Academic publications

The most comprehensive grammatical resource for Cicipu is Stuart McGill's PhD thesis Gender and person agreement in Cicipu discourse. This contains a sketch phonology and grammar as well as details of the gender (i.e. noun class) and person agreement systems.

The Cicipu dictionary (edited by Stuart McGill and Markus Yabani) contains glosses and example sentences in both English and Hausa.

Additional published and unpublished works on Cicipu are listed below, along with more general works that either mention Cicipu or else deal with Kainji languages in general.

McGill, Stuart. 2014. Cicipu. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 44(3), 303-318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S002510031400022X.
McGill, Stuart. 2012. The development of long consonants in Cicipu: a comparative perspective. In Roger M. Blench & Stuart McGill (eds.) Advances in minority language research in Nigeria vol. 1 (African languages monographs 5), 273-323. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
McGill, Stuart and Roger M. Blench. 2012. Documentation, development and ideology in the northwestern Kainji languages. In Peter K. Austin & Stuart McGill (eds.) Language Documentation and Description 11, 90-135.
McGill, Stuart. 2011. Aspects of deixis in Cicipu: evidence from real-time video commentary. In Julia Sallbank (ed.) Language Documentation and Description 9, 121-168.
McGill, Stuart. 2007. The Cicipu noun class system.Journal of West African Languages 34(2), 51-90.

Most of these links are to external websites, in particular the SIL website and Roger Blench's - the latter especially for a more comprehensive bibliography on Kainji languages.

See also Becky Paterson's huge Kainji bibliography, a collection of general resources linked to the Kainji language area (linguistic and non-linguistic).

Blench, Roger. M. 1988. The Basa-Kamuku languages. Paper for the 18th Colloquium on African Languages, Leiden [superseded by Blench n.d. c.]
Blench, Roger. M. 1991. Dictionary of the language of the Bas(s)a people. Electronic manuscript.
Blench, Roger. M. 2007. A sketch of the phonology and an extended wordlist of TsuVaɗi, a Kambari language of Western Nigeria. Electronic manuscript.
Blench, Roger. M. n.d. a. The Laru people and their language. Electronic manuscript.
Blench, Roger. M. n.d. b. The Lopa language of Central Nigeria and its affinities. Electronic manuscript.
Blench, Roger. M. n.d. c. The Kainji languages of northwestern Nigeria. Electronic manuscript.
Blench, Roger M. & McGill, Stuart. 2012. Advances in minority language research in Nigeria vol. 1 (African languages monographs 5). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
Boettger, E. & V. Boettger. 1967. Tsureshe Grammar. Unpublished manuscript.
Cressman, Esther & Donna Skitch. 1980. Duka. In M. Kropp-Dakubu (ed.), West African language data sheets, vol. 2. Leiden: WALS/ASC.
Crozier, David H. 1984. A study in the discourse grammar of Cishingini. PhD dissertation, University of Ibadan.
Crozier, David H. & Roger M. Blench. 1992. An Index of Nigerian Languages. 2nd edition. Dallas: SIL [2020 edition is online].
De Wolf, Paul Polydoor. 1971. The noun class system of Proto-Benue-Congo. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter.
Dettweiler, Stephen H. 2000. Vowel harmony and neutral vowels in C’Lela. Journal of West African Languages 28, 3-18.
Dettweiler, Stephen H. & Sonia G. Dettweiler. 2002. Sociolinguistic survey (level one) of the Pongu people. Electronic manuscript.
Dettweiler, Stephen H. & Sonia G. Dettweiler. 2002. Sociolinguistic survey (level one) of the Reshe people. Electronic manuscript.
Dettweiler, Stephen H. & Sonia G. Dettweiler. 2003. Sociolinguistic survey of the Duka (Hun-Saare) people. Electronic manuscript.
Dettweiler, Stephen H. & Sonia G. Dettweiler. 2005. Sociolinguistic survey of the Lela people. Electronic manuscript.
Gerhardt, Ludwig. 1989. Kainji and Platoid. In John Bendor-Samuel (ed.), The Niger-Congo languages, 359-76. Lanham: University Press of America.
Heath, David & Carleen Heath. 2002. A phonological and grammatical sketch of the Dukawa language. Electronic manuscript.
Hoffmann, Carl. 1963. The noun-class system of Central Kambari. Journal of African Languages 2(2), 160-9.
Hoffmann, Carl. 1965. A wordlist of Central Kambari. Journal of West African Languages 2(2), 7-31.
Hoffmann, Carl. 1967. An outline of the Dakarkari noun class system and the relation between prefix and suffix noun-class systems. In G. Manessy (ed.), La classification nominale dans les langues négro-africaines, 237-59. Paris: CNRS.
Hoffmann, Carl. 1972. A note on vowel contraction in Central Kambari. Research Notes [Ibadan] 5(2/3), 73-91.
Koelle, Sigismund Wilhelm. 1963. Polyglotta Africana: photomechanic reprint of the original edition, Church Missionary Society, London 1854. Freetown: Fourah Bay College.
Lovelace, David. 1989. Computer printout on Tsuvaɗi.
MacDonell, James. 2007. A phonological and grammatical sketch of the Pongu language. Electronic manuscript.
McGill, Stuart, 2008. The Damakawa language. Electronic manuscript.
Rikoto, B., P. Senchi, Stephen H. Dettweiler, and Sonia G. Dettweiler. 2002. KˀBa̱tksa̱: CˀLela—CˀTuranci—CˀGana Dictionary = CˀLela—English—Hausa = Kamus: Na Dakarci—Turanci—Hausa. Lelna Language Development/Translation Association.
Rowlands, E. C. 1962. Notes on some class languages of northern Nigeria. African Language Studies 3, 71-83.
Smith, Rebecca Dow. 2007. The noun class system of Ut-ma'in. MA dissertation, University of North Dakota.
Stark, Janie P. 2003. The Tsikimba-Hausa-English dictionary. Salka: Kambari Language Project.
Stark, Janie P. 2004. The Cishingini-Hausa-English dictionary. Salka: Kambari Language Project.
Stark, Janie P. 2004. The Tsishingini-Hausa-English dictionary. Salka: Kambari Language Project.
Williamson, Kay & Kiyoshi Shimizu. 1968. Benue-Congo comparative wordlist. Ibadan: University of Ibadan, West African Linguistic Society.

See the bibliography in Roger Blench's Kainji overview for further references.

The anthropologist A. B. Mathews spent two months living with the Acipu in 1926 and wrote up a report, which has never been published but can be found in the National Archives at Kaduna. There is a digitised copy available for download here

Several of the articles below are about the sword and spears of Kisra, relics housed in the king's palace on Korisino. Kisra is a legendary magician-king who is said to have fled to Africa after losing a war against Mohammed. His son or grandson is said to have been the first king of the Acipu. Several other tribes in Nigeria have similar origin stories.

The remaining books in the list below (CAPRO 1995, Gunn and Conant 1960, Swank 1977, Temple 1922) each have a section on Cicipu, but Temple's and Swank's accounts are very brief, and the other two rely heavily on Mathews (1926).

CAPRO Research Office. 1995. Kingdoms at war. Jos: CAPRO Media.
Gunn, H. D. & F. P. Conant. 1960. Peoples of the middle Niger region, Northern Nigeria. London: International African Institute.
Mathews, A. B. 1926. Historical and anthropological report on the Achifawa. Unpublished manuscript held in the National Archives, Kaduna: K2, 068. [See here for a scanned copy].
Mathews, A. B. 1950. The Kisra legend. African Studies 9, 144-7.
Stevens Jr., Phillips. 1975. The Kisra legend and the distortion of historical tradition. The Journal of African History 16, 185-200.
Stewart, Marjorie H. 1980. The Kisra legend as oral history. International Journal of African Historical Studies 13, 51-70.
Swank, Gerald O. 1977. Frontier peoples of Central Nigeria and a strategy for outreach. William Carey Library: South Pasadena, CA.
Temple, O. 1922. Notes on the tribes, provinces, emirates, and states of the northern provinces of Nigeria. Lagos: CMS Bookshop.