Baji Gbombi Interview (Part 2)

Authors

George Tucker Childs, Portland State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Interview

Publication Date

3-26-2008

Subjects

Endangered languages -- Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone -- Social life and customs, Kim language -- Sierra Leone

Disciplines

African Languages and Societies | Applied Linguistics

Abstract

Recorded in living room of DKB house, Tei, Kwamebai Krim Chiefdom.

Arthur Moiwo is interviewing Baji Gbombi. When going over the transcription with Baji Gbombi in the two days after the recording session, he told me that Moiwo did not know how to speak Kim. According to Joe Peku, who went over the transcription with me, neither Moiwo nor Gbombi speaks Kim well, and Joe pointed out several instances in which a word was used incorrectly or aberrantly, and in which Mende or English expressions were used instead of the Kim counterparts. Gbombi’s speech is indeed somewhat jerky; he does not seem to speak as fluidly in Kim as he does in Mende. His great strengths as a consultant, however, are his pleasant, personable manner, his ability to slow down his speech to the clear enunciation of single syllables, and his willingness to correct the researcher’s pronunciation. Despite Joe’s dismissal of Baji’s language ability (though the two agreed together when Gbombi was in Tei that Moiwo couldn’t speak Kim), he appears to have greater fluency and flexibility with the language than A. Moiwo, at least.

Location

Africa, Sierra Leone, Tei

Participants

Tucker Childs (creator, contributor), Baji Gbombi (subject)

Languages

Kim, English

ISO 639

kia, eng

Bundle ID

080326_09

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/29793

Citation Details

Childs, George Tucker, "Baji Gbombi Interview (Part 2)" (2008). The Kim and Bom Languages of Sierra Leone. 145.
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/29793