Kresh, also known ambiguously as Gbaya, is a Central Sudanic language of

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

Naomi Baki Naomi Baki (born in Raga, Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan in 1985) is a French and South Sudanese author and advocate for South Sudan. She is a native speaker of the Kresh language. Confronting child trafficking Welcomed in France as a re ...

, a native Kresh speaker who became a French citizen in 2015, has released an autobiography in 2013 in which she describes her Kresh Gbaya environment in Raga County.

,
'Je suis encore vivante''
(Paris, Le Cerf, 2013). The title's meaning in English is "Still Alive".

Dialects

The Kresh varieties have varying mutual intelligibility, with northernmost Dongo being most distinct and southernmost Woro being next, though mutually intelligible with Kresh proper. 'Kresh' is what the people are called by their neighbors; they call themselves ''Gbaya'', an ambiguous name in English, shared with many of the unrelated

Gbaya languages 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 and across the border in Cameroon, with one language (Ngbaka) in the Democratic Republic o ...

. * Ndogo (Gbaya) * Naka (Boro, Kpara) * Kresh-Hofra (Gbaya-Ngbongbo) * Woro (Orlo) Ndogo is the prestige dialect, and Naka the most populous.

Locations

A 2013 survey reported that ethnic Kresh reside in Dar Seid Bandas and Kata Bomas, Ringi Payam, Raja County,

References

Blench (2000 ms)
Central Sudanic languages Languages of South Sudan Kresh languages {{CentralAfricanRepublic-stub