Documenting Krim and Bom, Two Endangered Languages of Sierra Leone

Portland State University, Portland OR

Investigators

Abstract

Two West African languages, Krim and Bom, are spoken in small coastal enclaves among the tidal mangrove swamps in southwest Sierra Leone. They are severely endangered, with Krim having perhaps several score speakers and Bom even fewer. Because there is so little written on the two languages, both are in great danger of disappearing without a trace. G. Tucker Childs has experience working on a related language (Mani) to the north on the Sierra Leone-Guinea border. With support from the National Science Foundation, he will extend that experience to documenting two more languages. He will be joined by Taziff Koroma, a linguistics lecturer at Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone's major university; he provides the necessary links with its Linguistics Program. Moreover, Koroma was raised in the Krim area and has wide experience conducting field research throughout the country. One of his former students, Phillip Mando, teaches in the Krim area and has already provided crucial assistance in facilitating the pilot study. Despite its weakened state, Krim functions importantly in weekly social drinking sessions, a central event in this society which forms a key domain in the audio-visual documentation. The documentation of two linguistic systems about to disappear will provide data for a number of linguistic, historical, and related issues. For example, questions as to the early history of these peoples will be aided by a better understanding of the linguistic relationships in the area. Documentation will include the recording and analysis of all available forms of discourse, that is, language in use. Just as important is the archiving and dissemination of these data. In this way the richness of the language and culture may be preserved and serve as the basis for pride and identity, as well as forming a valuable reference work for present and future generations. The project will have much broader impact, however, in the immediate and larger communities themselves. Effort will be directed at involving the community in the project ("collaborative fieldwork") and at training others to continue similar work. Although few members of the community are literate, they will be involved as much as possible, e.g., in recording and interviewing other Krim speakers, even photographing and videotaping interactions and traditional activities. They, too, just as the wider world, will receive a record of their participation in the project. All participants will be provided with cassette copies of their recordings and copies of photographs in which they appear. As a final deliverable of the project, the local community will be provided with primers and story books providing a written record of their language and access to literacy.