DOCUMENTATION OF ENDANGERED LANGUAGES AND CULTURES IN THE NIGERIA-CAMEROON
BORDERLAND Principal Investigator: David Zeitlyn , University
of Kent at Canterbury ( UK ) Co-Investigator (Project Officer): Bruce Connell,
( Glendon College, York University and University of Kent ) Funding Agency: Arts and Humanities Research Council,
UK Duration of project: January 2006 – September
2009
Description:
The Nigeria-Cameroon borderland is one of the most linguistically
diverse regions of the world, with many languages either near extinction
or severely endangered. This project builds on previous work by
the participants in surveying and documenting endangered languages
in this region. Primary focus is on the Somyewe, a small group of
blacksmiths whose language and culture are on the verge of disappearing
and two other local languages, Njanga and Wawa. Documentation will
follow best practice procedures as developed by the EMELD initiative,
and will be situated in context of the linguistic and cultural ecology
of the region.
The project includes three PhD students, Sascha Griffiths, Marieke Martin and Laura Robson; Griffiths and Martin are working documenting and preparing a grammar of Wawa, as well as describing other aspects of this language, while Robson is documentimg Njanga and exploring the connection between language endangerment and language ecology.
More detailed information on the above-summarized research project
can be found on the following web page:
‘Language Ecology and Language Endangerment: An instance from the Nigeria-Cameroon borderland’. (Paper presented at the 38th Annual Conference of African Linguistics, Symposium on Language Endangerment on Africa, Gainesville FL.)
LANGUAGE ECOLOGY AND LANGUAGE ENDANGERMENT
IN THE MAMBILA REGION OF NIGERIA AND CAMEROON Principal Investigator: Bruce Connell , Glendon
College , York University Collaborators: David Zeitlyn, University of Kent
at Canterbury ; Ferkijika Fanso, Université Yaoundé Duration of project: open-ended Description:
This project examines the relation between language endangerment
and language ecology with a view to understanding the causes of
language endangerment in this region of West – Central Africa
. The project is multi-facetted, involving work on the history,
anthropology and ethnology, and sociolinguistics of the region,
as well as the linguistic description of several endangered languages.
Connell, B, (i2007). Language endangerment in Central Africa. In Brenzinger, M. (ed.) Language Diversity Endangered. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 163-178.
Zeitlyn, D & B Connell. (2003) Fractal history on an African
frontier: Mambila – Njerep – Mandulu. Journal
of African History, 44: 117–138.
Connell, B. (2002) Phonetic/Phonological Variation and Language
Contraction. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 157: 167–185.
Connell, B & D Zeitlyn (2000). Njerep: A postcard from the edge. Studies in African Linguistics 29.1: 95–125.
Connell, B. (2000). The integrity of Mambiloid. In H. E. Wolff and
O. Gensler (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2nd World Congress of
African Linguistics, Leipzig. Cologne : Rüdiger Köppe
Verlag. Pp. 197–213.
Connell B. (1998). Moribund languages of the Nigeria-Cameroon borderland.
In M. Brenzinger, (Ed.), Endangered Languages in Africa.
Cologne : Rüdiger Köppe. Pp. 207–225.
DOCUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTIVE WORK ON EGA,
AN ENDANGERED LANGUAGE OF CÖTE D'IVOIRE Principal Investigator: Dafydd Gibbon, Universität
Bielefeld, Germany;
Co-Investigators: Bruce Connell
, Glendon College, York University; Firmin Ahoua, Université
Cocody, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. Funding Agency: Originally funded by Volkswagen
Stiftung, Germany Duration of project: (funded project) September
2000 – Oct 2001; ongoing work by project members unfunded.
Description:
This project provides a detailed documentation and description of
Ega, an endangered language of Côte d'Ivoire , as well as
developing tools and techniques for language documentation.
Original (funded) project description: “The Ega initiative
aims to develop a model for the computational language documentation
of an endangered language, involving design and performance of fieldwork
& documentation of the forms & functions of an endangered
language, based on workable, efficient computational linguistic
& phonetic methods (see article on the WELD paradigm), and including
the development of appropriate software: fieldwork, description
and documentation support tools.
The focus is on Ega, an endangered language isolate so far assigned
to the Kwa family and surrounded by a language of the Kru family
(Dida), in the Ivory Coast , West Africa .”
Ongoing work by Connell includes work on the phonetics and phonology
of Ega and an analysis of the sociolinguistics of its endangered
status.
More detailed information on the above-summarized research project
can be found on the following web page : http://coral.lili.uni-bielefeld.de/LangDoc/EGA
Selected Publications:
Connell, B, Ahoua, F, & Gibbon, D. (2002) Ega. Journal of
the International Phonetic Association, 32 .1: 99–104.
Connell, B., Ahoua, F, & Gibbon, D. (2001) Sociolinguistic tools
for the assessment of language endangerment DOBES Technical
Report X (Ega) .
Gibbon, D, B Connell & F Ahoua (2001) Lexical tools for the
documentation of endangered languages: requirements analysis checklist. DOBES Technical Report 4 (Ega) .
Connell, B, Ahoua, F, & Gibbon, D. Ega: (to appear). A preliminary
assessment of endangerment. (See web site for further publications)
DOCUMENTATION AND DESCRIPTIVE WORK ON MAMBILA
AND RELATED LANGUAGES (NIGERIA-CAMEROON)
Principal Investigator: Bruce Connell, Glendon
College, York University Collaborator: David Zeitlyn, University of Kent
at Canterbury ( UK ) Funding Agency: Original funding from the Economic
and Social Research Council, UK , (1994–2000)
Duration of project: open-ended
Description:
The project is broadly concerned with the description of Mambila
and related languages in the Nigeria Cameroon broderland. One strand
of research involves investigation of the phonetics/phonolgy of
Mambila, especially its tone system; another strand explores the
history of the Mambiloid group. This project overlaps the separate
project “ Language Ecology and Language Endangerment in the
Mambila Region of Nigeria and Cameroon ”.
More detailed information on the above-summarized research project
can be found on the following web page: http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/dz/index.html
Selected Publications:
Connell B. (2005) Pitch realization of questions vs statements in
Mambila. In A. Akinlabi (Ed.) Proceedings of the 4th World Congress
of African Linguistics. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe
Verlag.
Connell, B. (2004) Tone, utterance length and F0 Scaling. B. Bel & I. Marlien (Eds.) International Symposium on Tonal Aspects
of Languages: Emphasis on tone languages. Proceedings. Beijing
: Institute of Linguistics , Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Pp. 41–43.
Connell, B. (2003) Pitch realization and the four tones of Mambila.
In S. Kaji (Ed.), Cross-Linguistic Studies of Tonal Phenomena Tokyo : Research Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Asia
and Africa . Pp. 181–197.
Connell, B. (2002) Phonetic/Phonological Variation and Language
Contraction. International Journal of the Sociology of Language,
157: 167–185.
Connell, B. (2002) Aspects of the phonetics of Cambap. Studies
in African Linguistics, 31 .1/2: 179–210.
Connell, B. (2001) An Introduction to the Mambiloid Languages. In
N. M. Mutaka, & S. B. Chumbow (Eds.), Research Mate in African
linguistics. Focus on Cameroon: a fieldworker's tool for deciphering
the stories Cameroonian languages have to tell; in honor of Professor
Larry M. Hyman. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Pp. 79–92.
Connell, B & D Zeitlyn (2000). Njerep: A postcard from the edge. Studies in African Linguistics 29 .1: 95–125.
A SURVEY AND ARCHIVE OF ENDANGERED LANGUAGES
ON THE ADAMAWA ESCARPMENT OF CAMEROON
Principal Investigator: Bruce Connell and David
Zeitlyn , University of Kent ; Co-Investigator: Collaborator : Prof B Chumbow, Université Yaoundé
I; Prof N Mutaka, Université Yaoundé I Funding Agency: UNESCO Intangible Heritage Unit. Duration of project: Pilot project: April 2005 – March 2006; full project (if funded) April 2006 – 2008. Description:
The project will train local scholars in survey and documentation
techniques relevant to language endangerment. The project has been
approved in principle and funding granted for a pilot study, ‘Sociolinguistic
survey of Adamawa escarpment area to assess the vitality of local
languages'.
More detailed information on the above-summarized research project
can be found on the following web page: (to be established)
Publications:
(work in progress)
DOCUMENTATION OF DEFAKA AND NKOROO
Principal Investigators: Akinbiyi Akinlabi, Rutgers University, Bruce Connell, Glendon College, York University.
Funding Agency: National Science Foundation, USA
Duration of project: March 2007 – February 2010
Collaborators: Mekuri Ozo-Ndimele, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Description:
The aim of this project is to document in detail, and following currently established best practice, two endangered languages of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria: Defaka and Nkoroo. The documentation and analysis of these two complex endangered languages will contribute to our understanding of the nature and history of the Ijoid subgroup of Niger-Congo. Both Africanist linguistics and linguistic theory in general stand to benefit from the new knowledge that will be gained. The broader impact of the project will be manifested in several ways. First, by gathering large quantities of texts and lexical data, which will be archived in a lasting medium, we will be preserving Defaka and Nkoroo for the benefit of their speakers as well as for outside linguists, anthropologists, historians and other scholars. Second, native speakers of the languages will be trained in documentation techniques, enabling them to play a more active role in the preservation of their language. Finally, our project involves the active collaboration of researchers at institutions in four different countries, Rutgers University in the USA, York University in Canada, the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, and the University of Port Harcourt in Nigeria, thus fostering international academic cooperation. The project funds two PhD students, who will work on preparing grammars of the target languages.
Directions
