VU Research Portal The Creative Use of Genre Features Continuity and Change in Patterns of Language Use in Budu, a Bantu Language of Congo (Kinshasa) Frieke-Kappers, C. 2007 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Frieke-Kappers, C. (2007). The Creative Use of Genre Features Continuity and Change in Patterns of Language Use in Budu, a Bantu Language of Congo (Kinshasa). 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Oct. 2021 VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT The Creative Use of Genre Features Continuity and Change in Patterns of Language Use in Budu, a Bantu Language of Congo (Kinshasa) ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. L.M. Bouter, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de faculteit der Letteren op dinsdag 6 november 2007 om 15.45 uur in de aula van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Claertje Frieke-Kappers geboren te Loenen aan de Vecht promotor: prof. dr. L.J. de Vries copromotoren : dr. E. Wattel prof. dr. G.J. Steen Acknowledgements in loving memory of abhaa Gotha Aumani This dissertation would not have come to fruition without the team of Budu poets, musicians, writers, teachers, nurses, builders, cooks, cleaners, sweepers, administrators, technicians (radio- and ICT-), pilots, bookkeepers, and all who contributed to the production of Budu literacy materials. Even though I did not think of writing a doctoral dissertation until years after we had worked together, these people are to be included in this symbolic first paragraph of my acknowledgements: here I praise the One who made us in His own image, enabling us to use our minds creatively, and I praise you who work together to produce texts of all kinds in Budu. I want to thank my neighbours1 for their feedback in 1997 while I was studying about thirty texts in Ibambi. Often their remarks shed new light on the use of some elements in the texts which escaped my attention. Thanks also to translators-in-training Abhaa Bayaka, Abhaa Nangaa and Abhaa Fomuno for their in-depth analysis of four stories in 1995, as well as to Gotha Aumani, director of the Budu project at that time, and to Abhaa Awilikilango who, in 2002, worked through some texts with me at a seminar on discourse analysis. Also artist and Anglicist Willy Bambinesenge was of invaluable help glossing texts. His creative writings in Budu provided great insights into the dynamics of language use. Both the files which my husband Fred C. Frieke produced (while working on Budu orthography in 1995 and 1996, and on the Luke manuscript in 1998 and 1999) and the remarks of SIL colleague Bettina Gottschlich, who chats in Budu as if it were her mother-tongue German, helped me. I would like to thank Bettina for her willingness to let me use her text- and music-recordings and for her hospitality in 2005, when I returned to Ibambi to check my data with François Abati. I am equally grateful to Jany Maters from Woudrichem, who copied 45 cassettes with Budu recordings for me. Several times in this dissertation the names of Budu translators François Abati, Theofile Anzetaka, transcriber-typist Ingoi Bakunguo, as well as the names of linguists Constance Kutsch Lojenga, Paul Thomas, Gert and Alida de Wit and Fred Frieke occur where I refer to their work. Their insights obviously arose from their love of linguistic analysis. Also Loren Koehler and Tim Raymond should be mentioned. Loren Koehler helped me with the Budu fonts and shared his digital dictionary of Budu, while Tim Raymond shared his insights into Bhele morphology, a related Bantu language. At an international conference in Kenya in 2000, I became aware of the uniqueness of the abundance of tape-recorded and transcribed texts that the Budu team had collected between 1987 and 1996 with the help of Bettina Gottschlich. This material opened up for me the possibility of researching natural Budu texts. Dr. Margaret Jepkiru Muthwii and others encouraged me in my subsequent investigation of natural language. I felt priviledged by the warm welcome I received at the Vrije Universiteit where I started my research in March 2002, many years after doing the Doctoraal Opleiding Bijbelvertalers, a track that is organised in partnership with the Netherlands Bible Society. Without the encouragement of Prof. Dr. Piet van Reenen I would not have committed myself to doing PhD research. Also towards the end, I would not have dared to bring this book to the printer without his scrutiny in proofreading the tables. In 2001, I found Prof. Dr. Lourens de Vries, professor of General Linguistics and professor of Bible Translation at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, willing to supervise me on this research topic. His own work triggered off the beginning of my research. Also in personal encounters he was always willing to share his ideas about genre and their implication for the study of language. I am grateful for his special sense of humour that helped me through tough times when I found myself struggling to achieve a clear presentation. Co-promotor mathematician Dr. Evert Wattel of the same University, Faculty of Exact Sciences, developed the software for the corpus linguistic research, patiently integrating what I expected from his software design. Dr. Gerard Steen of the English Department at the Vrije Universiteit 1 Abhaa Bambu, Abhaa Sadeyna, Enaa Jabaa, Enaa Nato and Abhaa Bayaka, Abhaa Polo, Ngbengusi, Ma Joli, Ma Thelesi, Ma Rutha and Elisa, Benjamin Adombi, Suza, Theres, Noel, Pierro and Abhaa Ejeo and Ma Catho. had worked on Biber’s theoretical framework (Steen 2003) and was so kind as to offer to supervise the corpus linguistic aspects. As my second co-promotor, he surprised me by his concise and in-depth questions which set me thinking for at least a month, always helping me to proceed in better ways.Thank you, all three, for your confidence in me. I wish to express my appreciation for the meetings of the Vrije Universtiteit Work Group on the Architecture of Human Language with Dr. Petra Bos, Dr. Wilbert Spooren, Prof. Dr. Geert Booij, Dr. Wilco van den Heuvel, Prof. Dr. Mike Hannay and Dr. Janet Dyk. The comments of Dr. Wilbert Spooren, in particular, were important for the development of my own thinking. Prof. Dr. Thilo Schadeberg, Prof. Dr. Maarten Mous and Dr. Felix Ameka of Leiden University are to be mentioned for the valuable remarks they made in reaction to some papers that I gave. Dr. Ameka, in particular, stirred my thoughts with his original remarks about language use. Prof. Dr. Maarten Mous was very welcoming and the Leiden Friday Afternoon Lectures on Descriptive Linguistics were certainly an inspiration to me on the few occasions I was able to be present. The Bantu Discourse Work-Group of SIL, whose 2005 meetings in Kenya I was able to attend with the financial help of Wycliffe Bible Translators (Europe Area Group), was an inspiration. Their comments on my ideas, especially those of Dr. Stephen H. Levinsohn, Dr. Helen Keaton and Dr. Steve Nicolle, were helpful. I am grateful to The Catharine van Tussenbroek Foundation that provided the money to extend this trip to include a visit to Ibambi to check my data. Proofreaders ready to work through my elaborate explanations of statistics proved to be of a very rare kind. I was fortunate to have two volunteers, whose attempts to repair some of the damage which I did to their language helped me tremendously. Mathematician Peter Stratfold and linguist Alison Nicolle helped me, for instance, even in between house-painting or scuba-diving and literacy workshops. I would also like to recognize the gracious help of Martien Kappers, Douglas Boone, Liz Raymond and Beth Koehler who read through some first-draft materials for me while still maintaining a warm friendship with helpful suggestions. Cindi Hampshire hand-carried heavy books for me from Africa to Europe while traveling with her children, and Helma Rem carried 45 cassette tapes for me in her hand luggage. Your efforts were greatly appreciated. Thanks to Bagamba Araali, now PhD, and to Jill Brace, and to several other friends,2 (if I may still use that word), for their peer support, despite my increasingly infrequent responses to their mail as the final draft neared completion. Without my children Vera and Tim I would certainly have lost my balance. Somehow they managed to keep alternating between teasing me with grotesque 40-word utterances and making me forget all about patterns of language use and focus on the patterns of meals and laundry and dentist visits. Thank you for the fun we were able to have despite my rather monotonous time-table. I thank “Bonne Maman” Martien for her 5-years supply of jam (from the orchard mentioned in the Foreword), mother-in-law Carla van der Wijngaard and mother Ankie Brink for their practical help in mending torn trousers and sheets, sewing pillow cases and whitewashing walls.