3
used between resident Portuguese in the Casamance and the local ethnic groups and then later as a creole used by Afro-Portuguese middlemen trading with all the local ethnic groups. The lack of mutual intelligibility which existed between the many local African languages would have again
enhanced the later use of Kriul as a language of inter-ethnic communicationj e.g.: the Bayot (Dyola) of the South bank was said to be very different even from neighbouring Dyola dialects:
fldont le dialecte s'ecarte beaucoup de celui de leurs 4-
voisins"
l.See sketch-map on p. b s indicating the position of the various Casamance ethno-linguistic groups during the nineteenth century.
2*This, of course, follows the usual view of a ’creole* being first preceded by a 'pidgin* born out of such inter
communications! needs.
3#Fernandes, V. (1506-1510), in Monod, Th., Teixeira da Mota, A. and Mauny, R, 1951: 59-
57
According to Hair, the geographical position of the ethnolinguistic groups on the Guinea coast have been much the same in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as they
1
were during the seventeenth and eighteenth. The positions given by him for ethnolinguistic groups in and around the Casamance, using the maps and other data in Cadamosto
(14-56-1475), Fernandes(1506-1510), D'Almada (1594-) and 2
Coelho (1668) , were used in association with Vallon (1862) and the Language Map of Africa (Dalby, D. 1977) in
situating the ethnolinguistic groups on the sketch map.With regard to the "possible discorrespondence" over the
situating of the Balanta at the mouth of the River Casamance by Fernandes (1506-1510) as opposed to the area south of the Rio Cacheo by later Portuguese writers (D'Almada 1594-, Coelho 1668), Hair's suggestion is adopted:
"Since no Balanta were reported in this area by later sources, either Fernandes misplaced his Balangas, or
C they H were a section of Balanta disconnected from 3
the m a m body and soon to die out" •
It may well be, however, that these "disconnected" Balanta "died out" by merging with expanding Afro-Portuguese
society in and around Ziguinchor^.
l.IIair, P.E.II. 1967: 24-7.
2.Fernandes, V. (1506-1510) in Monod, Th . , Teixeira da llota, A. and Mauny, R. 1951* D'Almada, A. A. (1594*) in the Diogo Kopke publication of 184-1; De Lemos Coelho, F. (1668) in reres, P.
(ed.), Lisbon, 1953*
3.Hair, P.E.H. 196?: 252.
££
58
BAINUK (B.vGNOUN, BANUN, BAYNUK)
This ethnic group was dispersed on the north bank of the Rio Cacheo, the two banks of the Casamance and the Soungrougrou rivers, and the southern banks of the Gambia"**.
2
The Bainuk on the southern bank were much depopulated during the fifteenth century by
"Balantas C Balanta 3 , qui leur font une guerre acharnee, et les Feloups C Dyola 3 qui cherchent a s'etendre vers leur fertile et pittoresque pays*.*11
This later Dyola (Fulup) expansion into Bainuk territory forced the south bank Bainuk to disintegrate as a separate group* to become Afro-Portuguese (Luso-African), and probably Kriul- speaking:
,!se reduisant a quelques families de courtiers portugais et tendant a disparaitre".
Manding invasion' also hastened this Bainuk disintegrat ion, e.g.: the Bainuk of the Soungrougrou River:
"Les Bagnouns de Songrougrou sont deja meles aux 3
Mandingues.••"
The Manding influence on the Bainuk language on both the north and south banks of the Casamance was therefore a possible outcome. This may have involved the use of Mandinka as second and/or third language by the south-bank Bainuk and also
contributed to the later presence of Mandinka loans in 'eynchrorrte1 Ziguinchor Kriul.
1.Vallon, A. 1862: 458, Touze, R.L. 1963: 77, Roche, C. 1976: 24 63.
2.Fernandes, V. (1506-wl510) mentions their presence on the south bank of the Casamance; see Monod, Th. Da Mota, A.T. and Mauny, R. 1951: 71-75 and the map in the latter. D'Almada, A.A.(1594) mentions their presence in and around Ziguinchor: "os Banhuns de Izigichor"; see Kopke, D. (publisher), 1841: 39*
3.Vallon, A. 1862: 457. -4 .SCO pt'« I , "O-h rg-T— — --- *•
50
The Portuguese arrival in Casamance found the Bainuk 1
already under Manding domination , and possibly in the process 2
of being Islamicised . According to oral tradition, the Bainuk were the original inhabitants both of Ziguinchor and of the
3
Casamance • Consequently, the original source for the name Ziguinchor is suggested to be from the Bainuk language:
"Iziguichos a donne Ezeguichor, le suffixe Or signifiunt la terre, comme a Tobor, Imor, Jibelor etc..*" •
It is from the Bainuk word that the Portuguese deformation Sguitior and the French deformation Ziguinchor are derived •
The Bainuk are thought to have come to the Casamance from 5
what is now Guinea-Bissau . With them they brought their belief in "Dino", the supreme creative force of the universe and his manifestation in terms of kumpo who, they believed, could cleanse the community of the evil spells of sorcerers:
"le kumpo a la faculte de revetir toutes les formes iraaginables afin de suivre les sorciers dans leurs
ny mutations et les combattre sur leur propre terrain •
l.Valentira Fernandes (1506-1510) in Monod, Th. Teixeira da Mota, A. and Mauny, R. 1951:71-75$ Roche, C. 1976: 25*
2*Roche, C. 1976: 15* It seems likely that, with the arrival of the Portuguese, and later the Atlantic Slave Trade, that many of these Mandingized Bainuk would be likely slave exports, sold by their Mandinka overlords*
3.Roche, G. 1976: 13. Roche, C. 1975: 37. 5.Roche, C. 1976: 13.
6*In present times kumpo is a costume mask worn by initiates at wedding ceremonies and other festive occasions. Songs specific to kumpo celebrations are known by Casamance peoples from all ethnic groups including the Creole, and are sung in Kriul with Mandinka insertions by all who follow the kumpo mask.The song- rhythms are set by accompanying drummers and other participants beating flat sticks toghether.See p./f5 -appendix for examples of kumpo song's recorded at a kumpo celebration in Ziguinchor in 1977. (C.N#
i73SZ~75$o
) • Although kumpo may have been specific to the Bainuk in the past, it is at present part of theculture of other Casamance ethnic groups*The Dyola, for example according to Girard, J* 1969:1^6, adopted kumpo from
Portuguese Guinea :"Elle proviendrait de Guine portugaise et de proche en proche en aurait ete adopte par 1 'ensemble des communautes diola".See pt.I, ch.^, p p . •
60
Such a situation where the conquerors may well have out numbered the conquered Bainuk,because of their prior decimation by Balanta and Dyola, is unlikely to have favoured the spread of
Bainuk language influences, although the fact that they were the original inhabitants of the area would suggest a more prominent language influence'1'* Indeed it may well be that:
"The type of political system resulting from the conquest may be relevant and the situation that obtains in a large empire ruled with an iron hand by a centralized'
authority may differ from the one in small feudal states or necessarily less cohesively united strings of islands'^ The pressure of the centralized Manding empire and its ccmmon language Mandinka may well have restricted Bainuk language influences in a way that Carib did not with Arawak, nor French with African languages in St.Lucian language history. While the latter cases resulted in creolization, the Bainuk/Mandinka case resulted in a non-creolizing diachronic language contact in which the acquisition of Mandinka by the conquered Bainuk was probably favoured* This would be similar to the situation when: "A new language is acquired, with the impact of other
language(s) limited essentially to phonology and lexicon" •
BALANTA
A
These, the "Moors" of the Casamance , had centred much 5
of their lives around the art of war , relying on their well constructed boats in their pillaging activities on the banks of the river. l.Dalphinis, M. 1979 (a.) 7* 2*Polome, E. 1979: 16. 3 * Ibid., p.13* ^♦Vallon, A. 1862: ^f6o. 5* Ic&*TL*
61
Their skills in warfare aided their resistance to Mandinka 1
invasions in the Brassou area *
Like the Bainuk, the Balanta were non-Islamic (and non-Christian) in religious belief and also, like the Bainuk, considered to be one of the earliest inhabitants of the Casamance, according to
2