Cicipu texts Now audio-enabled!
The texts listed below were collected in Acipuland between 2006 and 2008. As you can see, the corpus covers several different genres. Clicking on the text name will, in most cases, display a transcription, free translation and interlinear glosses. Please do not redistribute without permission.An explanation of the abbreviations is available. If you're interested in how the texts are presented, please click here.
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Folktales
| Copying saat001.006 |
10 minutes | Big Spider takes Small Spider hunting. Because of Big Spider's tricks and cunning they catch rats, make water appear, and escape from a leopard. After they come home, Small Spider tries to copy Big spider... |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Fiancée saat001.007 |
5 minutes | Spider is after Lion's fiancée, but he accuses Monkey of doing this, setting Lion against him. Meanwhile Spider is enjoying his first day together with the fiancée, until Lion tracks him down... |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Fall from heaven saat001.008 |
7 minutes | Big Spider takes Small Spider to a festival in the sky. But Small Spider offends Big Spider and so he has to get down on his own. He is given simple instructions to follow... |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Chewing-gum girl saat002.001 |
6 minutes | The chief's fed up of someone eating his groundnuts. So he makes a special kind of scarecrow to catch the thief. |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Spider's bitch saat002.002 |
25 minutes | Small Spider is content being married to a dried-up old dog who serves him water made of shit. That is, until Big Spider succeeds in bringing home two beautiful young wives. Small Spider does away with his wife and sets out to emulate Big Spider... |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Stuck saat002.003 |
7 minutes | Fed up of being exploited by his wives, a hunter decides to eat his meals out in the bush. He can't find anywhere to sit down without the shade demanding a share of his food. Angry enough already, the hunter refuses but suffers humiliating consequences. (Tidipo dialect) |
![]() Ayuba Sani |
| Sleepy saat002.004 |
3 minutes | Two hunters have a competition to see who's the sleepiest. (Tidipo dialect) |
![]() Ayuba Sani |
| Who's the best? saat002.005 |
4 minutes | Five people perform increasingly-incredible tasks as they try to prove who among them is the best. (Tidipo dialect) |
![]() Ayuba Sani |
| Water babies saat001.003 |
3 minutes | A farmer discovers that water babies are stealing his food and lays a trap. |
![]() Markus Yabani |
| Monkey-woman saat001.004 |
3 minutes | A man with two wives finds out that one of them turns into a monkey in order to exploit her rival. |
![]() Markus Yabani |
| Sword 1 samy001 |
3 minutes | Markus made this story about a sword up on the spot |
![]() Markus Yabani |
| Sword 2 samy002 |
3 minutes | Markus made this story about a sword up on the spot |
![]() Markus Yabani |
| Cat dies
the world is happy sahs001.002 |
2 minutes | This story was prepared beforehand (written out in Cicipu) |
![]() Hussaini Sale |
| Four magics sahs001.003 |
1 minute | This story was prepared beforehand (written out in Cicipu) |
![]() Hussaini Sale |
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Histories
| Bazama and Korisino sayb001 |
40 minutes | Baba Yabani Galadima interviewed by his son, covering the settlement of Galadima village and the history of Korisino | ![]() Yabani Galadima ![]() Markus Yabani |
| Economic development samoh001 |
17 minutes | Mohammed Mallam's take on the economic development and history of the Acipu | ![]() Mohammed Mallam |
| Life in the
past svtmg001 |
12 minutes | Account of some aspects of life when Tene Magaji was a young girl, and an uncomplimentary account of the origin of the Damakawa people. | ![]() Tene Magaji ![]() Mohammed Mallam |
| Family status
in Mataari svbg001 |
3 minutes | Mohammed interviewing his uncle about their family's status in Mataari. | ![]() Bigi Magaji ![]() Mohammed Mallam |
| Capt. Norman
Biggs' grave svmy001 |
2 minutes | Markus Yabani's account of the death of Captain Norman Biggs of the British Army, who was killed by a poisoned dart and buried in Sakaba in 1908. |
![]() Markus Yabani |
| Ukula history 1 sagb001 |
30 minutes | Account of the history of the Akula division of the Acipu (Tikula dialect) | ![]() Garkuwa Bawa ![]() Mohammed Musa |
| Ukula history 2 sami001 |
17 minutes | Account of the history of the Akula division of the Acipu (Tikula dialect) | ![]() Malli Idanbanya ![]() Mohammed Musa |
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Riddles
If you can't guess the answer, you have to forfeit a town to the other player.| Riddles 1 saat001.002 |
5 mins |
![]() Markus Yabani ![]() Ishaya Audu |
| Riddles 2 saat001.005 |
4 mins |
![]() Ishaya Audu ![]() Markus Yabani ![]() Musa Danjuma ![]() Musa Bigi ![]() Amos Bako |
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Prayers
| Opening prayer saat001.001 |
1 minute | Opening prayer for folktales and riddles session | ![]() Markus Yabani |
| Closing prayer saat001.009 |
1 minute | Closing prayer for
folktales and riddles session
|
![]() Ishaya Audu |
Hortatory
| Sermon oamy001 |
24 minutes | Sermon given in Tungan Magajiya UMCA church | ![]() Markus Yabani |
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Local news
| Crocodile-killing saim001 |
6 minutes | The story of Ubandawaki and Araba, who killed one of the sacred crocodiles from Korisino in 2006 | ![]() Ibrahim Danjuma |
| Armed
robbery sahs001.001 |
1 minute | Account was prepared beforehand (written out in Cicipu) | ![]() Hussaini Sale |
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Descriptions
| Dog tats001.001 |
4 mins | Description of the dog | ![]() Markus Yabani |
| Camel tats001.002 |
3 mins | Description of the camel | ![]() Markus Yabani |
| Priest tats001.003 | 4 mins | Description of the priest | ![]() Markus Yabani |
| Bible tats001.004 | 4 mins | Description of the Bible | ![]() Markus Yabani |
| Monkey tats002.001 | 3 mins | Description of the monkey |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Fire tats002.002 | 3 mins | Description of fire |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Beer tats002.003 | 3 mins | Description of beer |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Witches tats002.004 | 4 mins | Description of witches |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Slaves tats002.005 | 3 mins | Description of slaves |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Crocodile tats002.006 | 2 mins | Description of the crocodile |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Lightning tats002.007 | 2 mins | Description of lightning |
![]() Amos Bako |
| Camel tats004.001 | 3 mins | Description of the camel | ![]() Garba Daniel |
| Tortoise tats004.002 | 3 mins | Description of the tortoise | ![]() Markus Yabani |
| Iodine tats004.003 | 1 min | Description of iodine | ![]() Garba Daniel |
| Koran tats005.001 | 15 mins | Description of the Koran | ![]() Mallam Magaji |
| Fish tats005.002 | 15 mins | Description of the hippopotamus, fish, and water sources | ![]() Mallam Magaji |
| Gin tats007.001 | 3 mins | Description of gin | ![]() Mohammed Mallam |
| Tobacco tats007.002 | 4 mins | Description of tobacco | ![]() Mohammed Mallam |
| Beer tats008.001 | 1 min | Description of beer | ![]() Murna Musa |
| Gin tats008.002 | 1 min | Description of gin | ![]() Murna Musa |
| Water tats008.003 | 1 min | Description of water | ![]() Murna Musa |
| Dog tats008.004 | 2 mins | Description of the dog | ![]() Murna Musa |
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Pear stories
These narratives were elicited using Wallace Chafe's Pear Film. The first four texts are the most reliable and cross-linguistically comparable, since the interviewer had not seen the film before. The fifth text was elicited by Stuart McGill from the interviewer Markus Yabani after he had conducted five interviews (four of which are presented here - the fifth was very short), but before he had seen the film itself. It is probably the most comprehensive and accurate of all the re-tellings. The last four interviews were conducted on another occasion, after the interviewer had seen the film (although he told the interviewees that he had not).| Pear story tapf001.001 |
2 mins | Session 1 | Maza |
| Pear story tapf001.002 | 1 min | Session 1 | Haruna |
| Pear story tapf001.003 | 2 mins | Session 1 | ![]() Tambaya Wakala |
| Pear story tapf001.004 | 1 min | Session 1 | ![]() Lawali Sale |
| Pear story tapf001.005 | 2 mins | Interviewing the interviewer | ![]() Markus Yabani |
| Pear story tapf002.001 | 2 mins | Session 2 (no audio) | Danlami Araba |
| Pear story tapf002.002 | 1 min | Session 2 (no audio) | ![]() Garba Daniel |
| Pear story tapf002.003 | 2 mins | Session 2 (no audio) | ![]() Tabitha Markus |
| Pear story tapf002.004 | 2 mins | Session 2 (no audio) | ![]() Ishaya Audu |
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