| Review This book certainly is the most readable
book about the Zarma language and
culture published to this day. This is
compulsory stuff for those who want to
stay in the western part of
Niger for some time and don't want to be a complete
stranger.
Nevertheless, this book is not a
language course. It rather resembles the TravelTalk
paperbacks. It provides a quit comprehensive
overview of Zarma grammar in a simple way and
always illustrated with examples. The cultural aspects discussed
in the third part of the book are, as it is, sufficient ground to
read this book. Also from this part you will
learns about both language and culture. The
expression « Hala abada hayni si bunga sorro
gu ga dake care ga » (Never, truly never,
millet will produce five consecutive years) and
a list of all major famines since 1890
illustrate, for example, the importance of rain
in this region. You will see that beauty is
something that is culturally determined: « The
first sign of beauty and the most important is
stoutness. A meagre wife can't be beautiful and
she will be mocked, sometimes cruelly. ». A
topical subject probably is Bornand discusses
the peaceful coexistence of traditional religion
and Islam in the Zarma region, and examples are
given of a civil servant and even a marabou,
though true-born Muslims, practicing rituals of
traditional religion.
This book is written for those who want to be
more than a transient, and Bornand really
succeeded. The French language doesn't have to
be a problem for all with a basic knowledge of
French.
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| Structure of the book
The first part of the book entails grammar and,
including the general introduction
of the language, this part consist of 70
pages. The book also contains a vocabulary Zarma -
French (about 40 pages) and French -Zarma (about
60 pages).
The contemporary conversation chapter
(32 pages) covers twelve topics ranging
from greeting people in different situations
to bargaining over a price on the market.
Each time Zarma phrases are given with their
meaning and literal translation. Sometimes
tables are provided, e.g. for the numbers, or
text boxes are used as illustration, e.g. about
a sacrifice to cure illnesses.
Other topics discussed are how to respond to a
question, how to thank someone, how to
apologize, how to ask for direction, how to
talk about time, how to talk about food and
drinks, how to congratulate and to bid, how
to talk about illness, how to talk about
emotions, and how to offer one's
condolences.
The cultural aspects are discussed
in the third part of the book (almost 90
pages). Bornand describes the Zarma culture
in six sections. Important Zarma words, names
and phrases are given in bold. Special topics or
examples are discussed in text blocks. The first
section "Landmarks of live" discusses the
control of the land, the main crops grown, the
division of the work between the sexes and the
influence of rain of lack of it on live in the
Sahel. The
section "From bush to the house of the
spirits" discusses, amongst others, the
different type of settlements and political
units as well as the structure of and
different types of buildings in a
settlement. "The social groups" is a section
that focuses on the social structure,
including the importance of heritage, the
political organisation, the (extended)
family and marriage relationship. "The
individual" is the section discussing the
representation of the person, the
traditional education and the development of
boy to man and girl to woman. The last
section but one is about "the ceremonies
that give live rhythm". Topics are of course
marriage, initiation and funeral, but also,
pregnancy, birth, abortion and baptism. The
concluding section deals with religion.
The CD-ROM contains pronunciation examples
and a series of photograph illustrating daily
live. The pronunciation examples are
ordered in seven topics, (1) articles, nouns,
and adjectives, (2) the predicate, (3) adverbs,
(4) vocabulary, (5) the structure of a sentence,
(6) speech act, and (7) the story about the
warrior Kuurayize Kalleykoy. For the topics one
to six first Sandra Bornand reads out loud the
text in French and next Tahirou Boubacar
presents the text in Zarma. The story, the last
topic, is also
included in the book. With respect to the six
other items, it is –in my opinion– a missed
opportunity not to include the possibility to
select the text you want to practice. As
listener you have to listen the all recorded
text (for several minutes) without even the
possibility to wind forward or backward.
The photo's of Gustave Deghilage and Sandra
Bornand, both black and white and coloured ones,
differ in quality, but give a good impression of
the different aspects of rural live
(agriculture, cooking, water, villages, markets,
stock breeding, landscape) and man (dressing,
music instruments, religion, children,
body-guards) in Niger .
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Text on back flap As the picture of Zélika, the little girl on
the cover, who is looking with a curious
glance through the window at what is
happening inside the house, this book
proposes to discover the Zarma people of
Niger through their language and their
culture.
You will discover the major themes of daily
live, but also the less perceptible aspects for
a travelling visitor. Although the offered
view tries to show the reader the most «
traditional » aspects of this culture, it
pays attention to the occurring changes as well.
Likewise you may discover the language through
its grammar, the ingredients of the contemporary
conversation ordered per theme and a bilingual
vocabulary with a multiple entry.
This work is accompanied by a CD-ROM that
contains pronunciation examples and a series of
photograph illustrating daily live. You will
find also a tale in the tradition of the
great Zarma storytellers.
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