Boko, or Boo, is a
Mande language of
Benin
Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
and
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
.
Names
Boko language can be better known as Boko, but it is also known as Boo or with the Hausa name Busanci (also spelled Busanchi, Bussanci
Or Bussanchi).
One person or speaker is called a Bokoni and more persons/speakers are called Bokona and the language of the Bokona/Bussawa people is called Bokonya.
The Boko people are one of two subgroups of the
Bissa people, the other being the Busa people, who speak the
Busa language. They are not a
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
but a subgroup. They are related to the
Bariba people, who speak the
Bariba language, which is a
Gur language. The Bissa people proper speak the
Bissa language
Bissa (or Bisa (singular), Bisan, Bissanno (plural)), is a Mande ethnic group of south-central Burkina Faso, northeastern Ghana and the northernmost tip of Togo. Their language, Bissa, is a Mande language that is related to, but not the same ...
, which is closely related to Boko.
Geographic distribution
Nigeria
In Nigeria, Boko is spoken in
Borgu LGA
LaGuardia Airport is a civil airport in East Elmhurst, Queens, New York City. Covering , the facility was established in 1929 and began operating as a public airport in 1939. It is named after former New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia. ...
of
Niger State, in
Bagudo
Bagudo is a Local Government Area in Kebbi State, Nigeria, sharing a boundary with the Republic of Niger and Republic of Benin. Its headquarters are in the town of Bagudo.
It has an area of 7,782 km and a population of 865,817 at the 2006 cen ...
LGA of
Kebbi State
Kebbi state ( ha, Jihar Kebbi; Fulfulde: Leydi Kebbi 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤳𞤫𞤦𞥆𞤭) is a state in the northwestern Nigeria, Kebbi state is bordered east and north of Sokoto and Zamfara states, and to the south by Niger state while ...
, and in
Baruten LGA of
Kwara state
Kwara State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Kwárà), is a state in Western Nigeria, bordered to the east by Kogi State, to the north by Niger state, and to the south by Ekiti, Osun, and Oyo states, while its western border makes up part of the internation ...
. A number of Boko have migrated to other parts of Nigeria, including
Abuja
Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...
. The Boko people are referred to as Bussawa in Hausa.
Benin
In Benin, Boko is spoken in
Alibori and
Borgou departments (
Segbana and
Kalalé Comunes).
Classification
Boko language is the most populous of the
Mande languages
The Mande languages are spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé peoples and include Maninka, Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Kpelle, Dioula, Bozo, Mende, Susu, and Vai. There are "60 to 75 languages spoken by 30 to 40 million ...
of Benin. It is part of the
Eastern Mande group, which also includes several other languages spoken across the
Volta River and the
Borgu Kingdom, including
Busa,
Bissa,
Samo, and
Bokobaru.
Boko speakers also speak
Busa,
Bariba,
Dendi,
Hausa,
Yoruba
The Yoruba people (, , ) are a West African ethnic group that mainly inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo. The areas of these countries primarily inhabited by Yoruba are often collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute ...
,
Fulfulde,
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
.
Orthography
Boko language has 25 letters (Aa, Bb, Dd, Ee, Ɛɛ, Ff, Gg, Gb gb, Ii, Kk, Kp kp, Ll, Mm, Nn, Oo, Ɔɔ, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, Uu, Vv, Ww, Yy, Zz).
Nasalised vowels are marked with a
Tilde
The tilde () or , is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character came into English from Spanish, which in turn came from the Latin '' titulus'', meaning "title" or "superscription". Its primary use is as a diacritic (accent) in ...
.
High tones are marked with an
acute accent
The acute accent (), , is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts. For the most commonly encountered uses of the accent in the Latin and Greek alphabets, precomposed ch ...
and low tones are marked with a
grave accent
The grave accent () ( or ) is a diacritical mark used to varying degrees in French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian and many other western European languages, as well as for a few unusual uses in English. It is also used in other languages using t ...
.
References
Mande languages
Languages of Benin
Languages of Nigeria
{{Mande-lang-stub