Gbaya languages

Not to be confused with Kresh language.

Gbaya
Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka
Geographic distribution:	Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cameroon
Linguistic classification:	Ubangian Gbaya
Subdivisions:	(unclear)

The Gbaya languages, or Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka, are a group of perhaps a dozen Ubangian languages spoken mainly in the Central African Republic, and to a lesser extent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon. Many of the languages go by the ethnic name Gbaya, though the largest, with over a million speakers, is called Ngbaka, a name shared with the Ngbaka languages of the Sere–Mba branch of Ubangian.

Languages

Essentially, the languages are Gbaya, Gbanu, Ngbaka, Manza, Ali and a few small related languages, and a couple languages of uncertain affinity with Gbaya.

Per Ethnologue 16, the structure of the family is as follows:

• Central: Gbanu, Bokoto, Gbaya-Bossangoa, Gbaya-Bozoum
• East: Ali, Bofi, Bonjo, Manza, Ngbaka Gbaya (Ngbaka proper), Ngbaka Manza
• Northwest Gbaya
• Southwest: Southwest Gbaya, Gbaya-Mbodomo, ? Bangandu, ? Ngombe
• Suma

However, many of these varieties may be mutually intelligible, such as Ngbaka, Ngbaka Manza, and Manza. Ethnologue reports that Suma, Bossangoa, & Bozoum may be intelligible, as may Bokoto & Northwest; if true, this would link three of the branches above into a single Gbaya dialect chain. They also suggest that Bangandu may not be a Gbaya language, but Ngbaka, or to Ngbaka, whose classification is also uncertain.

External links

• Ethnologue Language Family Tree for Gbaya-Manza-Ngbaka
• ISO-639 Gbaya macrolanguage mapping
• LL-Map showing where Gbaya Northwest is spoken
• MultiTree information on Gbaya Northwest
• LL-Map showing Gbaya-Mbodomo
• MultiTree information on Gbaya-Mbodomo
• PanAfriL10n page on Gbaya