Bacama language

Bacama
Ɓwaare
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Adamawa State, Kogi State
Native speakers	300,000 (2020) [1]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Chadic Biu–Mandara Bata (A.8) Bacama
Dialects	Kwa Bwatiye Demsa Bata
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bcy
Glottolog	baca1246   Bacama baca1245   Bacama-Yimburu

Bachama (Bachama) is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Chadic branch that is spoken in Nigeria in Adamawa State principally in the Numan, Demsa and Lamurde Local Government Areas by the Bwatiye people. ^[2] The Dialect spoken is KWA BWATIYE. There is Basa Pwa and Basa Voti and Njiya. The basa pwa accent is slightly different from that of bass Pwa and voti but all are the same people and tribe. Bachama is used as a trade language. ^[1] It is often considered the same language as Bata.

Numerals

Bachama has a decimal/quinary number system, with both 5 and 10 as bases: ^[3]

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
hido	kpe	mwakin	fwot	tuf	tukoltaka	tukolukpe	fwofwot	dombi hido	bau

8 is 4-4, 6 and 7 are based on adding to 5, and 9 means '(10) less 1'.

Example Texts in Bacama

• Gibo ma ḅa ḍa motso da Pwa tsi ne ndso-nogi ka nji-nogi ka nogi. - Mark 3:35 (GWVS 1915) ^[4]

Other Resources available in Bacama

Audio Recordings in Bacama

Notes

1. Bacama at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Carnochan, J (1967). "The Coming of the Fulani: A Bachama Oral Tradition" . Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 30 (3). Cambridge University Press: 622–633. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00132082. JSTOR   612391. S2CID   144140973.
3. Matsushita, 'Decimal vs. Duodecimal'
4. "LinguaBank - Bachama". Archived from the original on 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2022-06-27.