Bata (Gbwata) is an

Afro-Asiatic The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic ...

language 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 of G ...

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 ta ...

in the Numan, Song, Fufore and Mubi LGAs, and in

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; th ...

in North Province along the border with Nigeria. Dialects are Demsa, Garoua, Jirai, Kobotachi, Malabu, Ndeewe, Ribaw, Wadi, and Zumu (Jimo). It is often considered the same language as Bacama.

Names

Blench (2019) lists Bwatye (endonym: Ɓwaare; exonym: Bachama) as a closely related language variety. They are located in

(Numan and Guyuk LGAs) and

Kaduna State Kaduna State ( ha, Jihar Kaduna جىِهَر كَدُنا; ff, Leydi Kaduna, script=Latn, ; kcg, Sitet Kaduna) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in ...

(northeast of

Kaduna Kaduna is the capital city of Kaduna State, and the former political capital of Northern Nigeria. It is located in north-western Nigeria, on the Kaduna River. It is a trade Centre and a major transportation hub as the gateway to northern Nig ...

town). It is also called ''Kwā ɓwàryē''.Bata materials from Raymond Boyd
/ref> ALCAM (2012) lists Gbwata (''Bwaara'' in Nigeria) as the singular personal form of ''Bata''. The speakers refer to their language as "the language of the Gbwata", called ''Magbwatá'', ''Magbwati'' or ''Magbwatiye'' in Cameroon.

Dialects

In Cameroon, there are three varieties of Gbwata: *Demsa ( Demsa commune in

Bénoué Bénoué is a department of North Province in Cameroon. The department covers an area of 13,614 km and as of 2005 had a total population of 1,781,955. The capital of the department lies at Garoua. Subdivisions The department is divided ad ...

department, which is on the Nigerian border, 30 km northeast of

Garoua Garoua or Garua (Fula: Garwa 𞤺𞤢𞤪𞤱𞤢) is a port city and the capital of the North Region of Cameroon, lying on the Benue River. A thriving centre of the textiles and cotton industries, the city has approximately 1,285,000 inhabita ...

) *Kokoumi (

commune,

department, which is along the

Benue River The Benue River (french: la Bénoué), previously known as the Chadda River or Tchadda, is the major tributary of the Niger River. The river is approximately long and is almost entirely navigable during the summer months. The size of its bas ...

) *Faro (Jelepo in Beka commune, Faro department) Ndeewe is the dialect of the Gbwata who live far from the banks of the Faro and Benue rivers, where the "agricultural Bata" live. It is now spoken by only a few dozen people. Bacama is a Gbwata ethnic group settled in Nigeria. There are 2,500 speakers in Cameroon.

Notes

External links

Bata materials from Raymond Boyd
Biu-Mandara languages Languages of Cameroon Languages of Nigeria {{BiuMandara-lang-stub