Baga language

Baga
Barka
Spoken in	Guinea
Ethnicity	Baga
Native speakers	16,000  (no date)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Mel Temne Baga languages Baga
Language codes
ISO 639-3	variously: bcg – Binari bgo – Koga bsp – Sistemu bmd – Mandari bqf – Kaloum (extinct) bsv – Sobané (extinct)

Baga, or Barka, is a dialect cluster spoken by the Baga people of coastal Guinea. The name derives from the phrase bae raka 'people of the seaside'. Most Baga are bilingual in the Mande language Susu, the official regional language. Two Baga communities, Sobané and Kaloum, are known to have abandoned their language altogether in favour of Susu.

The varieties as distinct enough to sometimes be considered different languages. They are:

Baga Binari

Baga Koga ( Koba)

Baga Manduri (Maduri, Mandari)

Baga Sitemu (Sitemú, Stem Baga, Rio Pongo Baga)

Baga Sobané (extinct)

Baga Kaloum (extinct)

Bibliography

• Houis, Maurice (1952) 'Remarques sur la voix passive en Baga', Notes Africaines, 91–92.
• Houis, Maurice (1953) 'Le système pronominal et les classes dans les dialectes Baga, i carte', Bulletin de l'IFAN, 15, 381–404.
• Mouser, Bruce L. (2002) 'Who and where were the Baga?: European perceptions from 1793 to 1821', History in Africa, 29, 337–364.