Bachama (Bachama) is an
Afro-Asiatic language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
spoken in
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 ...
in
Adamawa State
Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It tak ...
principally in the
Numan,
Demsa and
Lamurde Local Government Areas by the
Bwatiye people. The
Dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
s are Mulyen, Opalo, and Wa-Duku. Bachama-Yimburu appears to be a closely related but distinct language. Bachama is used as a trade language.
[ It is often considered the same language as Bata. There are also Egyptian, South African and Ethiopian descendants that settled and are Nigerian citizens.
]
Numerals
Bachama has a decimal/quinary
Quinary (base-5 or pental) is a numeral system with 5 (number), five as the radix, base. A possible origination of a quinary system is that there are five finger, digits on either hand.
In the quinary place system, five numerals, from 0 (number) ...
number system
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...
, with both 5 and 10 as bases:
8 is 4-4, 6 and 7 are based on adding to 5, and 9 means '(10) less 1'.
Example Texts in Bacama
* Gibo ma ḅa ḍa motso da Pwa tsi ne ndso-nogi ka nji-nogi ka nogi. - Mark 3:35 (GWVS 1915) LinguaBank - Bachama
/ref>
Other Resources available in Bacama Audio Recordings in Bacama
Notes
Biu-Mandara languages
Languages of Nigeria
{{Nigeria-stub