The Bongo languages, or Bongo–Baka, comprise six languages spoken in
South Sudan
South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...
. They are members of the
Central Sudanic
Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nige ...
language family.
The most populous Bongo language is
Jur Modo, spoken by a hundred thousand people. The languages are:
* Bongo–Baka
**
Bongo
**
Baka
** Morokodo–Beli
***
Jur Modo
***
Morokodo (Nyamusa-Molo, Mo’da)
***
Jur Beli (Beli)
***
Mittu
In various classifications, Bongo is sometimes split off from the rest of the family, so the phrase ''Bongo–Baka'' may be less ambiguous than simply ''Bongo''.
[For example, ''Ethnologue'' places Bongo in its own branch of Bongo–Baka, but then comments that it is similar to Jur Beli in the main branch.]
However, Boyeldieu (2006)
[Boyeldieu, Pascal. 2006. ]
Présentation des langues Sara-Bongo-Baguirmiennes
''. Paris: CNRS-LLACAN (online version). does not consider Bongo–Baka to be a valid grouping, and considers
Bongo and
Baka to each be primary splits from Proto-Sara-Bongo-Bagirmi.
References
*Roger Blench (n.d.
Nilo-Saharan language listing
Bongo–Bagirmi languages
Languages of South Sudan
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