Documentation of Dirge songs among the Uruan people in Nigeria

The Endangered Language Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants worldwide to for the linguistic documentation of endangered language and knowledge. Grantees create multimedia collection of endangered languages. These collections are preserved and made freely available through the Endangered Languages Archive (ELAR) housed at the library of SOAS University of London.

This project documents the dirge, a ritual funeral eulogy performed by elderly women and professionals at the death of a family or community member, and also during a catastrophic event, as practised among the Uruan people of Nigeria. Traditionally used at funerals, the dirge is rarely practised these days because of a shift to Western funeral customs and has become a highly endangered traditional art form. Through observations, audiovisual recordings and interviews, we will build, analyse and archive a corpus on the dirge in Uruan, which will be accessible to both the language community and academic researchers. Primary investigator: Eno-Abasi Urua

Project Details


Location: Nigeria, Western Africa, Africa Organiser(s): Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Project partner(s): University of Uyo Funder(s): Arcadia Funding received: £8,000.00 Commencement Date: 01/2007
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