Balanta (or Balant) is a group of two closely related

Bak languages The Bak languages are a group of typologically Atlantic languages of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau linked in 2010 to the erstwhile Atlantic isolate Bijago. Bak languages are non- tonal. Name David Dalby coined the term ''Bak'' from the ''bVk''- pre ...

of West Africa spoken by the Balanta people.

Description

Balanta is now generally divided into two distinct languages: Balanta-Kentohe and Balanta-Ganja.

Balanta-Kentohe

The Balanta-Kentohe (''Kəntɔhɛ'') language is spoken by about 423,000 people on the north central and central coast of Guinea-Bissau (where as of 2006 it is spoken by about 397,000 people, many of whom can be found in the Oio Region) as well as in the Gambia. Films and portions of the Bible have been produced in Balanta-Kentohe. The ''Kəntɔhɛ'' dialect is spoken in the north, while the ''Fora'' dialect is spoken in the south. Ethnologue lists the alternative names of Balanta-Kentohe as Alante, Balanda, Balant, Balanta, Balante, Ballante, Belante, Brassa, Bulanda, Frase, Fora, Kantohe (Kentohe, Queuthoe), Naga and Mane. The Naga, Mane and Kantohe dialects may be separate languages.

Balanta-Ganja

Balanta-Ganja is spoken by 86,000 people (as of 2006) in the southwest corner of and the south of Senegal. Literacy is less than 1% for Balanta-Ganja. In September 2000, Balanta-Ganja was granted the status of a national language in Senegal, and as of then can now be taught in

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

. Ethnologue lists the alternative names of Balanta-Ganja as Alante, Balanda, Balant, Balante, Ballante, Belante, Brassa, Bulanda, Fjaa, Fraase (Fraasɛ). Its dialects are Fganja (Ganja) and Fjaalib (Blip).

Grammar

Balanta has case

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

es and

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

es alternatively interpreted as a definite article dependent on the noun class.

Phonology

The following are the phonemes of the Balanta dialects.

Consonants

Voiceless sounds are only heard in the Guinea Bissau dialect.

Vowels

Writing

In Senegal, Decree No. 2005-979 provides for an orthography of Balanta as follows:Gouvernement du Sénégal, Décret n° 2005-979.

References

Relevant literature

* Creissels, Denis. 2016. A sketch of Ganja (Balant). In Friederike Lüpke (ed.), ''The Oxford guide to the Atlantic languages of West Africa''. Oxford University Press. * Mansaly, Jules. 2018. ''Dictionnaire des proverbes balant: Une langue du groupe atlantique-ouest de la famille niger-congo au Sénégal''. (Series: Verbal Art and Documentary Literature in African Languages Volume 37.) Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. * Migeod, F.W.H., '' The Languages of West Africa Volume II'' London 1913. * Westermann, D. & Bryan, M.A. ''The Languages of West Africa.'' Published for the International African Institute by Dawsons of Pall Mall, Folkestone & London 1970.

External links

Video about the Balanta language

Swadesh List for Balanta-Kentohe

Decree No. 2005-979 of 21 October 2005 relating to the spelling and the separation of words in Balanta
via the website of the ''Journal officiel'' {{Authority control Languages of Guinea-Bissau Languages of the Gambia Languages of Senegal Bak languages