The Bua language (also called Ba) is spoken north of the

Chari River The Chari River, or Shari River, is a long river, flowing in Central Africa. It is Lake Chad's main source of water. Geography The Chari River flows from the Central African Republic through Chad into Lake Chad, following the Cameroon border f ...

around

Korbol Korbol is a sub-prefecture of Moyen-Chari Region in Chad. The Bua language is the local lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular la ...

and Gabil in

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

. In 1993 it was spoken by some 8,000 people. It is the largest member of the small Bua group of languages and is mutually comprehensible with Fanian. Kawãwãy (Korom) may be a dialect or a distinct language. Bua is a local

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

Canton, due to the historical influence of the Korbol Caliphate since the late 1700s and 1800s. Speakers also live around Gabil (in the

Guéra Region Guéra or Guera may refer to: * Guéra Prefecture, a former first-level administrative division of Chad until 1999 * Guéra Region, a first-level administrative division of Chad since 2002 * Guéra Department, a second level administrative division ...

), and in

Sarh Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive det ...

and

N'Djaména N'Djamena ( ) is the capital and largest city of Chad. It is also a special statute region, divided into 10 districts or ''arrondissements''. The city serves as the centre of economic activity in Chad. Meat, fish and cotton processing are the c ...

Korom

Korom is spoken by about 60 people in 3 or 4 villages in

Moyen-Chari Region Moyen-Chari ( ar, شاري الأوسط) is one of the 23 regions of Chad, located in the south of the country. Its capital is Sarh. The former prefecture of the same name was larger and included modern Mandoul Region. Geography The region bor ...

and

of Chad. The main community of speakers is called Kawãwãy, who comprise a community of blacksmiths in Tili Nugar (Tilé Nougar), a Fania village. The language has been documented by Florian Lionnet and R. Hoinathy in 2014 and 2017. Lionnet considers Korom to be separate language closely related to Bua.Lionnet, Florian
Chadic languages

References

* P. A. Benton, ''Languages and Peoples of Bornu Vol. I'', Frank Cass & Co:London 1912 (1st ed.)/1968 (2nd ed.) Gives Barth's unpublished vocabulary of Bua on pp. 78–130. * M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes, ''Documents sur les langues de l'Oubangui-Chari'', Paris, 1907. Includes (pp. 107–122) a 200-word comparative list of Bua, Niellim, Fanian, and Tunia, with a brief grammar and some phrases collected by Decorse. * J. Lukas, ''Zentralsudanisches Studien'', Hamburg, Friedrichsen, de Gruyter & Cie, 1937. Gives the wordlists of Nachtigal, zu Mecklenburg, Barth, and Gaudefroy-Demombynes for Bua (~400 words), Niellim (~200 words), and Koke (~100 words). * A. N. Tucker & M. A. Bryan, ''The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa'', Handbook of African Languages, part III, Oxford University Press for International African Institute, 1956. Summarizes the grammar of Bua and two relatives based on existing fieldwork. {{Adamawa languages Languages of Chad Bua languages

Korom

References

Further reading