Aka, also known as Yaka or Beka, is a

Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

spoken in the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

and

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

, along the

Ubangi River The Ubangi River (; ; ; ), also spelled Oubangui, is a river in Central Africa, and the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo River. It begins at the confluence of the Mbomou River, Mbomou (mean annual discharge 1,350 m3/s) and Uele Rivers (mea ...

dividing the two countries. Aka is spoken by the

Aka people The Aka or Biaka (also ''Bayaka, ''Babenzele) are a nomadic African Pygmies, Mbenga pygmy people. They live in south-western Central African Republic and in northern Republic of the Congo. They are related to the Baka (Cameroon and Gabon), Bak ...

, pygmies closely related to the Ubangian-speaking Baka of

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

, Congo and

Gabon Gabon ( ; ), officially the Gabonese Republic (), is a country on the Atlantic coast of Central Africa, on the equator, bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, the Republic of the Congo to the east and south, and ...

. Together, these peoples are known as the Mbenga (''Bambenga'') or Binga (''Babinga''), the latter derogatory. Famously, Aka shares vocabulary with the Baka languages, mostly concerning a specialised forest economy, such as words for edible plants, medicinal plants and honey collecting. This is among the 30% of Aka which is not Bantu and the 30% of Baka which is not Ubangian and has been posited as the remnant of an ancestral Western Pygmy (Mbenga or "Baaka") language which has otherwise vanished. However, it is entirely possible that the Aka shifted to Bantu from a Ubangian language related to Baka, in which case the situation reduces to a single ethnic group adapted to the forest with correspondingly specialised vocabulary. There is no evidence for a wider linguistic affiliation with any of the other Pygmy peoples. The Aka people call themselves ''Mraka'' in the singular and ''Beka'' in the plural. The people and their language go by various alternate spellings: ''Mò-Áka, Moyaka, Bayaka, Yaga, Bayaga, Gbayaka, Biaka, Beká, Yakwa, Yakpa, Yakpwa, Nyoyaka.'' The western Aka are known as the Benzele (''Mbenzélé, Babenzélé, Bambenzele, Ba-Benjelle''), and the eastern Aka as the Sese (''Basese''). These might be distinct dialects; ''Nzari'' might be another. Pygmies of northern Gabon called the ''Mikaya'' and ''Luma'' are evidently either Aka or speak a language closely related to Aka.

Phonology

Consonants

Aka has 26 consonants.

Vowels

Aka has seven vowels.

Specialized forest vocabulary

Some vocabulary with nearby Baka:Serge Bahuchet, 1993, ''History of the inhabitants of the central African rain forest: perspectives from comparative linguistics.'' In C.M. Hladik, ed., ''Tropical forests, people, and food: Biocultural interactions and applications to development.'' Paris: Unesco/Parthenon.

Literature

* Serge Bahuchet (2012)
"Changing Language, Remaining Pygmy."
''Human Biology'': Vol. 84: Iss. 1, Article 9.

References

Ngondi-Ngiri languages African Pygmies Pygmy languages Languages of the Central African Republic Languages of the Republic of the Congo {{CentralAfricanRepublic-stub mk:Акаски јазик