Baga language

Last updated
Baga
Barka
Native to Guinea
Ethnicity Baga
Native speakers
Koga: No data
Sitemu: 40,000 (2018)
Mandari: 4,000 (2011)
Kaloum: Extinct by the 1950s
Sobané: Extinct by the 1950s [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
bgo   Koga
bsp   Sitemu
bmd   Mandari
bqf   Kaloum (spurious)
bsv   Sobané (spurious)
Glottolog temn1245   adds Temne & Landoma

Baga, or Barka, is a dialect cluster spoken by the Baga people of coastal Guinea. The name derives from the phrase bae raka Slaves trading place ( a mispronounced bae=Arabic for sellers and Raka= Arabic for slaves)and understood by the local as 'people of the seaside' outcast people. Most Baga are bilingual in the Mande language Susu, the official regional language. Two ethnically Baga communities, Sobané and Kaloum, are known to have abandoned their (unattested) language altogether in favour of Susu.

Contents

Varieties

The varieties as distinct enough to sometimes be considered different languages. [2] They are:

Baga Koga (Koba)
Baga Manduri (Maduri, Mandari)
Baga Sitemu (Sitem, Sitemú, Stem Baga, Rio Pongo Baga)

The extinct Baga Kaloum and Baga Sobané peoples had spoken Koga and Sitemu, respectively. [3]

Neighboring Baga Pokur is not closely related.

Geographical distribution

Geographical distribution of Baga varieties, listed from north to south, according to Fields-Black (2008:85): [4]

Geographical distribution and demographics of Baga varieties according to Wilson (2007), citing a 1997 colloquium talk at Lille by Erhard Voeltz: [5]

Noun Class Systems

Baga has prefixes for eight noun classes: [2]

Variety12345678
Baga Madurio- or nonea-a-i-kə-da-cə-sə-
Bagu Sitemuwi- or nonea-a-nonekə-da-cə-sə-
Baga Kobai-a-a-ɛ-kə-da-cə-sə-

Vocabulary

Below is a selection of basic vocabulary in Baga Maduri: [2]

References

  1. Koga at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
    Sitemu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
    Mandari at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
    Kaloum (spurious) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
    Sobané (spurious) at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 3 W.A.A.Wilson, Temne, Landuma and the Baga Languages in: Sierra Leone Language Review, No. 1, 1962 published by Fourah Bay College, Freetown.
  3. Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  4. Fields-Black, Edda L. 2008. Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora. (Blacks in the Diaspora.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
  5. Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

Further reading