Battle of Old Fort Wayne

Cipu (Cicipu), or Western Acipa, is a Kainji language spoken by about 20,000 people in northwest Nigeria. The people call themselves Acipu, and are called Acipawa in Hausa.^[2]

Like most Benue–Congo languages, Cipu has a complex noun class system.^[3] It has a fairly complex phonology with lexical and grammatical tone, vowel harmony and nasalisation.

Virtually all Cipu speakers speak the lingua franca Hausa. Many also speak other nearby languages.

Classification

Cipu is part of the Kambari branch of the Niger–Congo languages.

The most recent published classification^[4] has Cipu as part of the Kamuku group of West Kainji along with Eastern Acipa. However more detailed studies^[5]^[6] have shown this to be unlikely.

Alternative names

The Ethnologue currently lists Cipu as 'Western Acipa'. However the name 'Western Acipa' is no longer used outside the Ethnologue, and a request has been made to change the entry.^[7] In Hausa, the language is referred to as Acipanci and the people as Acipawa.

Geographic distribution

Cicipu is spoken in Nigeria by approximately 20,000 people,^[8] split between Sakaba Local Government Area, Kebbi State and Kontagora Local Government Area, Niger State.

Dialects/Varieties

The Acipu themselves recognise seven distinct varieties of Cicipu. The dialect names are as follows (with the corresponding Hausa names in parentheses):

Tirisino (Karishen)
Tidipo (Kadonho)
Tizoriyo (Mazarko)
Tidodimo (Kadedan)
Tikula (Maburya)
Ticuhun (Kakihum)
Tikumbasi (Kumbashi)

Phonology

The most common syllable type in Cicipu is CV, although there are fairly strong arguments for N and CVN. A small number of noun and verb roots begin with a V syllable. Lexical tone contrasts are found in nouns e.g. káayá ‘house’ and káayà ‘bean’, but not in verbs (although grammatical tone is important for verbs).

Vowels

Cicipu has an asymmetric six-vowel system. All vowels can be long or short, and all have nasalised counterparts. There are four diphthongs: /ei/, /eu/, /ai/, and /au/.

Monophthongs
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i, iː		u, uː
Close-mid	e, eː		o, oː
Open-mid			ɔ, ɔː
Open		a, aː

Consonants

Consonant length is contrastive in Cicipu, e.g. yuwo 'fall' vs. yuwwo 'turn around'. Any consonant may be lengthened.

**Consonant phonemes**
		Labial	Dental or alveolar	Postalveolar or palatal	Velar		Glottal
		Labial	Dental or alveolar	Postalveolar or palatal	Plain	Labialized	Palatalized	Plain	Labialized
Plosives and affricates	Voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k	kʷ	ʔʲ	ʔ	ʔʷ
	Voiced	b	d	dʒ	ɡ	ɡʷ
	Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Fricatives	Voiceless		s				hʲ	h	hʷ
Fricatives	Voiced	v	z
Nasals		m	n
Rhotic			ɾ
Approximants			l	j		w

Vocabulary

A large number of Cicipu words are borrowings from the lingua franca Hausa. The pronunciation of many of these loanwords has changed to fit in with Cicipu phonology, in particular with respect to vowel harmony.

Writing system

Cicipu is not currently written, although a preliminary orthography proposal has been made, and a small number of trial books has been circulated.^[10]

References

^ Cipu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Blench, Roger. "The Kamuku languages". Archived from the original on 20 April 2015.
^ McGill, Stuart (2007). "The Cipu noun class system". Journal of West African Languages. 34 (2): 51–90.
^ Williamson, Kay; Blench, Roger M. (2000). Niger–Congo in African languages: an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–42.
^ Dettweiler, Steve; Dettweiler, Sonia (2002). Sociolinguistic survey (level one) of the Kamuku language cluster (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. Vol. 2003–003.
^ McGill, Stuart (2007). "The classification of Cicipu" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2008.
^ "The name of the Cicipu language". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011.
^ CAPRO Research Office (1995). Kingdoms at war : an enthic [i.e. ethnic] survey of Niger, Kebbi States and FCT. Jos: CAPRO Media.
^ McGill, Stuart (2014), "Cicipu", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 44 (3): 308, doi:10.1017/S002510031400022X
^ McGill, Stuart (ined). Some orthographic challenges for Cicipu. West Kainji Language Workshop, Safara Motel, Kontagora, 10 -12 March 2008, pp. 2-3.

External links

Cicipu language website Archived 28 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine

[e18-1] Cipu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)

[2] Blench, Roger. "The Kamuku languages". Archived from the original on 20 April 2015.

[3] McGill, Stuart (2007). "The Cipu noun class system". Journal of West African Languages. 34 (2): 51–90.

[4] Williamson, Kay; Blench, Roger M. (2000). Niger–Congo in African languages: an introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 11–42.

[5] Dettweiler, Steve; Dettweiler, Sonia (2002). Sociolinguistic survey (level one) of the Kamuku language cluster (Report). SIL Electronic Survey Reports. Vol. 2003–003.

[6] McGill, Stuart (2007). "The classification of Cicipu" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2008.

[7] "The name of the Cicipu language". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011.

[8] CAPRO Research Office (1995). Kingdoms at war : an enthic [i.e. ethnic] survey of Niger, Kebbi States and FCT. Jos: CAPRO Media.

[9] McGill, Stuart (2014), "Cicipu", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 44 (3): 308, doi:10.1017/S002510031400022X

[10] McGill, Stuart (ined). Some orthographic challenges for Cicipu. West Kainji Language Workshop, Safara Motel, Kontagora, 10 -12 March 2008, pp. 2-3.

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