We’re in Baynunk territory, in the village of Niamone, Casamance, and Issouf Coly is telling us about the hare, who finds himself in quite an odd position at the hyena’s house, though ultimately living up to his reputation as a bright and clever animal…

Now… Taalintaal! May the story begin! Let’s see how the hyena got swindled by more clever than herself…

Reminder: Baynunk is a language spoken in southern Senegal, as well as in neighbouring Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. It belongs to the Niger-Congo family (North-Atlantic branch, Tenda-Nyun group) and includes several dialectal variations. In 2006, Ethnologue.com estimated the number of Baynunk speakers around 6,200, figures leading to consider Baynunk an « endangered language » according to UNESCO standards. Widely understudied, Baynunk was finally codified in 2005 and now comprises an official spelling system.

Watch Tale 1

Watch Tale 3

Watch Tale 4 – Part 1

Watch Tale 4 – Part 2

Watch all our videos in Baynunk

Linguist: Sokhna Bao-Diop

Image & sound: Muriel Lutz assisted by Cheikh Tidiane Sall

Editing: Caroline Laurent

Video created within the ANR Sénélangues project