Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T16:50:58.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Proverbial Lore and Word-Play of the Fulani

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

D. W. Arnott
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The wit and wisdom of the Fulani, as of other African peoples, are expressed most characteristically in their proverbs and riddles. Their proverbs are amply illustrated by the collections of H. Gaden and C. E. J. Whitting, and a selection of riddles appeared in a recent article in Africa by M. Dupire and the Marquis de Tressan. But there are other types of oral literature—both light and serious—which various writers have mentioned, without quoting examples. So Mlle Dupire refers to formes litteraires alambiquées and ritournelles des enfants bororo, and G. Pfeffer, in his article on ‘Prose and Poetry of the Fulbe,’ speaks of jokes and tongue-twisters. The aim of this article is to present some examples of these types of proverbial lore and word-play—epigrams, tongue-twisters, and chain-rhymes—which were recorded, along with many more riddles and proverbs, in the course of linguistic research during a recent tour of the Fula-speaking areas of West Africa, and to consider their relation to proverbs and riddles. These types of oral literature are of course by no means peculiar to the Fulani, and a number of the examples here quoted may well have parallels in other languages of West Africa or farther afield. But an examination of such pieces in one language may perhaps contribute something to the general study of this kind of lore.

Résumé

PROVERBES ET DEVINETTES PEULES

Bien que les proverbes et les devinettes soient l'expression la plus caractéristique de l'esprit et de la sagesse des Peuls, il existe d'autres types de littérature orale—des épigrammes, des phrases difficiles à prononcer et des rimes enchaînées — qui partagent certaines particularités avec eux.

Les devinettes ne sont pas basées sur un jeu de mots, comme la plupart des devinettes anglaises, mais sur un jeu d'idées ou d'images (généralement visuelles, mais quelquefois auditives, ou une combinaison des deux), la comparaison de deux phénomènes qui se ressemblent par leur situation, leur caractère ou leur comportement. Quelquefois la devinette est posée en termes généraux et celui qui veut la résoudre doit trouver la particularité appropriée; mais ordinairement une particularité est donnée et celui qui cherche à résoudre la devinette doit choisir correctement ses traits saillants et trouver un autre objet ayant les mêmes traits.

De même, certains proverbes énoncent un principe général, mais la grande majorité, tout en donnant un exemple d'un principe général, sont exprimés en termes d'une situation particulière. Leur application à d'autres situations entraîne un procès de comparaison analogue à celui associé avec l'invention et la solution de devinettes.

Les épigrammes, comme les proverbes, sont des considérations aphoristiques sur la vie, mais elles sont plus longues et plus compliquées. Elles consistent en un rapprochement de plusieurs phénomènes ayant des caractéristiques générales en commun qui sont habituellement disposés par trois ou par groupes de trois ; les caractéristiques générales peuvent être décrites ou rester implicites, tandis qu'un troisième type classe plusieurs objets apparentés en catégories nettes.

Ces épigrammes ont une structure formelle typique et diverses autres particularités qui les distinguent du langage ordinaire, et qu'ils partagent dans une mesure plus ou moins grande avec les proverbes et les devinettes — une légère anomalie grammaticale, une régularité cadencée et certains procédés stylistiques, tels que la répétition des phrases parallèles et l'assonance basée sur l'utilisation de suffixes identiques.

La structure de la langue peule se prête à de telles assonances et également à la ‘ jonglerie ’ verbale de phrases difficiles à prononcer, tandis que la subtilité de celles-ci égale l'ingénuosité des rimes enchaînées. Ces dernières consistent en un enchaînement d'idées où le dernier mot de chaque ligne évoque le thème de la ligne suivante. Elles montrent également quelques unes des particularités stylistiques et autres, déjà constatées dans les épigrammes, les proverbes et les devinettes. Ainsi, les divers types de littérature orale peule, dont certains sont frivoles et d'autres sont sérieux, sont rapprochés par ces caractéristiques communes comme des éléments intimement liés d'une seule tradition littéraire.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , October 1957 , pp. 379 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1957

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

page 379 note 1 Gaden, H., Proverbes et maximes peuls et toucouleurs, Paris, 1931.Google Scholar

page 379 note 2 Whitting, C. E. J., Hausa and Fulani Proverbs, Govt. Printer, Lagos, 1940.Google Scholar

page 379 note 3 Africa, xxv. 4 (1955), pp. 375–92.

page 379 note 4 Africa, xii. 3 (1939), pp. 285–307.

page 379 note 5 My reasons for using ‘Fula’ for the language of the Fulani or Fulbe are given in a note to my article on ‘The Middle Voice in Fula’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1956, xviii/1. Here ‘Fula’ is also used adjectivally to correspond to the root Ful- of the vernacular, though the familiar ‘Fulani’ is retained for the name of the people.

page 379 note 6 The examples quoted come from many areas, and show interesting dialectal variations, which are however outside the scope of this article. Details of their provenance, indicated by a place-name before each example, or in the adjacent text, are as follows:

Gambia Fulbe Kantooro, at Basse, Gambia.

Nigeria

B.K. Town Fulani, Birnin Kebbi, Sokoto Province.

Bornu Hoorewaalde group of Wodaaβe, at Ngelzerma, Bornu Province.

Dukku Town Fulani at Dukku, nr. Gombe, Bauchi Province.

Gombe Town Fulani from Akko at Gombe, Bauchi Province.

Misau Siranko'en group, Misau, Bauchi Province.

Jalingo Fulβe Muri, Jalingo, Adamawa Province.

Katsina Dallaaji group, Katsina Province.

French West Africa

Dori from a Maçina man (Bari Clan) at Dori, Upper Volta.

Kounari from a Kounari man (nr. Mopti) seen at Djibo, Upper Volta.

Mopti Town Fulani (Ba Clan) at Mopti, Fr. Sudan.

Sendegue Ba Clan, at Sendégué, north of Mopti, Fr. Sudan.

Say from a ‘Gurmaajo’ near Say, Niamey, Fr. Niger.

In the transcription aa, ee, ii, &c. represent long vowels. Minor dialectal differences of vowel-quality are not shown. c is used both for the palatal plosive of Nigeria and the palato-alveolar of Guinea, and for intermediate variants; but the fricative variant is represented by f.

mb, nd, ŋg represent nasal compounds; nnd, ŋŋg represent a nasal followed by a nasal compound; m.b and n.d represent a nasal followed by a plosive, the nasality being of shorter duration than in nnd, ŋŋg (e.g. fom.bina, gon.dal).

The translations adhere as closely to the original as natural English allows, a literal version being added where there is much divergence.

Acknowledgement is here made to the many individuals who have helped with the collection and interpretation of the texts.

page 382 note 1 Anyone who fails to solve a riddle must ‘surrender’ a town or village to the person posing it. ‘Surrender’ formulae recorded as far apart as Plateau Province, Nigeria (Butanko'en group, Pankshin), and French Guinea (Timbi Medina, nr. Pita), are remarkably similar. The Pankshin version is as follows:

Poser. hokkaŋ gariiri. Give me a town.

Victim. too, mi hokkii ma. Very well, I give you one.

Poser. ndiye? hokkam maundi. Which one? Give me a big one.

Victim. mi hokkii ma Jəs. I give you Jos.

Poser. mi goodanake ma, nde kokkudaa yam gariiri maundi; mi nyaamii, nyorkoi nyorkoi fuu koi maa'a, mbookkoi mbookkoi fuu koi am. I thank you for giving me a big town; I've eaten it; all the shrivelled little bits are yours, and all the lovely little bits are mine.

The Timbi Medina version runs:

Poser. okkam misiide. Give me a town (or village).

Victim. mi okkii ma Pifa. I give you Pita.

Poser. mi henndike Pita, mi modidii e ko woni toŋ kam fou. I've seized Pita, I've swallowed it all up, together with all that is there.

The variations hokkii, okkii; gariire (fr. Hausa gari), misiide; -ake suffix and -ike suffix; fuu, fou are systematic dialectal differences. Both these dialects share the peculiarity of assimilating a word-final nasal to the following consonant; hence hokkaŋ gariiri, but okkam misiide, and toŋ not ton.

When these variations are allowed for, the resemblance is indeed striking.

page 382 note 2 lit. ‘not scraped unless cooked, not eaten unless scraped’.

page 382 note 3 Daget, J., ‘Les Poissons du Niger Supérieur’, Mémoires de l'I.F.A.N. No. 36, Dakar, 1954.Google Scholar

page 383 note 1 Herzog, George, Jabo Proverbs from Liberia, p. 7, International African Institute, London, 1936.Google Scholar

page 384 note 1 I would include under this heading the tripartite ‘proverbs’ of Gaden, Nos. 209, 392, 393, 394, 404, 465. 915, 917 1035. Riddles usually have a single theme, but tripartite ones do occur, e.g.

(Misau)

na'i fuudi amin;

to woote naŋŋgii nyaamki, haarataa;

to woote waalake, ummataako;

ŋge'e boo to dillii, wartataa.

Ans. hiite e tooke fuurle.

The cows of our compound;

one is never sated, once it starts eating;

one will never get up, once it has lain down;

and the third will never come back, once it has gone away.

Ans. Fire and ashes and smoke.

page 384 note 2 Lit. ‘standing-up will stand’, darŋgal being the regular word for the Day of Judgment, ŋgadaa lit. ‘make’.

page 384 note 3 Lit. ‘does, functions’.

page 385 note 1 i.e. in strength and vehemence.

page 385 note 2 A market throng is compared to the multitude of risen souls at the last judgment.

page 385 note 3 Cf. Hausa gashin tsiya gare shi—he has a poverty hair, he has persistent ill luck. ya karya gashin tsiya—he broke his poverty hair, he bought a horse, ya karya gashin tsuliya—he broke his anus-hair, he got hold of another's horse/donkey and went for a ride. All quoted in Abraham's Dictionary of the Hausa Language.

page 385 note 4 Slung under one arm on a strap from the shoulder, like the satchel mentioned in the next line.

page 385 note 5 An obvious euphemism; cf. gashin tsuliya in note 3.

page 385 note 6 A learned man, especially one learned in the Koran, a Koranic teacher, and so any teacher.

page 386 note 1 kautal, as when the cattle of A and B are herded together, jooddal, living in the same house, gon.dal, being neighbours.

page 386 note 2 ? from a Jerma word taafi. The implication is apparently that hemp would be used for thick 2- or 3-strand rope (boggol), but not for the thinner rope and twine that is simply rolled {harla) between the hands or on the thigh.

page 386 note 3 sc. buudi—5-franc pieces.

page 386 note 4 jaudi may mean ‘wealth’ in general; but, even with many settled or semi-nomadic Fulani, usually has the restricted meaning of ‘valuable livestock’ — their form of wealth. Cf. No. 30, though there the cat squeezes in at the end of the list of livestock!

page 386 note 5 sonyo is the sound of someone moving about—a waffling to the thief.

page 386 note 6 demoo-o, with a slur between oo and o, corresponds to demoowo of other dialects.

page 386 note 7 A corn-cob is roasted in ashes. The connexion between a he-goat and fire is not clear, unless the reference is to branding.

page 387 note 1 See note 4, p. 386.

page 387 note 2 With this speaker the -e suffix of these verbs was short when in pause, though long when not in pause. In other dialects it is long even in pause. His speech was a hybrid of several sub-dialects; plural verbs sometimes had nasal C1 (e.g. ŋgoni), sometimes plosive, as here; the continuous tense was formed sometimes with no, sometimes with na, both variants occurring in No. 32.

page 387 note 3 Meaning uncertain; perhaps a type of basket.

page 388 note 1 Doke, C. M., Lamba Folk-Lore, New York, 1927.Google Scholar

page 388 note 1 Op. cit., p. 8.

page 388 note 3 Lit. ‘espy a young gazelle and (sc. immediately) tear up your (sc. old), leather loin-cloth’—the Fula equivalent, perhaps, of ‘don't count your chickens before they're hatched’.

page 388 note 4 This was explained as follows: se kammu saamii, limoobe duubi de'ii ‘when the heavens fall, there'll be none left to count the years’. This proverb also contains the anomalous use of finite tenses of the verb (sellaa, wuuraa) as subject and object of the main verb yabbaa.

page 389 note 1 Lit. ‘don't meet’ and ‘have not the same origin’.

page 389 note 2 Plural of niddo, which sometimes is simply a variant neddo ‘a person’, but is also used with the restricted meaning of ‘a virtuous man’. Here the literal meaning is ‘All men are men, but they do not join with good ones’.

page 389 note 3 Kulu is a girl's name, for which we may substitute Jewel, to preserve the play on the borrowed Hausa word kunu. The epigram was explained as follows: keutudo maŋŋgaago Kulu yiidataa e kunu, ŋgam kullum baccel tefata fembiddo, kunu boo naayeejo yarata dum ‘one who has the means to admire (and attract) Kulu will have nothing to do with gruel, for a girl always looks out for a strong man; and as for gruel, only a (sc. toothless) old man drinks it.

page 390 note 1 Op. cit., p. 8.

page 390 note 2 Dialectal variants.

page 391 note 1 This refers to the custom of pricking the skin around the lips and then rubbing on a blue-black stain.

page 391 note 2 seeda is strictly ‘spend the hot dry season’.

page 392 note 1 Gaden, op. cit., has a proverb (No. 1170) somewhat similar to this, but in his version, from Senegal, the alliterative effect is weakened by the absence of the recurrent waawndu.

page 393 note 1 Lit. ‘little thing’ and ‘son of the bush’ respectively—euphemistic epithets for these dangerous animals.

page 394 note 1 An opprobrious name for someone you despise. cf. the Hausa word alagwaido/alagwaida ‘a derisive epithet applied to Gwari people’ (Bargery)—like the Scots ‘Sassenach’.

page 394 note 2 A lamb entrusted to a Fulani, for feeding on milk.

page 394 note 3 Strictly ‘squeezed into balls’: round ‘bricks’ of mud for building, and balls of cooked flour, ready for mixing up in milk.

page 394 note 4 wooja covers a variety of colours approximating to red.

page 394 note 5 In the original, each line is a question, suggesting that it may normally be spoken as a dialogue, as was another chain-rhyme which was heard in Dahomey.