Basaa language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For a Kru language spoken in Liberia and Sierra Leone, see Bassa language. For a Kainji language spoken in Nigeria, see Basa language.
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Basaa language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator |
| Basaa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mbene ɓasaá |
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| Native to | Cameroon | |||
| Region | Centre and Littoral Provinces | |||
| Native speakers | 230,000 (date missing) | |||
| Language family |
Niger–Congo
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| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-2 | bas | |||
| ISO 639-3 | bas | |||
| Guthrie code | A.43a[1] | |||
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Basaa (also spelled Bassa, Basa, Bissa), or Mbene, is a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon. It is spoken by about 230,000 people in Centre and Littoral provinces.
Maho (2009) lists North and South Kogo as dialects.
Contents |
Phonology [edit]
Vowels [edit]
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i, iː | u, uː |
| Close-mid | e, eː | o, oː |
| Open-mid | ɛ, ɛː | ɔ, ɔː |
| Open | a, aː | |
Consonants [edit]
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | c, ɟ | k | kʷ, ɡʷ |
| Implosive | ɓ | ||||
| Fricative | s | x | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋʷ |
| Prenasalized stop | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | |
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Approximant | j | w |
- When not root-initial and not after a pause, the voiceless stops /p t k/ are realized as voiced stops or voiced fricatives.
Tone [edit]
Basaa contrasts four tones: high, low, high-to-low (falling) and low-to-high (rising).
References [edit]
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- Hyman, Larry M. (2003). "Basaá (A.43)". In Nurse, Derek and Philippson, Gérard (ed.). The Bantu Languages. Routledge. pp. 257–282. ISBN 0-7007-1134-1.
External links [edit]
- Basaa language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
