3/27/2020 Baga language - Wikipedia

Baga language
Baga, or Barka, is a dialect cluster spoken by the Baga
people of coastal Guinea. The name derives from the Baga
phrase bae raka 'people of the seaside'. Most Baga are Barka
bilingual in the Mande language Susu, the official Native to Guinea
regional language. Two ethnically Baga communities,
Ethnicity Baga
Sobané and Kaloum, are known to have abandoned their
(unattested) language altogether in favour of Susu. Native speakers (undated figure of 13,000,
possibly the ethnic
The varieties as distinct enough to sometimes be population)[1]
considered different languages.[3] They are: Language Niger–Congo
family
Baga Koga (Koba) Atlantic–Congo
Baga Manduri (Maduri, Mandari) Mel
Baga Sitemu (Sitemú, Stem Baga, Rio Pongo
Baga) Temne
Baga languages
The extinct Baga Kaloum and Baga Sobané peoples
Baga
spoken Koga and Sitemu, respectively.[4]
Language codes
Neighboring Baga Pokur is not closely related.
ISO 639-3 Variously:
bgo – Koga
bsp – Sitemu
Contents bmd – Mandari
bqf – Kaloum (spurious)
Noun Class Systems bsv – Sobané (spurious)
Vocabulary Glottolog temn1245 (http://glottolo
References g.org/resource/languoid/i
d/temn1245)
Further reading
adds Temne & Landoma[2]
External links

Noun Class Systems

Variety 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Baga Maduri o- or none a- a- i- kə- da- cə- sə-
Bagu Sitemu wi- or none a- a- none kə- da- cə- sə-
Baga Koba i- a- a- ɛ- kə- da- cə- sə-

Vocabulary
All these are from Baga Maduri:[3]

aceen - dog
iceen - dogs
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3/27/2020 Baga language - Wikipedia

alomp - fish
asɔɔp - pig
atɔf - earth, land
daboomp da-ka-obɛ - the chief's head
daboomp da-wana - the cow's head
dafɔr - eye
dasek - tooth
isek - teeth
gbak - hang
kəca - hand, arm
waca - hands, arms
kufoon - hair
mun - drink
tafac - iron
gbup - turn onto front

References
1. Koga (https://www.ethnologue.com/15/show_language/bgo) at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
Sitemu (https://www.ethnologue.com/15/show_language/bsp) at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
Mandari (https://www.ethnologue.com/15/show_language/bmd) at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Northern Mel" (http://glo
ttolog.org/resource/languoid/id/temn1245). Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for
the Science of Human History.
3. W.A.A.Wilson, Temne, Landuma and the Baga Languages in: Sierra Leone Language Review,
No. 1, 1962 published by Fourah Bay College, Freetown.
4. Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online
appendices

Further reading
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.

External links
Link to ELAR documentation of Baga Madori (https://elar.soas.ac.uk/Collection/MPI285343)

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