rascals to gaining mainstream appeal. The success of Ivorian music in Europe, like Coupé-Décalé and Zouglou, and artists like Alpha Blondy or Tiken Jah Fakoly, put Nouchi in the spotlight.
The way Nouchi is used in Francophone countries has many parallels with Sheng, the ever evolving Swahili street dialect of Nairobi, Kenya. Nouchi has become trendy through popular culture, music and newspapers like Gbich, a satirical Ivorian newspaper. People from western Francophone countries, use it as well, sometimes without knowing the specific codes. It's not rare nowadays to see young people especially in France, using Nouchi words they heard through Ivorian music, like toi meme tu sais for “you know it" and la go for "the girl."
While charges of cultural appropriation come easy, Nash is optimistic. “It's a good thing to see non-Ivorians in Western countries use it, as long as they know the history of the language and use it correctly," Nash says.
Will it overtake French in Ivory Coast? Some politicians have used it to try and boost their street cred. Academics, like Rémi Yao, have started researching the language. If anything, Nouchi is a way to reclaim the many languages spoken in Ivory Coast other than French, the official language, imposed by French colonizers centuries ago. Nouchi is popular among the youth not because it's new, but because it is a way of reclaiming original cultures.
“Nouchi is a great example of how rich and diverse the Ivorian culture is," Nash explains, who regularly travels to Switzerland to promote the language. "But it is important," she adds, "that Nouchi remains the language of the youth from the ghetto."
Excerpt #5
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkOAKA6g-fc&ab_channel=LaGoKenyane "10 basic Ivorian slang words for everyday use| LEARN NOUCHI" published by LaGoKenyane, Jun 30, 2019
"In Ivory Coast slang is known as Nouchi pronounced as nushi. In this video, you will learn 10 very basic Ivorian slang/nouchi words & phrases that you can use to impress the locals and also keep up with the conversations...so go out there and do your thing!!"
Comments
1. GIDIGABI BOA, 2020
"Yako = Twi for Sorry
And Atuu = Twi for Huge
Twi is an Akan Language in Ghana
Wow thats Nice do they allso speak Twi or Akan Language in Ivory coast?"
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“Yako” is the first Nouchi word that the vlogger introduced in this video. Here's some information about the Twi (Akan) language from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twi
"Twi is a common name for mutually intelligible former literary dialects of the Akan language, Fante, Bono, Asante, and Akuapem.[7][8][5] Akuapem, as the first Akan dialect to be used for Bible translation, has become the prestige dialect as a result.[9] It is also spoken by the people of southeastern Côte d'Ivoire."
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2. Sebastian Aka, 2021
"Yako is a word to express empthy and compassion."
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Excerpt #6
From https://www.ohlalafrenchcourse.com/blog/article/explanation-of-the-song-djajda-by-aya-nakamura "Explanation of the Song Djajda by Aya Nakamura" by Manon [no publishing date given]
…”Le jour où on se croise, faut pas tchouffer
So, the term "tchouffer". Even I didn't know what it meant and I had to do a little research to find the definition of this word. Tchouffer is a nouchi term which is a form of slang found in Ivory Coast. Tchouffer means to miss everything, to spoil everything. So, the day we meet, don't ruin everything, behave yourself.
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Here's a full quote about a Nouchi word being added to a French dictionary:
ReplyDeletehttps://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=https://www.afrikmag.com/cote-divoire-nouchi-apparition-dictionnaire-francais/&prev=search&pto=aue
"A great leap for the Ivorian language. The famous Ivorian language commonly called "Nouchi" has just appeared in the French dictionary.
Publicity
Ivorian customs have succeeded in going beyond their national borders. "S'ENJAILLER", a word commonly used in Ivory Coast to mean "to have fun", "to party", "to have fun", is now in several French dictionaries, notably le petit robert 2017.
This Ivorian slang word undoubtedly comes from the declension of the verb “enjoy” in English. Nouchi, Ivorian slang born in the 1980s in Ivory Coast, is a mixture of French and several other vernacular languages of the country.
Hopefully several other words will continue to appear in the dictionary, to the great pleasure and pride of Ivorians in general and of Nash, "la go cracra du Djassa" in particular.
A Nouchi dictionary project was initiated a few years ago. Nevertheless it is possible to make consultations on the site http://nouchi.com/dico.html"
That post was published by Hippolyte YEO on May 15, 2016.