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Ikaan and related dialects of Ukaan

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Language Ikaan, Ukaan (ISO639-3:kcf)
Depositor Sophie Salffner
Affiliation SOAS University of London
Location Nigeria
Collection ID 0034
Grant ID FTG0123, PPG0027
Funding Body ELDP, AHRC, SOAS University of London, Gesellschaft für bedrohte Sprachen
Collection Status Collection online
Landing Page Handle http://hdl.handle.net/2196/eaacb80f-8877-4cea-8573-63c9f526393b

 

Summary of the collection

This collection is the outcome of a Ikaan language documentation project conducted as part of PhD research into tone in Ikaan (Ikakumo, Ondo State, Nigeria) and MA research into the numeral system of Ikaan. In addition to the in-depth documentary and descriptive materials for Ikaan (Ondo State), the materials in this collection include recordings from all four lects of what is know in the linguistic literature as Ukaan or AIKA:

  • Ikaan spoken in Ikakumo (Ondo State)
  • Ikaan spoken in Ikakumo (Edo State)
  • Iino spoken in Ayanran
  • Ayegbe spoken in Ise
  • Igau spoken in Auga

The collection intends to serve the needs of the language community as well as academic researchers. The documentation therefore includes resources that are more likely to be of interest to the speakers of Ikaan, such as proverbs and stories, as well as resources that are more likely to be of interest to linguists, such as investigations into the tone system and the numeral system of the language.

For a more documentary and anthropologically informed collection of materials in Ikaan as spoken in Ikakumo (Ondo State), please visit the collection Farming, food and yam: language and cultural practices among Ikaan speakers, also by Sophie Salffner.

 

Group represented

Most of the data represents the Akaan people of Ikakumo (Ondo State, Nigeria). There is also some material given by the people in Ikakumo (Edo State) and the people in Ise, Auga and Ayanran.

 

Language information

The lects in this collection are referred to as Ikaan (Ikakumo (Ondo), Ikakumo (Edo)), Ayegbe (Ise), Igau (Auga) and Iino (Ayanran). In the linguistic literature, the larger group comprising the four lects is called both Ukaan and AIKA.

 

Special characteristics

The deposit includes a booklet of riddles, proverbs and stories told by many Ikaan speakers and edited by Mr Fred Adekanye, a native speaker of Ikaan and consultant to the project, and Sophie Salffner. Because there is no agreed on writing system for Ikaan, the booklet is written using one way of spelling the language but gives alternative ways of spelling too. All proverbs, riddles and stories are also given in Yoruba and English.

 

Collection contents

This collection consists mostly of recordings of the Ikaan lect of the Ukaan/AIKA language cluster. For the Ikaan lect, there are audio recordings of stories, riddles, proverbs, songs, historical narratives, personal stories, some speeches and recordings of explanations of procedures such as yam pounding or broom making. For these procedures, there are also photo series to go with the recordings. In addition, there are audio recordings of standard linguistic questionnaires and elicitation sessions, mostly focusing on the tone system and the numeral system of the language. Some of the recordings are electronically transcribed and annotated with word-by-word glosses and free translations. There is also a Toolbox project with a some interlinearised texts and the beginnings of an Ikaan-English dictionary.

In addition to data on the Ikaan lect, there are recordings of standard linguistic questionnaires and additional elicitations for the other three Ukaan languages spoken in Auga, Ise and Ayanran.

 

Collection history

The Ikaan language documentation and description project was carried out as part of PhD research by Sophie Salffner in 2006-2008 and MA research by Nadine Borchardt in 2008. The main collector of the materials is Sophie Salffner, who continues to work with the Ikaan speakers on the language. In addition, Nadine Borchardt collected data on counting in Ikaan and the numeral system of the language. Students from Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba, Ondo State, and Ekiti University, Ekiti State, Nigeria, collected language and sociolinguistic questionnaire data during a sociolinguistic survey in all five Ukaan-speaking villages organised by Sophie Salffner in 2007.

Sophie Salffner has been collecting more data on Ikaan and continues to add transcriptions and translations to the recordings and words to the dictionary. The collection will therefore regularly be updated. Furthermore, the Ikaan language documentation project continues with a follow-up project on food, farming and yam, carried out by Sophie Salffner in 2011-2013.

 

Acknowledgement and citation

Sophie Salffner wishes to thank the people of Ikakumo, in particular to Mr Fred Adekanye and Mr Festus O. Obaude, for enabling her to learn their language, for their patience with her and for their company while she was living in their village. Sophie is also grateful to the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme and the Gesellschaft für bedrohte Sprachen, who have generously funded her fieldwork and part of the research for this project, and the School and Oriental and African Studies and the Arts and Humanities Research Council, who have provided funding for her PhD research.

Users of any part of the collection should acknowledge Sophie Salffner as the data collector and researcher. Users should also acknowledge the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme, the Gesellschaft für bedrohte Sprachen, the School and Oriental and African Studies and the Arts and Humanities Research Council as the funders. Further, individual speakers whose words and/or images are used should be acknowledged by name and any other contributors who collected, transcribed or translated the data should be acknowledged by name. All information on contributors is available in the metadata.

Salffner, Sophie. 2010. Ikaan and related dialects of Ukaan: an archive of language and cultural material from the Akaan people of Ikakumo (Ondo State, Nigeria). Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/00-0000-0000-0001-3D50-0. Accessed on [insert date here].

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