There are a ton of varieties of Pulaar, some so different from each other that one Fula can't understand another. That is not the possible-fact, that is an actual fact. I will get to the possible fact later. These varieties are annoying because someone will ask me "where are you from?" and I'll have no clue that's what they're asking and I'll slump my shoulders and agree that yes, I don't hear Pulaar yet.
Anyway, so another volunteer's host dad was talking about these different Pulaars and how even the words for mother and father are different, which is interesting because in the anthropology textbook I've been reading (please, keep your judgements to yourself...I wish I could blame the limited selection of books at the school's library, but...I'm just the sort of kid who reads textbooks in her spare time) it says that similarity in the names for family members and body parts are how you can identify the similarity in origins between languages. But "neene" and "daa" sound nothing alike, and those are just two of the different words for mother.
However, and this is the possible-fact because it is only according to someone's host dad, who is an actual Fula but not a researcher of the Fulas, the several words for milk (fresh, soured, etc) and the word for "cow," are exactly the same among all the different varieties of Pulaar. So I could go to Burkina Faso and find a Fula, who I would recognize by all of the cattle roaming around him, and although I would not be able to ask where his mother is or how his father is doing, I could talk about cows.
I find this absolutely fascinating, and I only wish I knew for certain it was true.
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