Baka language

Baka (also called Be-bayaga, Be-bayaka, and Bibaya de L’est) is a dialect cluster of Ubangian languages spoken by the Baka Pygmies of Cameroon and Gabon. The people are ethnically close to the Aka, the two together called the Mbenga (Bambenga), but the languages are not related, apart from some vocabulary dealing with the forest economy, which suggests the Aka may have shifted to Bantu, probably 15000 people have shifted.

Not to be confused with Baka language (South Sudan) or Baca language.
Baka
Native toCameroon, Gabon; minor groups separate in the Central African Republic
EthnicityBaka people
Native speakers
(70,000 cited 1988–2010)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
bkc – Baka
gdi – Gundi (Ngundi)
gnz – Ganzi
bme – Massa (Limassa)
Glottologbaka1271
ELP

Classification

Some 30% of Baka vocabulary is not Ubangian. Much of this concerns a specialised forest economy, such as words for edible plants, medicinal plants, and honey collecting, and has been posited as the remnant of an ancestral Pygmy language which has otherwise vanished.[2] However, apart from some words shared with the Aka, there is no evidence for a wider linguistic affiliation with any of the other Pygmy peoples.[3]

Distribution

Baka is spoken much of the southeastern forest zone of Cameroon, in:[4]

The Baka live together with other ethnic groups who are mainly located along the main roads. The Baka speak a language very close to that of the Ngbaka Ma'bo of the Central African Republic, which clearly indicates that the Baka of Cameroon had recently arrived from an area much further to the east. In Cameroon, they are referred to as Eastern Pygmies, as opposed to the Bagyali, Pygmy groups from Océan Department who speak a Bantu language (A80 subgroup). They number 25,000 in Cameroon. They are also found in Gabon (Phillips 1980) and in the Central African Republic.[4]

Varieties

It is unclear if Gundi (Ngundi), Ganzi and Massa (Limassa), are mutually intelligible with Baka proper. Most Massa have shifted to Gundi, which is spoken by 9,000 people.[1]

The Ngombe tribe speaks Gundi. It may have been confused in the literature with the Ngombe population speaking the Bangandu language.

Phonology

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labio-
velar		 Glottal
Plosive plain p t k k͡p ʔ
voiced b d ɡ ɡ͡b
prenasalized ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ ᵑɡ͡b
implosive ɓ ɗ
Fricative plain ɸ s h
voiced β
Affricate voiced d͡z ~ d͡ʒ
prenasalized ⁿd͡z ~ ⁿd͡ʒ
Lateral l
Nasal m n ɲ
Semivowel j w

/d͡z/ can also be heard as post-alveolar [d͡ʒ], among different dialects.[5]

Vowels
Front Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

[6]

References
  1. Baka at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Gundi (Ngundi) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Ganzi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Massa (Limassa) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Serge Bahuchet, 1993, History of the inhabitants of the central African rain forest: perspectives from comparative linguistics. In C.M. Hladik, ed., Tropical forests, people, and food: Biocultural interactions and applications to development. Paris: Unesco/Parthenon.
  3. Blench (in press)
  4. 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.
  5. Bertille, Djoupee; Essono, Jean-Jacques Marie (2002). Morphologie Nominale du Baka. Université de Yaoundé.
  6. Paulin, Pascale (2010). Les Baka du Gabon dans une dynamique de transformations culturelles.
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