Bata language

Bata (Gbwata) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Nigeria in Adamawa State in the Numan, Song, Fufore and Jimeta gire Yola maiha Demsa lamorde LGAs, and in Cameroon in North Province along the border with Nigeria. Dialects are Demsa, Garoua, Jirai, Kobotachi, Malabu, Ndeewe, Ribaw, Wadi, and Zumu (Jimo).[1] It is often considered the same language as Bacama.[2]

Bata
Gbwata
Native toNigeria, Cameroon
RegionAdamawa StateJimet Region (Cameroon)
Native speakers
300,000 (2020)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3bta – inclusive code
Individual code:
kso  Kofa (not a distinct language)
Glottologbata1314
ELPKofa
Ethnic territories of the Bata-speaking people (Batta) in Nigeria, in blue
Bata
PersonGbwata
LanguageMagbwata

Names

Blench (2019) lists Bwatye (endonym: Ɓwaare; exonym: Bachama) as a closely related language variety. They are located in Adamawa State (Numan and Guyuk LGAs) and Kaduna State (northeast of Kaduna town).[3] It is also called Kwā ɓwàryē.[4]

ALCAM (2012) lists Gbwata (Bwaara in Nigeria) as the singular personal form of Bata. The speakers refer to their language as "the language of the Gbwata", called Magbwatá, Magbwati or Magbwatiye in Cameroon.[5]

Dialects

In Cameroon, there are three varieties of Gbwata:[5]

Ndeewe is the dialect of the Gbwata who live far from the banks of the Faro and Benue rivers, where the "agricultural Bata" live. It is now spoken by only a few dozen people.[5]

Bacama is a Gbwata ethnic group settled in Nigeria.[5]

There are 2,500 speakers in Cameroon.[5]

Notes

  1. Bata at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
    Kofa (not a distinct language) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  3. Blench, Roger (2019). An Atlas of Nigerian Languages (4th ed.). Cambridge: Kay Williamson Educational Foundation.
  4. Bata materials from Raymond Boyd
  5. Binam Bikoi, Charles, ed. (2012). Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM) [Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon]. Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC) (in French). Vol. 1: Inventaire des langues. Yaoundé: CERDOTOLA. ISBN 9789956796069.


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