Kwasio language

Last updated
Kwasio
Ngumba, Kola
Native to Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea
Regionalong and near the coast at the border between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea
Ethnicity Kwasio, Gyele Pygmies
Native speakers
(26,000 cited 1982–2012) [1]
Dialects
  • Kwasio
  • Mvumbo
  • Mabi
  • Gyele
  • Kola
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
nmg  – Kwasio–Mvumbo
gyi  – Gyele–Kola
Glottolog mvum1239
A.81,801 [2]
ELP Gyele
Map of the Gyeli/Kwasio area in Cameroon (dots) with neighbouring languages/peoples Gyelimap.svg
Map of the Gyeli/Kwasio area in Cameroon (dots) with neighbouring languages/peoples

The Kwasio language, also known as Ngumba / Mvumbo, Bujeba, and Gyele / Kola, is a language of Cameroon, spoken in the south along the coast and at the border with Equatorial Guinea by some 70,000[ citation needed ] members of the Ngumba, Kwasio, Gyele and Mabi peoples.[ citation needed ] Many authors [4] [5] [6] view Kwasio and the Gyele/Kola language as distinct. In the Ethnologue, the languages therefore receive different codes: Kwasio has the ISO 639-3 code nmg, [7] while Gyele has the code gyi. [8] The Kwasio, Ngumba, and Mabi are village farmers; the Gyele (also known as the Kola or Koya) are nomadic Pygmy hunter-gatherers living in the rain forest.

Contents

Dialects

Dialects are Kwasio (also known as Kwassio, Bisio), Mvumbo (also known as Ngumba, Ngoumba, Mgoumba, Mekuk), and Mabi (Mabea).

The Gyele speak the subdialects of Mvumbo and Gyele in the north Giele, Gieli, Gyeli, Bagiele, Bagyele (Bagyɛlɛ), Bagielli, [9] Bajele, Bajeli, Bogyel, Bogyeli, Bondjiel.

In the south, the Gyele speak Kola, also known as Koya, in the south, also spelled as Likoya, Bako, Bakola, Bakuele, also Bekoe. The local derogatory term for pygmies, Babinga, is also used.

Glottolog adds Shiwa.

ALCAM (2012)

Non-Pygmy varieties

According to ALCAM (2012), the non-Pygmy Kwasio people speak two language varieties, Mvumbo and Mabi, which have moderate mutual intelligibility. They are spoken in Océan Department, Southern Region. The Bisio group of Kwasio people live in Equatorial Guinea, as well as in Gabon where they is known under the ethnonym Shiwo. [10]

Kwasio is geographically the most western of the languages of the A80-A90 Bantu linguistic continuum. It is closely related to Mbwa (Békol) and Bajwe'e, and more distantly to Méka and Béti. [10]

Mabi, the more western dialect, is spoken on the Atlantic coast around Kribi, among Batanga-speaking populations. [10]

Mvumbo is spoken immediately to the east, along the road from Kribi to Lolodorf, in the communes of these two towns, where speakers are mixed mainly with Fang and Ewondo (Beti Fang)-speaking populations. [10]

Pygmy varieties

According to ALCAM (2012), Gyáli and Kola are very close to each other and coexist in the same camps and settlements. On the other hand, they are not in contact with the Baka, the eastern Pygmies. [10]

There are also close linguistic relationships between Bagyáli and the Meka group, although the non-Pygmy Mabi and Mvumbo peoples do not typically like to admit that their language, Kwasio, is closely related to the Pygmy language varieties. [10]

The Bagyáli traditionally inhabit the forests of Océan Department (Southern Region), around Kribi, Bipindi and Lolodorf (in the communes of Kribi, Akom II, Bipindi, and Lolodorf), and are estimated at 4,250 people. [10]

The Bagyáli are also found in Equatorial Guinea. [10]

Features

Like the other Niger-Congo languages of Cameroon, Kwasio is a tonal language.

As a Bantu language, it has noun class system. The Kwasio noun class system is somewhat reduced, having retained only 6 genders (a gender being a pairing of a singular and a plural noun class).

See also

The term Bakola is also used for the pygmies of the northern Congo–Gabon border region, which speak the Ngom language.

Related Research Articles

Fang is a Central African language spoken by around 1 million people, most of them in Equatorial Guinea, and northern Gabon, where it is the dominant Bantu language; Fang is also spoken in southern Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, and small fractions of the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. It is related to the Bulu and Ewondo languages of southern Cameroon.

Basaa, or Mbene, is a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon by the Basaa people. It is spoken by about 300,000 people in the Centre and Littoral regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Makaa–Njem languages</span> Bantu language group spoken in Cameroon

The Makaa–Njem languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. They are coded Zone A.80 in Guthrie's classification.

Kako is a Bantu language spoken mainly in Cameroon, with some speakers in the Central African Republic and the Republic of the Congo. The main population centres of Kako speakers are Batouri and Ndélélé in the East Region of Cameroon.

Kol is a Niger–Congo language of the Bantu family, associated with the Bikélé ethnic group. It is spoken in the East Province of Cameroon, in the vicinity of Messaména. Alternate names for Kol language include Bikele-Bikay, Bikele-Bikeng, Bikélé, and Bekol.

Bankon is a Bantu language spoken in the Moungo department of the Littoral Province of southwestern Cameroon. It has a lexical similarity of 86% with Rombi which is spoken in the nearby Meme department of Southwest Province.

Baka is a dialect cluster of Ubangian languages spoken by the Baka Pygmies of Cameroon and Gabon. The people are ethnically close related to the Aka, collectively known as the Mbenga (Bambenga).However, the languages are not related, apart from some vocabulary dealing with the forest economy, which suggests the Aka may have shifted to Bantu, with an estimated 15000 people have shifted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyele people</span> Pygmy ethnic group of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea

The Gyele, also known as the Kola (Bakola) or Koya (Bakoya), are the pygmies of southern Cameroon and adjacent areas of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. They live among Bantu patrons, the Mvumbo and Bassa. They speak a variety of or a language closely related to Mvumbo.

Nzime (Koonzime) is a Bantu language of Cameroon, spoken by the Nzime and Dwe'e (Bajwe'e) people. Maho (2009) lists these as two languages.

Iyasa is a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea by the Iyasa and Ndowe coastal fishing peoples. It is also spoken by Pygmies, perhaps Babongo, in Gabon. Approximately 3,000 people speak Iyasa, though some note that this number may be an overestimation.

Kogo, also referred to as Bakoko and Basoo, is a Bantu language of Cameroon. North and South Kogo are as distinct from each other as they are from Basaa; they might be considered three dialects of a single language.

Pana is an Mbum language of the Central African Republic. A few thousand speak it in southern Chad and northern Cameroon. A dialect in Cameroon, Man, may be a separate language. Blench (2004) leaves Pondo and Gonge in CAR unclassified within the Mbum languages.

Gidar (Gidder), or Kaɗa, is a Biu–Mandara (Chadic) language of Cameroon and Chad.

Vemgo-Mabas is an Afro-Asiatic language of Cameroon and Nigeria. Dialects are Vemgo, Mabas. Blench (2006) considers these to be separate languages. Ethnologue lists a third dialect, Visik in Nigeria, which is not well attested; Blench suspects it may be a dialect of Lamang instead.

Swo is a Bantu language of the Akonolinga area, Cameroon. Spellings of the name are quite variable, including So, Sso, Shwo, and Fo. One dialect has been influenced by Beti.

Mpiemo (Bimu) is a Bantu language of the Central African Republic. The Atlas linguistique du Cameroun gives the name Mpo.

Bebil (Gbïgbïl) is a Bantu language of Cameroon. It is mutually intelligible with other Beti dialects.

Leti, or Mangisa, is a Bantu language of Cameroon, spoken by the Mengisa people. Most Mengisa have switched to the Eton language, though a number of them continue to use Leti as a secret ritual language. A smaller number speak Leti as their mother tongue.

Yambeta or Nigi is a Southern Bantoid language of Cameroon.

Central Yambasa or Nuasua (Nuaswa) is a Southern Bantoid language of Cameroon.

References

  1. ↑ Kwasio–Mvumbo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Gyele–Kola at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ↑ Grimm N (2021). A grammar of Gyeli (pdf). Berlin: Language Science Press. p. 11. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.4737370 . ISBN   978-3-98554-007-5.
  4. ↑ Rénaud, Patrick (1976). Le bajeli. Phonologie, morphologie nominale. Vol. 1 et 2. Yaoundé: Les Dossiers de l'ALCAM. p. 27.
  5. ↑ Grimm, Nadine (2015). A Grammar of Gyeli. Humboldt University Berlin: PhD thesis. p. 8.
  6. ↑ Maho, Jouni F. (2009). "New Updated Guthrie List" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 3, 2018. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Ethnologue: Kwasio" . Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Ethnologue: Gyele" . Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  9. ↑ Blench, Roger. Bagyɛlɛ mammal names
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.