REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN Peace-Work-Fatherland Paix-Travail-Patrie THE UNIVERSITY OF YAOUNDE I UNIVERSITE DE YAOUNDE I DOCTORAL RESEARCH CENTRE CENTRE DE RECHERCHE ET DE AND TRAINING IN ARTS, FORMATION DOCTORALE ARTS, LANGUAGE AND CULTURES LANGUE ET CULTURES DOCTORAL RESEARCH AND UNITÉ DE RECHERCHE ET DE TRAINING UNIT IN LANGUAGES FORMATION DOCTORALE EN AND LITERATURE LANGUES ET LITTÉRATURE DEPARTMENT OF AFRICAAN DÉPARTEMENT DE LANGUES LANGUAGES AND LINGUISTICS AFRICAINES ET LINGUISTIQUE MBUK DOCUMENTARY GRAMMAR A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of a Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in African Languages and Linguistics By NELSON C. TSCHONGHONGEI BA, MA – African Languages & Linguistics University of Yaounde 1 Supervised by Gabriel MBA Professor March 2018 i CERTIFICATION This is to certify that the research entitled "Mbuk Documentary Grammar" is researched and authored by Nelson C. Tschonghongei of the Department of African languages and Linguistics of the University of Yaounde I, for the award of a PhD in African Languages and Linguistics. SUPERVISOR …................ Gabriel MBA Professor University of Yaounde I ii DEDICATION The Fon of Mbuk iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A single firewood cannot make a flame that cooks a pot, less the content would remain raw. In the same light, salt alone would not give the required taste and flavour to a meal unless other spices are added. Thus, if we are reading Mbuk today is thanks to the good wishes and will of nature and people of all social strata who played the role of enough firewood, pepper, oil and maggi to make the pot, thesis, somehow ready for intellectual consumption. We thank all those who have fruitfully partnered for the success of this research for the Mbuk people. Immensely, I thank my supervisor, Prof. Gabriel Mba, who shared his knowledge and gave up his time and energy for my intellectual growth and joy in research. I appreciate those who nurtured me at the Department of African Languages and Linguistics of the University of Yaounde 1 for handing over to me the linguistic torch. The grammar is what was imparted by you all: Professor Cleder Nor Nseme, E. Sadembouo, Ndongo S., J. A. Njika. Other lecturers have furnished me with various, supplementary help in refining the research, such as B. S. Chumbow, N. Mutaka, G. Ndamsah, F. Tabe, Edmond Biloa, J. Ogwana and Bitjaa Kody. And not forgetting the staff of the Endangered Language Documentation Program (ELDP) of the Summer School Buea and my colleagues of the African Network for Language Documentation. Thus a piece of documentary, the fruit borne here, is a compendium of knowledge. The "discovery" of Mbuk happened thanks to a short fieldwork I did in November 2011 with Dr. Pierpaolo Di Carlo, Miss Kefen Ivoline, Mr. Takor, Dr. Mbe and Dr. Wirba (CATUC), with financial support from the U.S. NSF with which we produced a preliminary report, still unpublished, about the Fio language. In addition, I would not have been to the research terrain if not for a year funding (2015) still by the American National Science Foundation (U.S. NSF) through the partnership of the University of Yaounde I and University at Buffalo - State University of New York under the auspices of Prof. Jeff C. Good with the keen monitor of Dr. Pierpaolo Di Carlo. May this fruitful partnering continue to support and promote research. Moreover, another complementary assistance to this thesis has been the Hon. KOUINCHE Albert scholarship award to PhD research students. This work benefited serially from the IVth, Vth and VI editions of 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively. Thank you Honourable together with your benevolent team of men and women of good will. I am grateful to my initiator into linguistics, Mr. David THORMOSET, and his family for their moral, financial, and prayer support toward the attainment of this my last level of the classroom certificate, the PhD. iv We acknowledge the digitisation of this work by CERDOTOLA Yaounde with Dr. Ngue Um Emmanuel as the Digital Archival Manager and Trainer, hence, letting the last aspect of the documentary theory; digital archival and dissemination to be complete. I thank Prof. P. N. M. Mutaka for always leaving his house for Sous Prefecture Tsinga. My gratitude as well goes to the staff of SIL, especially to the computer department; Mr. Emmanuel Chinepoh, Mr. Matthew Lee, Mr. Francis Meyof, Mr. Bruce Cox, Mr. Olivier Tayou and Mrs BRADFORD Jann for assisting in solving software problems. I thank the staff of the SIL Library Mr. Jam Paul & Mme Beri Nfor, and the personnel of NACALCO, CABTAL, ALDEC, ABTRALP and the Bum Bible Translation Team for their care. I am delighted with the Mbuk language technicians: Fon Wango Simon, Mr. Ndicha Nicolas, Rev. Lang George, Mr. Samban B., Mr. Ndicha Angelbert W., Mme Kechua Prisca, Mme Tili Clementine, Mr. Lang Elijah, Mr.Bikem Nestor and all the Njis. May the grace of God anoint the Rolling Hills Church in Canada for their ongoing assistance, together with Mama Gladys THORMOSET. More grace to Mr./Mrs Anang Joseph Fuh, Dr./Mrs Aka Aaron, Mr. Ikom Gilbert for providing the research money that was stolen away on my way to the fieldwork. Also, in order to ruin this research as was intended by the instigators of Agro-Communal Injustice in my village aborted by the intervention of Mr. Ikom Christopher, Dr. Pierpaolo Di Carlo and Prof. Jeff C. Good brought peace of mind and time for us to focus on Mbuk Documentary. Aghem elites and my kin: the Tschonghongei, Njiamang, Zuh, Rev. Dr. J. Aji-Mvo, the Mayor - Njukwe Charles, Mme Abeng Celine, HRH Kangsen Buhmbi R., Mme Jill Martens, Mme Mua Grace N., Hon. Wallang R., Mr/Mrs. Chuo Cyprian A., the Mayor Mr/Mrs Dighambong A., Mr/Mrs Beng Joseph. I owe Mr. Chi Antony, Mabel & Gerald, Mr./Mrs Kum Marius, Mr/Mrs. Alphonsius A., Mme Ama'azee M., Mr./Mrs K. Cornelius Kedze, Mme Dia Quinta S., Mr/Mrs. Mike Birse, Mr/Mrs Foy Andrew, Mme. E. Kangsen B. & Hilda, Mme Gamnje Kiki, Mrs Shelley Kashuba, Mme Ezegha Mercy M, Dr./Mrs C. Bawe, Mr. Philip Nsah, Dr. Paul Kimbi, Mr. Mua E. Ndze, Mr. Keja Roger F., Mr/Mrs Zuh Henry, Mr./Mrs Nyoh Charles Abang, Rev. Abu Touka, Mr./Mrs Amah J. Paul, Mr/Mrs Roland Wallang. "Ghukaam n tɔm mɛ̀ʼɛ̀ to ā?Kə lo tsoo miaan zə̀n?" kaam ntɔmmɛ̀ʼɛ̀toā?Kəlotsoomiaanzə̀n?kaamzə̀n?"ʼɛ̀ʼɛ̀zə̀n?"azə̀n?"?zəkaamzə̀n?"n?" (Aghem) Haven't you finished writing? When shall it finish? These are seas of questions from my wife whenever she can no longer control the children alone. My son cries, I want to see my da "Nkaam ntɔmmɛ̀ʼɛ̀toā?Kəlotsoomiaanzə̀n?" so ŋ̀ kôʼ dàkaam". ntɔmmɛ̀ʼɛ̀toā?Kəlotsoomiaanzə̀n?"kodà"ʼdakaam Thank you all for surmounting the challenges of my absence, taking care of mom and the children. "Mr N kakaam n "tɔm mɛ̀ʼɛ̀toā?Kəlotsoomiaanzə̀n?"hɪ́lə̀rNləkaamnzə̀n?" . (Mbuk) I am done. Special thank to mom for my scholastic care. I honour my friends who positively with one heart have sustained me in this academic endeavour. We cannot succeed alone. I could not have reached this rung without those of you not been mentioned here. v ABSTRACT Nowadays, in civilised communities, most languages strive to play a dual role; to be spoken and to be read. But they cannot be read when they have not been written down, as well as, they cannot be spoken when there are no speakers. By no speakers, we mean that the natives have abandoned the use of their own language for a language they believe to be superior to theirs; with a more prestigious status acquired in terms of its population, war might or simply because it has a written form while the neighbouring one does not. The latter excuse for an inferiority complex is what this research, termed "Mbuk Documentary Grammar" wants to take Mbuk out of. Mbuk should have its own written form of its speech, just as any other speech in the world is striving to be spoken, written, and read. To attain this goal of having a spoken, a written and a read Mbuk, we used the documentary approach whereby, we collected audio and video recordings from various Mbuk language speakers on varied themes. The data collection was accomplished through research instruments such as observation, documents, interviews, and questionnaires in order to obtain the desired findings here stated. Our findings shows that the natives can now listen to themselves and other speakers through the audio and video recordings. And through the video film, there is knowledge sharing throughout all the social classes and gender whenever they are watching the projections. Men and women, children and adults hear and see what they have not been exposed to, thus inviting access rights to be implemented. To get Mbuk read, there are some ELAN annotated media files. There is also the hard copy and an electronic copy of the Mbuk documentary grammar. By documentary here we mean that the descriptive corpus has audiovisual backings available for anyone who wishes to listen or watch them. The corpora include events of arts and craft, stories, songs, rites, pictures of some items, most of which are captured in natural settings. Complementary to the natural scenery are some elicitated wordlists and some grammatical elicitations. The documentary approach is regarded as a speech community film that cannot go hitch free and, as a result, requires a policy statement for future research to avoid the pitfalls of this present research. As a challenge, the documentary equipment such as recorders, computers, electricity shortage and backup space were like a pendulous bridge that hindered us from going across quickly. Relaunching such a research, we should have better equipment and more field time to explore more diverse themes, in order to limit elicitation and to find enough of what is needed within the naturally occuring speech acts that suit better documentary processes accredited by an appropriate methodology.