Bulu contact region
The conversations collection includes all kinds of interactional discourse, ranging from interviews to group discussions and meetings. In terms of topics, it showcases the Bagyeli's perspective on the construction of the (then new) deep-sea port and the environmental changes it brings about, their relations with their Bantu neighbors and Western people, and their wishes for the future. As such, it provides a unique snapshot of and insights to a marginalized society in the midst of radical turmoil.
Elicitation data stems from speakers of the village Ngolo who have been working with Nadine Grimm outside of their village, in Kribi town, during her fieldwork in 2011-2014. Data in this collection ranges from word lists to the structures of noun phrases, verb phrases, and sentences. Along with natural texts, it constitutes the basis for Grimm's (2015) "A grammar of Gyeli" which received the Panini Award 2019 by the Association of Linguistic Typology.
This collection comprises experimental data that was gathered with stimulus material made available by the Language and Cognition Department, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (http://fieldmanuals.mpi.nl/). Experimental tasks were conducted in different Gyeli dialect regions, sometimes with comparative data from the closest contact language. Experimental data is deposited by dialect region, just like other genres as well. Dialect regions include both the Gyeli variety and its contact language, if applicable. For instance, data on color terms and categories is represented in the "Bulu contact region" collection encompassing data from the Gyeli variety spoken in Ngolo...
The music collection includes both musical performances and dances. Certain types of songs are performed for different types of dances. Contributions to the musical part are gender-specific (although gender roles generally do not seem to be very pronounced in this egalitarian society as both men and women take part in hunting as well as child rearing). Women sing while they are producing an elaborate rhythm by clapping sticks on a big bamboo pipe that is sliced lengthwise. A few men (two or three) beat big drums. Dancing and music is usually an activity after dark and may last the entire night. The main types of dances are clearly distinguished by the dancers involved. In the popular "...
Narratives encompass mainly traditional story telling, but also autobiographical and anecdotal narrations.
Procedural and observational texts are treated as one category here as they often occur together. For instance, we may observe how a basket is being made and, at some point, a Gyeli speaker gives an explanation of what they are doing. This collection includes a wide range of topics, for instance building huts, collecting honey, preparing food, as well as rituals such as healing ceremonies. Bundles in this collection are grouped by activity type.
This collections contains public speeches, for example collaboration agreements that are typically done as a unanimous village decision instead of individually, and farewell speeches.