The principle of social inequality is fundamental to the organization of social life among the Wolof. On the broadest level, it is expressed in the division of society into hierarchically ranked status groups, or castes. But it governs more than the arrangement of large groups. It is essential to all social interaction, even the most minute. This paper will examine the principle of inequality at work on the level of greatest interactional detail through analysis of a Wolof linguistic routine, the greeting (nuyyu or dyammantë). The purpose of such an analysis is first of all to illustrate the importance of status ranking, and to identify the opportunities which individuals have to affect their own rank by manipulating the rules of interaction. A secondary purpose is to describe a familiar, though brief, cultural event in such a way that the impressions of the ethnographer can be related to the ‘set of rules for the socially appropriate construction and interpretation of messages’ (Frake 1964:132) which enables one to behave appropriately in this situation.

The greeting is of particular interest to a study of the Wolof because it occurs in every interaction. Every social relationship, therefore, must be at least partially statable in terms of the role structure of the greeting. That is, since certain roles are forced onto any interaction by the nature of the greeting exchange, those roles are ingredients in every social situation and basic to all personal alignments.