DigitalResources Electronic Survey Report 2011-021 ® A sociolinguistic survey of the Gbe language communities of Benin and Togo Volume 9 Tofin language area Gabi Schoch A sociolinguistic survey of the Gbe language communities of Benin and Togo Volume 9 Tofin language area Gabi Schoch SIL International® 2011 SIL Electronic Survey Report 2011-021, March 2011 Copyright © 2011 Gabi Schoch and SIL International® All rights reserved A SOCIOLINGUISTIC SURVEY OF THE GBE LANGUAGE COMMUNITIES OF BENIN AND TOGO Series editor: Angela Kluge Gbe language family overview (by Angela Kluge) Volume 1: Kpési language area (by Evelin I. K. Durieux-Boon, Jude A. Durieux, Deborah H. Hatfield, and Bonnie J. Henson) Volume 2: Ayizo language area (by Deborah H. Hatfield and Michael M. McHenry) Volume 3: Kotafon language area (by Deborah H. Hatfield, Bonnie J. Henson, and Michael M. McHenry) Volume 4: Xwela language area (by Bonnie J. Henson, Eric C. Johnson, Angela Kluge) Volume 5: Xwla language area (by Bonnie J. Henson and Angela Kluge) Volume 6: Ci language area (by Bonnie J. Henson) Volume 7: Defi language area (by Eric C. Johnson) Volume 8: Saxwe, Daxe and Se language area (by Eric C. Johnson) Volume 9: Tofin language area (by Gabi Schoch) Volume 10: Gbesi language area (by Gabi Schoch) ii Contents Abstract 1. Introduction 2. Background 2.1. Language name and classification 2.2. Language area 2.3. Population 2.4. History of migration 2.5. Presence of other ethnic groups 2.6. Regional language use 2.7. Non-formal education 2.8. Religious situation 3. Previous linguistic research 4. Research questions 5. Methodology 5.1. Assessment techniques 5.2. Implementation 5.3. Terminology and presentation 6. Results 6.1. Tofin dialect situation 6.2. Tofin and related Gbe varieties 6.3. Tested comprehension of Fon and Gun 6.4. Language vitality 6.5. Literacy situation 6.6. Religious situation 7. Summary and conclusions 7.1. Comprehension and attitudes with regard to Fon and Gun 7.2. Tofin language vitality 7.3. Attitudes towards Tofin language development 7.4. Tofin and other related Gbe varieties 7.5. Conclusions Appendices Appendix A. Map of the Tofin language area Appendix B. Population Appendix C. Lexical similarity Appendix D. Community questionnaire Appendix E. Non-formal education questionnaire Appendix F. Church questionnaire Appendix G. RA-RTT narratives Appendix H. RA-RTT results References iii Introduction 1 Abstract This paper presents a sociolinguistic survey conducted in the Tofin language communities (Kwa language family) of Benin. The Gbe languages continuum is situated in the southeastern part of West Africa. Expanding westwards from southwestern Nigeria, the Gbe communities occupy large areas in southern Benin, Togo, and southeastern Ghana. To date in Benin, as far as Gbe varieties are concerned, Aja, Fon, Gen, and Gun have undergone language development on a larger scale. A survey of the Tofin communities was conducted to assess whether and to what extent existing literature and literacy efforts in Fon and Gun could extend to the Tofin communities and to determine the nature and extent of SIL’s possible involvement among these communities. After a general overview of the taxonomic and geographic language situation, test results are reported. Survey interview and group test results are presented on comprehension of Fon and Gun. Results are given on language attitudes toward both written and oral forms of Fon and Gun and toward the development of Tofin. In addition, the following topics were investigated: language vitality and the relationship of Tofin to related Gbe varieties in terms of comprehension and language attitudes. Also, information by local leaders on the literacy and religious situations and on migration history is given. The group comprehension test results show, at least preliminarily, that the Tofin have good comprehension of Fon and Gun. There are no indications of language shift. Though the preference everywhere is for literacy in Tofin, literacy programs in either Fon or Gun are acceptable to most people. Therefore, Fon or Gun literacy appears to be a workable solution for literacy needs in the Tofin speech communities provided there is adequate institutional support. 1. Introduction This paper 1 reports on a sociolinguistic survey conducted in the Tofin speech communities of Benin. The Tofin speech variety belongs to the Gbe language continuum (Kwa language group) which is situated in the southeastern part of West Africa. Expanding westwards from southwestern Nigeria, the Gbe communities occupy large areas in southern Benin, Togo, and southeastern Ghana. Among the Gbe varieties, five have thus far undergone language development on a larger scale: Fon, Gen, and Gun in Benin, and Ewe in Togo. To assess whether and to what extent existing literature and literacy efforts in these Gbe speech varieties could extend to the remaining Gbe communities, or whether additional language-based development programs in some of the remaining communities would be beneficial and to determine the nature and extent of SIL’s possible involvement among these communities, a sociolinguistic study of the Gbe communities of Benin and Togo was launched in the late 1980s. The sociolinguistics survey reported here is part of this larger study and was carried in June1999 by B. J. Henson, E. C. Johnson, A. Kluge and G. Schoch, researchers of SIL. The survey data in this report results from community interviews administered in the villages of So-Tchiancomey, Dékanme and Jesuko (Cotonou), as well as two Rapid Appraisal Recorded Text Tests (RA-RTTs) in Fon and Gun administered in So-Tchiancomey and Dékanme. 1The author wishes to thank K. Diller, D. H. Hatfield and T. Marmor for their assistance with this report. 2 A sociolinguistic survey of the Tofin language area In Section 2, pertinent background information on the Tofin speech variety is presented. Some of these data were gathered during the field interviews with members of the Tofin language community. This section is followed by information on previous linguistic research (Section 3), a presentation of the research questions (Section 4) and a description of the methodology as applied during this survey (Section 5). In Section 6, the findings are discussed, followed by a set of conclusions (Section 7). The report closes with a set of appendices and a list of references. 2. Background 2.1. Language name and classification The Ethnologue (Grimes 1996:169) gives the following classification for Tofin [ISO code: tif 2]: − Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo , Kwa, Left Bank, Gbe, Aja Alternative Names: − Tɔfin (Capo 1986:13) − Tɔfingbe (CNL 1983:61; DNA n.d.) − Tofin-Gbe (Grimes 1996) − Tofi (Ministère du Plan 1994a:46) No dialects are listed by either Capo (1986) or the Ethnologue (Grimes 1996). In Renaissance du gbe , Capo (1986:99ff, Carte 1b) classifies Tofin as a variety of the Phla-Phera group which, based on phonological and morpho-phonological characteristics, is one of five clusters of Gbe lects. The Phla-Phera group also includes Alada, 3 Ayizo, Gbesi, Kotafon, 4 Saxwe, Se, Toli, Xwela and Xwla. 2.2. Language area The Tofin language area is located in south-central Benin, in the Atlantique département, principally in the sous-préfecture of So-Ava. 5 (For a map of the area see Appendix A.) According to the information obtained during the survey, the approximate boundaries of the Tofin language area are as follows: Dékanme on the eastern border of the sous-préfecture, Ganvie to the west on the northwestern shore of Lake Nokoué and Ahomey-Lokpo in the north. 6 2[Editor: See also the current version of the Ethnologue (Lewis 2009) for an updated entry on Tofin.] 3Not listed by CENALA (1990). 4CENALA (1990) lists Kotafon as Ko. However, during a survey of this speech community it was established that the speakers of this variety refer to their own language as “Kotafon”. (See Volume 3, Section 2.2.) 5Benin is divided into twelve governmental provinces called “départements,” each of which is composed of a varying number of “sous-préfectures,” which encompass various rural communes and urban circumscriptions. All town names are spelled according to the general map of Benin (IGN France and IGN Bénin 1992) or the sous-préfecture maps of the 1992 Benin census data (Ministère du Plan 1994b). 6At So-Tchiancomey, a village further north, Zoungomé, was listed as a Tofin village. Background 3 In addition, there are some Tofin quarters in the urban community of Cotonou at the southern shore of Lake Nokoué and some in the urban community of Abomey-Calavi at the western shore of the lake. These communities are made up of Tofin speakers who emigrated from either Ganvie or So-Ava. During the interviews, it was not always clear from the context whether the language referred to was Tofin or “like” Tofin. There was also some confusion as to whether “Tofin” refers to the language or to the people. In general, the term “Tofinu” designates the people and “Tofin” is the term for the language (see Footnote 13 ). However, these terms were not used consistently by the interviewees. The team also conducted informal interviews with the village chief and elders in a few of the villages bordering the Tofin language community. These villages are Dèkin in the sous-préfecture of Dangbo (Ouémé département), Houédomé-Aguegue in the sous-préfecture of Aguegues and Kinto-Houdjro in the sous-préfecture of So-Ava—all three in the Atlantique département. The purpose of these brief interviews was to check information on the language situation. According to the information in the Atlas sociolinguistique (CNL 1983) and/or to some of the Tofin villages where community interviews were conducted (Dékanme, Jesuko and So-Tchanhoué-Tchiancomey), these villages are also Tofin villages. In Dèkin, which is one of these villages, the village chief and some of the elders stated that the fishermen in the sous-préfecture of Dangbo are sometimes called Tofinu because their profession is the same as the Tofinu of the So-Ava sous-préfecture.