Baka (also called ''Be-bayaga, Be-bayaka,'' and ''Bibaya de L’est'') is a
dialect cluster
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 ...
of
Ubangian languages
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 are ...
spoken by the
Baka
Baka, baká or BAKA may refer to:
Ethnicities and languages
* Baka people (Cameroon and Gabon), an African ethnic group
* Baka people (Congo and South Sudan), an African ethnic group
* Baka language, a dialect cluster of Cameroon and Gabon
* Baka ...
Pygmies
In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...
of
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 ...
and
Gabon
Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...
. The people are ethnically close to the
Aka
Aka, AKA or a.k.a. may refer to:
* "Also known as", used to introduce an alternative name
Languages
* Aka language (Sudan)
* Aka language, in the Central African Republic
* Hruso language, in India, also referred to as Aka
* a prefix in the n ...
, the two together called the
Mbenga (''Bambenga''), but the languages are not related, apart from some vocabulary dealing with the forest economy, which suggests the Aka may have shifted to
Bantu
Bantu may refer to:
*Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages
*Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language
* Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle
*Black Association for National ...
, probably 15000 people have shifted.
Classification
Some 30% of Baka vocabulary is not
Ubangian. Much of this concerns a specialised forest economy, such as words for edible plants, medicinal plants, and honey collecting, and has been posited as the remnant of an ancestral
Pygmy language
The Congo Pygmies (African Pygmies) are those "forest people" who have, or recently had, a hunter-gatherer economy and a simple, non-hierarchical societal structure based on bands, are of short stature,Generally speaking; those who are not parti ...
which has otherwise vanished. However, apart from some words shared with the Aka, there is no evidence for a wider linguistic affiliation with any of the other Pygmy peoples.
Distribution
Baka is spoken much of the southeastern forest zone of Cameroon, in:
*Eastern Region
**
Kadey
Kadey (also spelled Kadéï, Kadéi, Kadeï or Kadei) is a department of East Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 15,884 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 192,927. The capital of the department lies at Batouri.
Su ...
department (
Ndélélé and
Mbang communes)
**
Haut-Nyong
Haut-Nyong is a department of East Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 36,384 km and as of 2001 had a total population of 216,768. The capital of the department lies at Abong-Mbang.
Subdivisions
The department is divide ...
department (
Dimako
Dimako is the name of a sub-division district and small town situated in Upper Nyong Division of the East Province of Cameroon, Africa. It lies a little way south of East Province capital of Bertoua. The local language is Kwakum, spoken by the ...
,
Doumé,
Abong-Mbang
Abong-Mbang is a town and commune in the East Region of Cameroon. Abong-Mbang is located at a crossroads of National Route 10 and the road that leads south to Lomié. Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon, is 178 km to the west, and Bertoua, the ...
,
Lomié Lomié is a town in the Lomié District in the Upper Nyong division of the East Province of Cameroon. An article in the ''Mail & Guardian Online'' describes it as having "no telephone connection to the outside world, and a single access road that ...
, and
Ngoyla
Ngoila, also spelled Ngoyla and Ngoida, is a village in the East Province of Cameroon, located at 2.617° N, 14.017° E. The primary ethnic group is the Njem. Ngoila is the capital of the Ngoila subdivision of the Haut-Nyong division.
See also
...
communes)
**
Boumba-et-Ngoko department (
Moloundou,
Yokadouma, and
Gari-Gombo
Gari-Gombo is a town and commune in Cameroon.
See also
* Communes of Cameroon
The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. The arrondissements are organised by divisions and sub divisions of each ...
communes)
*Southern Region
**
Dja-et-Lobo
Dja-et-Lobo is a department of South Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 19,911 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 196,951. The capital of the department lies at Sangmélima.
Subdivisions
The department is divi ...
department (
Bengbis
Bengbis is a town and commune in Cameroon.
See also
*Communes of Cameroon
The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. The arrondissements are organised by divisions and sub divisions of each province ...
,
Meyomessala
Meyomessala is a town and commune in Cameroon.
See also
*Communes of Cameroon
The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. The arrondissements are organised by divisions and sub divisions of each prov ...
,
Sangmélima
Sangmélima is a town on the Lobo River, and also the chief town of Lobo division ("Dja et Lobo"), in the South Province ('Province du Sud'), Republic of Cameroon, Africa. The language spoken there is Bulu. French, is also spoken as it is one ...
,
Djoum,
Oveng
Oveng is a town and commune in the South Province of Cameroon. It is located on the Kam River near the southern border with Equatorial Guinea and near the Ntem River.
Gallery
File:Forêt d'Oveng.jpg, Oveng Forest
File:Chevaux broutant ...
, and
Mintom
Mintom is a town and commune in Cameroon.
See also
*Communes of Cameroon
The Arrondissements of Cameroon are the third-level units of administration in Cameroon. The arrondissements are organised by divisions and sub divisions of each province ...
communes)
The Baka live together with other ethnic groups who are mainly located along the main roads. The Baka speak a language very close to that of the
Ngbaka Ma'bo of the Central African Republic, which clearly indicates that the Baka of Cameroon had recently arrived from an area much further to the east. In Cameroon, they are referred to as Eastern Pygmies, as opposed to the
Bagyali, Pygmy groups from
Océan Department who speak a
Bantu language
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantÊŠÌ€) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
The t ...
(
A80 subgroup). They number 25,000 in Cameroon. They are also found in Gabon (Phillips 1980) and in the Central African Republic.
Varieties
It is unclear if Gundi (Ngundi), Ganzi and Massa (Limassa), are
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 ...
with Baka proper. Most Massa have shifted to Gundi, which is spoken by 9,000 people.
[
The Ngombe tribe speaks Gundi. It may have been confused in the literature with the Ngombe population speaking the ]Bangandu language
Bangando and Ngombe constitute a Gbaya language of Cameroon and CAR.
There are two populations: Bangando proper (''Bà ngà ndò''), in Cameroon, and Ngombe (''Ba(n)gando-Ngombe'', ''Ngombe-Kaka'') clustered around Mambéré-Kadéï Prefecture a ...
.
Phonology
Consonants
/d͡z/ can also be heard as post-alveolar ͡ʒ among different dialects.
Vowels
References
External links
Baka Pygmies
Culture and photos, with soundscapes of Baka camps in the rainforest
Baka Forest People
Information, videos, music and photos of the Baka from Moloundou region of Cameroon.
Baka: A Highly Endangered Language of Northern Cameroun
Baka information and word list
*ELAR collection
A documentation of the remnant Baka-Gundi language Limassa
deposited by Benedikt Winkhart
{{Authority control
Ngbaka languages
African Pygmies
Languages of Cameroon
Languages of Gabon