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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
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
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
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
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
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
Ayuba Sani
Sleepy

saat002.004
3 minutes Two hunters have a competition to see who's the sleepiest. (Tidipo dialect)
Ayuba Sani
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
Ayuba Sani
Water babies

saat001.003
3 minutes A farmer discovers that water babies are stealing his food and lays a trap.
Markus Yabani
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
Markus Yabani
Sword 1

samy001
3 minutes Markus made this story about a sword up on the spot
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Sword 2

samy002
3 minutes Markus made this story about a sword up on the spot
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Cat dies the world is happy

sahs001.002
2 minutes This story was prepared beforehand (written out in Cicipu)
Hussaini Sale
Hussaini Sale
Four magics

sahs001.003
1 minute This story was prepared beforehand (written out in Cicipu)
Hussaini Sale
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
Yabani Galadima
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Economic development

samoh001
17 minutes Mohammed Mallam's take on the economic development and history of the Acipu
Mohammed Mallam
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
Tene Magaji
Mohammed Mallam
Mohammed Mallam
Family status in Mataari

svbg001
3 minutes Mohammed interviewing his uncle about their family's status in Mataari.
Bigi Magaji
Bigi Magaji
Mohammed Mallam
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
Markus Yabani
Ukula history 1

sagb001
30 minutes Account of the history of the Akula division of the Acipu (Tikula dialect)
Garkuwa Bawa
Garkuwa Bawa
Mohammed Musa
Mohammed Musa
Ukula history 2

sami001
17 minutes Account of the history of the Akula division of the Acipu (Tikula dialect)
Malli Idanbanya
Malli Idanbanya
Mohammed Musa
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
Markus Yabani
Ishaya Audu
Ishaya Audu
Riddles 2

saat001.005
4 mins
Ishaya Audu
Ishaya Audu
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Musa Danjuma
Musa Danjuma
Musa Bigi
Musa Bigi
Amos Bako
Amos Bako


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Prayers

Opening prayer

saat001.001
1 minute Opening prayer for folktales and riddles session
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Closing prayer

saat001.009
1 minute Closing prayer for folktales and riddles session
Ishaya Audu
Ishaya Audu
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Hortatory

Sermon

oamy001
24 minutes Sermon given in Tungan Magajiya UMCA church
Markus Yabani
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
Markus Yabani
Ibrahim Danjuma
Armed robbery

sahs001.001
1 minute Account was prepared beforehand (written out in Cicipu)
Hussaini Sale
Hussaini Sale

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Descriptions


Dog

tats001.001
4 mins Description of the dog
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Camel

tats001.002
3 mins Description of the camel
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Priest

tats001.003
4 minsDescription of the priest
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Bible

tats001.004
4 minsDescription of the Bible
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Monkey

tats002.001
3 minsDescription of the monkey
Amos Bako
Amos Bako
Fire

tats002.002
3 minsDescription of fire
Amos Bako
Amos Bako
Beer

tats002.003
3 minsDescription of beer
Amos Bako
Amos Bako
Witches

tats002.004
4 minsDescription of witches
Amos Bako
Amos Bako
Slaves

tats002.005
3 minsDescription of slaves
Amos Bako
Amos Bako
Crocodile

tats002.006
2 minsDescription of the crocodile
Amos Bako
Amos Bako
Lightning

tats002.007
2 minsDescription of lightning
Amos Bako
Amos Bako
Camel

tats004.001
3 minsDescription of the camel
Markus Yabani
Garba Daniel
Tortoise

tats004.002
3 minsDescription of the tortoise
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Iodine

tats004.003
1 minDescription of iodine
Markus Yabani
Garba Daniel
Koran

tats005.001
15 minsDescription of the Koran
Mallam Magaji
Mallam Magaji
Fish

tats005.002
15 minsDescription of the hippopotamus, fish, and water sources
Mallam Magaji
Mallam Magaji
Gin

tats007.001
3 minsDescription of gin
Mohammed Mallam
Mohammed Mallam
Tobacco

tats007.002
4 minsDescription of tobacco
Mohammed Mallam
Mohammed Mallam
Beer

tats008.001
1 minDescription of beer
Murna Musa
Murna Musa
Gin

tats008.002
1 minDescription of gin
Murna Musa
Murna Musa
Water

tats008.003
1 minDescription of water
Murna Musa
Murna Musa
Dog

tats008.004
2 minsDescription of the dog
Murna Musa
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 minSession 1Haruna
Pear story

tapf001.003
2 minsSession 1
Tambaya Wakala
Tambaya Wakala
Pear story

tapf001.004
1 minSession 1
Lawali Sale
Lawali Sale
Pear story

tapf001.005
2 minsInterviewing the interviewer
Markus Yabani
Markus Yabani
Pear story

tapf002.001
2 minsSession 2 (no audio)
Danlami Araba
Pear story

tapf002.002
1 minSession 2 (no audio)
Garba Daniel
Garba Daniel
Pear story

tapf002.003
2 minsSession 2 (no audio)
Tabitha Markus
Tabitha Markus
Pear story

tapf002.004
2 minsSession 2 (no audio)
Ishaya Audu
Ishaya Audu

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