Central Banda is a

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...

of the

Banda languages Banda is a family of Ubangian languages spoken by the Banda people of Central Africa. Banda languages are distributed in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan. Languages Olson (1996) Olson (1996) classif ...

spoken by around one million people, primarily in the

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 ...

. The varieties may be

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

, especially the Mid-Southern–Gobu–Kpagua–Mono–Ngundu cluster. The other varieties are Bambari, Banda-Banda, Mbrès, Ndélé, and Togbo-Vara Banda.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Tone

Vowel tones are: rising /ǎ/, falling /â/, mid /ā/, low /à/, and high /á/.

Varieties

Central Banda language varieties listed by Moñino (1988): *Yakpà (also in

DR 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 ...

); Gubú (also in

); Kpágùà (also in

); Ngùndù, Bòngò, Wasá (also in

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 ...

); Dùkpù (also in

) Further information: Dukpu people * Lìndá, Jòtò, Ndòkpà, Ngápó *Southern Gbàgà, Nbìyì, Bèrèyà, Ngòlà, Ndi, Kâ, Gbambiya, Hàì, Galabò, Vídìrì (Mvédèrè) (also in

), Bàndà-Bàndà, Burú (only in

), Wùndù (only in

), Gòv̂òrò (only in

) *Bàndà-Ndele (Govo, Ngàjà, Gbòngó, Mbàtá, Gbàyà, Tulu, and Dabùrù groups), Bàndà-Kpaya (only in

), Ngàò, Ngbalá, Tàngbàgò (also in

), Júnguru (also in

) *Mbere, Búkà, Mòrùbà, Sàbángà, Wádà (also in

) *Vàrà (also in

), Tògbò (also in

) * Yàngere Nougayrol (1989) also lists Kɔ̀nɔ́, Manja, Ndòkà, Njùlúgù, and Sàra Dìnjo.

Demographics

Demographics of Central Banda language varieties as synthesized from Moñino (1988)Moñino, Yves (1988). ''Lexique comparatif des langues oubanguiennes''. Paris: Geuthner. and Nougayrol (1989):Nougayrol, Pierre. 1989. Les Groupes Banda du

Bamingui-Bangoran Bamingui-Bangoran is one of the 16 prefectures of the Central African Republic. It covers an area of 58,200 km² and had a population of 38,437 as of the 2003 census. The population density of 0.66/km² is the lowest in the country. The capit ...

(RCA). ''Révue d'Ethnolinguistique'' (Cahiers du

LACITO LACITO (''Langues et Civilisations à Tradition Orale'') is a multidisciplinary research organisation, principally devoted to the study of cultures and languages of oral tradition. LACITO is a branch of the Centre National de la Recherche Scienti ...

) 4: 197-208.

References

{{Ubangian languages Languages of the Central African Republic Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Languages of South Sudan Banda languages