{"id":49697,"date":"2011-06-07T11:52:17","date_gmt":"2011-06-07T09:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/?p=49697"},"modified":"2025-10-21T22:36:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T20:36:30","slug":"bedik-tale-1-the-orphan-avenged-by-the-forest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sorosoro.org\/en\/2011\/06\/bedik-tale-1-the-orphan-avenged-by-the-forest\/","title":{"rendered":"Bedik Tale 1: The orphan avenged by the forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following tale was shot in the spring of 2010 in the Bedik<\/strong> community, eastern Senegal<\/strong>, a very hot and dry region, as part of a filming session organized by the Sorosoro crew. We hadn\u2019t had the chance to show you the outcome yet because\u2026 we had no translator to understand exactly what had been filmed! The number of Menik speakers does not exceed one thousand people after all\u2026<\/p>\n

Thanks to linguist Marie-Paule Ferry we eventually found the gem we were looking for, Marcel Camara. Born in Bandafassi, the village we were shooting in, in the Kedougou area, Marcel lives in Paris since 2002 where he works as an educator. He still speaks his Medik mother tongue of course, as well as Bassari, Fula, Wolof, and French\u2026 prime example of multilingualism!<\/p>\n

Marcel agreed to help us with the countless hours of film rushes we had. And he started with the tales, which happen to be told by his aunt Aminata Camara<\/strong>. \u00ab\u00a0The orphan avenged by the forest<\/strong> \u00bb is the first of a series, and a quick glimpse on the Bedik imaginary world\u00a0(speaking animals and objects of course!). Sense of morality isn\u2019t left aside either: society should be equal for all and no one should be left behind, not even an orphan\u2026<\/p>\n

See Bedik tale 2: “the adventures of Tama the hyena”<\/a><\/p>\n

See Bedik tale 3: “the monkey who turned into a young woman”<\/a><\/p>\n

See Bedik tale 4: “the young girl who wanted to drink beer”<\/a><\/p>\n

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Linguist<\/span>: Adjaratou Oumar Sall
\nImage & sound<\/span>: Muriel Lutz assisted by Cheikh Tidiane Sall
\nTranslation<\/span>: Marcel Camara
\nEditing<\/span>: Caroline Laurent<\/p>\n

Video created within the ANR S\u00e9n\u00e9langues <\/em>project<\/p>\n

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Reminder: Menik is a Niger-Congo<\/a> language (North Atlantic branch, West Atlantic group, Tenda subgroup). It separates into three dialects: Banapas, Biwol and B\u00eb\u00f1olo. 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 \u201cmother\u201d of the Menik and Oniyan (Bassari) languages. Our filming took place in Bandafassi, area of Kedougou, in Banapas dialect.<\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 (Malink\u00e9) and French, used daily.<\/em><\/p>\n

Speakers of Menik, although perfectly accustomed to the environing culture and bearing a great sense of adaptability to the languages they\u2019re in contact with, are linked with a strong feeling of identity that protects their language.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more information on Menik<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

See an introduction to Menik<\/a>
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