The Kam Documentation Project marked its conclusion on 31 March in Sarkin Dawa, Taraba State, with a community celebration. The ten‑year effort, coordinated by linguist Dr Jakob Lesage of Humboldt‑Universität zu Berlin, received initial funding from the City of Paris and later support from the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme. It has produced the most extensive record of the Kam language—also called Nyingwom—spoken by an estimated 8,000 to 11,000 people in 29 villages of Bali Local Government Area. The archive now contains a full grammar, a mobile‑app dictionary, more than 300 audio and video files and 55 hours of recordings covering folklore, oral histories and agricultural practices. Fourteen Kam community members were trained to document their own language, shifting ownership from external researchers to locals. "This was never meant to be an outsider studying a community," Lesage said, emphasizing sustainability. Participant Rahab Garba noted that the work changed her outlook, allowing her to write, translate and rediscover forgotten traditions. When the COVID‑19 pandemic halted travel, training moved online and equipment was distributed locally, enabling community members to continue and ultimately generate more material than the early phase.
Dr Jakob Lesage's decision to place Kam speakers at the centre of the documentation process turns a typical academic exercise into a community‑driven revival. By equipping fourteen locals with recording skills, the project ensured that the language's future rests in the hands of those who use it daily, rather than distant scholars.
The achievement arrives at a time when central‑eastern Nigeria faces rapid language loss; dozens of tongues lack basic records and some have already vanished. The Kam initiative, backed first by the City of Paris and later by the ELDP, demonstrates that sustained external funding combined with local capacity‑building can halt that trend, even when pandemic restrictions forced a shift to online training.
For the Kam people, the new grammar, dictionary app and extensive audio archive provide tangible tools to teach children and preserve cultural knowledge. Parents in the 29 villages can now reference recorded stories and farming practices, reducing the pressure to switch entirely to Hausa and helping maintain linguistic diversity in everyday life.
The model set by Lesage's team offers a replicable blueprint for other endangered language groups across Nigeria, suggesting that community empowerment, rather than top‑down research, may be the most effective strategy for safeguarding the nation's linguistic heritage.
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