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Bedik Tale 3: The monkey who turned into a young woman
We’re still in eastern Senegal, in the Bedik village of Bandafassi, sitting around the bonfire with storyteller Aminata Camara and her audience.
The characters of today’s story are animals again, but the scenery is different: following last week’s hyena and hippo, this time Aminata tells us a story of apes.
For the Bedik as for many, monkeys have a clever cast. The ape/woman of this tale does appear quite gifted, but does that always mean having the last word? You never know…
See Bedik tale 1: “the orphan avenged by the forest”
See Bedik tale 2: “the adventures of Tama the hyena”
See Bedik tale 4: “the young girl who wanted to drink beer”
Linguist: Adjaratou Oumar Sall
Image & sound: Muriel Lutz assisted by Cheikh Tidiane Sall
Translation: Marcel Camara
Editing: Caroline Laurent
Video created within the ANR Sénélangues project
Reminder: Menik is a Niger-Congo language (North Atlantic branch, West Atlantic group, Tenda subgroup). It separates into three dialects: Banapas, Biwol and Bëñolo. The filming took place in Bandafassi, area of Kedougou, in Banapas dialect. An endangered language, Bapen, older that Menik, was discovered in 1961 by linguist Marie-Paul Ferry. This language could very well be the “mother” of the Menik and Oniyan (Bassari) languages. Our filming took place in Bandafassi, area of Kedougou, in Banapas dialect.
In 2002, the Christian NTM (New Tribes Mission) missionaries, who were the second to work on the language, estimated 3,380 Bedik were living in Senegal at the time.
With a few thousand speakers at the most, Menik can clearly be considered endangered on a relatively short term. However, it has been observed that the language is still being handed down to the young generations despite the fact that a majority of people in these villages speaks fluent Fula, Mandinka (Malinké) and French, used daily.
Speakers of Menik, although perfectly accustomed to the environing culture and bearing a great sense of adaptability to the languages they’re in contact with, are linked with a strong feeling of identity that protects their language.