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PREVIOUS WORK ON THE LANGUAGE
* The language group was studied by N. W. Thomas in 1909-10, and
*the results of this study were published in his Report on the Edo speaking
*Peoples, vol. 1, in 1911. The Bini language itself is represented by a
*collection of texts, some phonetic and grammatical notes, and a Bini-
*English vocabulary (quoted as N.W.Th.).
* The manuscript of another Bini vocabulary which, as I was informed,
*had been compiled by the Roman Catholic Mission at Benin City,
*was unfortunately not available.
* A third Bini dictionary (Bini-English and English-Bini) is the one
*compiled (issued in 1932 in typescript) by H. L. M. Butcher, M.A.,
*who has for a long time been an administrative officer in the Benin
*Division. This last dictionary is in many respects a great advance on
*the other. It does not contain as many words as the one first mentioned,
*but those given appear in a more suitable form, for N. W. Thomas very
*often gave short, unseparated sentences as items in his dictionary.
*Butcher’s dictionary gives separate words, e.g. verbs, instead of groups
*containing pronoun＋verb＋object. He was also able to use the ortho-
*graphy which, in the interval, had been decided upon by the Church
*Missionary Society for their publications, while Thomas was virtually
*facing an unwritten language. Another new and important feature of
*Butcher’s dictionary is the tone-marking found in every heading.
* INFORMANTS. SCOPE AND SOURCES OF THE INFORMATION COLLECTED
* The word-material presented here is to a great extent based on the
*two dictionaries above mentioned. The bulk of it was collected with the
*help of Mr H. G. Amadasu of Benin City, mostly during the period from
*November 1933 to July 1934. To the contents of the dictionaries, other
*words were added as they occurred in texts,^1 sentences, proverbs,
*songs, etc. Words that cannot be readily understood without some
*knowledge of the cultural context in which they are used have been
*explained by means of short descriptions, and in other items notes have
*been added, indicating certain associations which those words would
*evoke in a Bini speaker but not in a European student of the language.
*Illustrative sentences have been incorporated wherever possible, but a
*collection of proverbs and sayings intended for the dictionary has been
*omitted in order not to increase its volume unduly.
* Most of these notes and descriptions were also supplied by Mr Amadasu,
*but other information, especially concerning institutions at the Ɛguae,
*^1 “A. Biogr.” This abbreviation refers to a text containing a biography of the
*first informant; “Ɔxwahɛ Songs”, to songs used in the cult of the god Ɔxwahɛ
*[ ˩ / ˩ ], also obtained from the first informant; Uke keʋe arhuaɽo, to a text supplied
*by J. U. Egharevba.
*viii
