Rite of Blessing ; Nya_Blessing_01 ; A Documentation of Bati Language and Oral Traditions

The rite of Blessing is performed in view of dispelling any misfortune that could be looming on a person's life. Blessing is also perform to propitiate good luck and happy events. ; The project to Document aspects of Bati language and oral traditions is an original idea of Dr Emmanuel-Moselly Makasso, who had initially surveyed the Bati speech area as part of a pilot research project granted by the Ministry of Scientific Research and Technological Innovation of the Republic of Cameroon. Based on the results of this pilot research which have revealed a situation of critical endangerment of Bati language and ancestral practices, the idea to submit a major documentation project to ELDP has matured. The project has eventually been submitted during the 2015 funding round with Dr Emmanuel Ngué Um as Principal Investigator, and Dr Emmanuel-Moselly Makasso as co-applicant. The project started in October 1st, 2015, and will run till the 30th of September in 2018. ; This blessing ritual has occurred at the end of a first recording session dealing with community life within the Bati Canton. Mbombog Njambga has spontaneously offered to perform the rite of blessing over members of the research team. In the Bati-Mpoo-Basaa cultural group and elsewhere in Africa most likely, blessing may be granted to someone in response to a good action he they performed, and in view of propitiating ther good fortune so that he may perpetuate good actions as may times as possible. The fact that Mbombog Njambga has spontaneously granted blessing members of the research team may be interpreted as a sign of his inner satisfaction with the positive action they have achieved. ; Kelleng is used to perform blessing throughout the session. Casual usage of French and Basaa occur when the priest or other participans address either the Principal investigator (Basaa) or the the PhD students (French). ; Gwladys Makon is a team research member for the Bati projet. She is enrolled in the PHD programme at the Department of African Languages and Linguistics. Makon is a PHD fellow for the Bati projet, and she is mainly concerned with providing a comprehensive grammatical description of Bati language, all three dialects inclusive. During her undergraduate study at the Department of African Languages and Linguistics at the University of Yaoundé I, Gwladys Makon has red, among others, the followingn subjets: Introduction to general linguistics, phonetics, phonology (with special emphasis on Bantu languages), introduction to sociolinguistics, language teaching, language planning, etc. ; Assomo Celestine Ghislaine is a PhD student who is enroled in the Linguistic program at the University of Yaoundé I, Department of African Languages and Linguistics. She has completed her gratuade program in the same Department, and later on graduated with a Master's Degree in descriptive Linguistics in 2015. Ghislaine Assomo is part of the research team working on the documentation of Bati language and Oral traditions. She works on the project on a part-time basis; the remaining part of her schedule being devoted to her PhD research, which deals with aspects of Multilingualism within the broader area covered by the overall Bati Canton. ; Mbessi Makondo Gilbert as acted as one of the key informants for the research team during the first year of the project. Due to his extensive multilingualism coupled with a high sense of public network and relations, he has assisted the research team in most of their whereabouts throughout the various consultants who have agreed to lend themselves to research exercises. In some cases, Mbessi Gilbert has acted as the interviewer. This approach has been privileged in surveys dealing with anthropological, cultural and religous aspects. He had been trained by the research team in the monitoring of interviews, and in questionnaire administration, and has proven to be a talented and committed research assistant. ; Emmanuel Ngué Um is the Principal Investigator for the Bati project. He is mainly employed at the University of Yaoundé one where he holds the position of Senior Lectuer of Linguistics, in the Departement of Cameroonian Languages and Cultures at the Higher Teacher Training School. Ngué Um is also Associate Researcher at CERDOTOLA, where he is charged with the responsibility of Archive Manager for ALORA (Archive of Languages and Oral Resources of Africa). ; Ntan is an imaginary name given to one of the participants whom the research team has failed to collect metadata for. Ntan looks younger than Nsumb Boniface by at least 10 years or more. He has shown more respect towards Mbombog Njambga during recording. Indeed Ntan has acted as an assistant to Mbombog, and was prompt in attending to Mbombog's priestly errands. Ntan has been at odds with Nsumb on several occasions over the latter's relentless attempts to distrub Mbombog's speech. ; Nsumb Boniface is a native of Nyambat. He is a relative to Mbombog Njambga Nicolas. According to Mbombog Njambga Nicolas, Nsumb Boniface's grand father was one of the traditional priests (Mbombog) to who the catholic church have abducted and confiscated their priestly artifacts as the church waged the conquest over Mbombole. Nsumb boniface is a trained tourist guide. He declares to be one of those inhabitants of the Bati Canton who best knows about the topography of Mbombole, even though he did not agree to disclose this knowledge to the research team. ; MBOMBOG NJAMBGA Nicolas is the elderly most living person in Nyambat. He is Mbombog (traditional chief and priest). He lives in the nearest housing to Mbombole, the mythical rock. MBOMBOG NJAMBGA Nicolas has lived continuously in Nyambet since birth. He declares to have been eyewitness to the catholic invasion of Mbombole which eventually led to the erection of a crucifix on top of the Mbombole.