The Gbaya languages, also known as Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka, are a family of perhaps a dozen languages spoken mainly in the western
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...
and across the border in
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, with one language (Ngbaka) in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
, with a few small languages in the
Republic of the Congo. Many of the languages go by the ethnic name ''
Gbaya,'' though the largest, with over a million speakers, is called
Ngbaka, a name shared with the
Ngbaka languages of the
Ubangian
The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, and include the national language, Sango. They ar ...
family.
History
Moñino (1995:22) proposes that the Proto-Gbaya homeland was located in an area around
Carnot, Central African Republic
Carnot is a city located in the south west of the Central African Republic (CAR), in the prefecture of Mambéré-Kadéï.
It has a population of 54,551 (2012 census), making it the fourth largest city in CAR by population, and the second largest ...
.
Classification
The Gbaya languages are traditionally classified as part of the
Ubangian
The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, and include the national language, Sango. They ar ...
family.
Moñino (2010), followed by Blench (2012), propose that they may instead be most closely related to the
Central Gur languages, or perhaps constitute an independent branch of Niger–Congo, but that they do not form a group with Ubangian. Connections with Bantu are mostly limited to cultural vocabulary, and several Central Sudanic words suggest that the proto-Gbaya were hunter-gatherers who acquired agriculture from the
Sara
Sara may refer to:
Arts, media and entertainment Film and television
* ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui
* ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda
* ''Sara'' (2010 film), 2010 Sri Lankan Sinhal ...
.
[Moñino (2010)]
The position of Gbaya-Manza-Ngbaka group among the Niger-Congo languages
Proto-Gbaya vocabulary shared with
Adamawa languages
The Adamawa languages are a putative family of 80–90 languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in central Africa, in Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Chad, spoken altogether by only one and a half million people (as of 19 ...
includes millet farming vocabulary, as well as terms for the
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae ...
,
guineafowl
Guineafowl (; sometimes called "pet speckled hens" or "original fowl") are birds of the family Numididae in the order Galliformes. They are endemic to Africa and rank among the oldest of the gallinaceous birds. Phylogenetically, they branched ...
, ''
Parkia biglobosa
''Parkia biglobosa'', known in English as the African locust bean, is a perennial deciduous tree in the family Fabaceae. It is found in a wide range of environments in Africa and is primarily grown for its pods that contain both a sweet pulp and ...
'', ''
Khaya senegalensis
''Khaya senegalensis'' is a species of tree in the Meliaceae family that is native to Africa. Common names include African mahogany, dry zone mahogany, Gambia mahogany, khaya wood, Senegal mahogany, ''cailcedrat'', ''acajou'', ''djalla'', and '' ...
'', and ''
Ceiba pentandra
''Ceiba pentandra'' is a tropical tree of the order Malvales and the family Malvaceae (previously emplaced in the family Bombacaceae), native to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, northern South America, and (as the variety ''C. pentandr ...
'', which are indicative of a
language continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...
native to a savanna environment.
[Kleinewillinghöfer, Ulrich (2018). The northern fringe of the Jos Plateau, a prehistorical contact zone of Benue-Plateau and Adamawa-Gur languages: The evidence of the cultural vocabulary. Kramer & Kießling (eds.) ''Current approaches to Adamawa and Fur languages'', Cologne 20l8, 193-225.]
Languages
Moñino (2010)
reconstructed proto-Gbaya and proposes the following family tree:
Several of these varieties may be mutually intelligible, such as Ngbaka, Ngbaka Manza, and Manza.
There are one or two other small Gbaya languages scattered in Congo and along the Cameroon border, such as
Bonjo.
See also
*
List of Proto-Gbaya reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
External links
Proto-Gbaya Swadesh list(Moñino 1995)
{{Authority control
Languages of the Central African Republic
Languages of Cameroon
Niger–Congo languages