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Ubangian Language Family
The Ubangian languages form a diverse linkage of some seventy languages centered on the Central African Republic. They are the predominant languages of the CAR, spoken by 2–3 million people, and include the national language, Sango. They are also spoken in Cameroon, Chad, the DR Congo, and South Sudan. External classification Joseph Greenberg (1963) classified the then-little-known Ubangian languages as Niger–Congo and placed them within the Adamawa languages as "Eastern Adamawa". They were soon removed to a separate branch of Niger–Congo, for example within Blench's Savanna languages. However, this has become increasingly uncertain, and Dimmendaal (2008) states that, based on the lack of convincing evidence for a Niger–Congo classification ever being produced, Ubangian "probably constitutes an independent language family that cannot or can no longer be shown to be related to Niger–Congo (or any other family)." Blench (2012) includes Ubangian within Niger–Congo. G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about . , it had an estimated population of around million. , the Central African Republic is the scene of a civil war, ongoing since 2012. Most of the Central African Republic consists of Sudano-Guinean savannas, but the country also includes a Sahelo- Sudanian zone in the north and an equatorial forest zone in the south. Two-thirds of the country is within the Ubangi River basin (which flows into the Congo), while the remaining third lies in the basin of the Chari, which flows into Lake Chad. What is today the Central African Republic has been inhabited for millennia; however, the country's current borders were established by ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chad
Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon to the southwest, Nigeria to the southwest (at Lake Chad), and Niger to the west. Chad has a population of 16 million, of which 1.6 million live in the capital and largest city of N'Djamena. Chad has several regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanian Savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the second-largest wetland in Africa. Chad's official languages are Arabic and French. It is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Islam (55.1%) and Christianity (41.1%) are the main religions practiced in Chad. Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bofi Language
Bofi (Ɓòfì, Boffi) is a Gbaya language spoken in Boda and Bimbo subprefectures in southwestern Central African Republic. Those speakers in Bimbo are mostly Bambenga The African Pygmies (or Congo Pygmies, variously also Central African foragers, "African rainforest hunter-gatherers" (RHG) or "Forest People of Central Africa") are a group of ethnicities native to Central Africa, mostly the Congo Basin, tra ... pygmies. Although they no longer live in the forest, their area was forested in 1950. References Gbaya languages African Pygmies Languages of the Central African Republic {{gbaya-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bangandu Language
Bangando and Ngombe constitute a Gbaya language of Cameroon and CAR. There are two populations: Bangando proper (''Bàngàndò''), in Cameroon, and Ngombe (''Ba(n)gando-Ngombe'', ''Ngombe-Kaka'') clustered around Mambéré-Kadéï Prefecture across the border in the Central African Republic. There are several populations called Ngombe, and it is not clear to which the spurious ISO code for Ngombe belongs. On a global scale, Bangando is considered to be a threatened language with approximately anywhere between 2,700-3,500 speakers. Language status levels can be derived from the Ethnologue ''Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale''. Distribution Bangandu is spoken at the southern end of Boumba-et-Ngoko department (Eastern Region) in the commune of Moloundou, along the road from the main town of Moloundou to Lokomo. Bangandu is also spoken in Congo. In both Cameroon and Congo, there are about 2,700 speakers total (Voegelin & Voegelin 1977). (Bangandu, called ''Bangant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manza Language
Manza (''Mānzā'', Mandja) is a Ubangian language spoken by the Mandja people of the Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th .... It is closely related to Ngbaka and may be to some extent mutually intelligible. Phonology The phonology consists of the following: Consonants * Sounds /ɾ/ and /ⱱ/ are very rare in word-initial position. * /ⁿz/ can be heard in free variation as a prenasal affricate sound d͡ʒ * is only heard in free variation of /j/. * /j/ can be heard as when preceding a nasal vowel. Vowels * /a/ can have an allophone of when in complementary distribution. * The nasalization of /ɛ̃/ may also be heard more lower as ̃in free variation. Writing system The tones are indicated on the letters using diac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gbeya Language
Gbeya (''Gbɛ́yá'', Gbaya-Bossangoa) is a Gbaya language of the Central African Republic. ''Ethnologue'' reports it may be mutually intelligible with Bozom. Book reviewed in both and Suma (Súmā) is a language variety closely related to Gbeya. Phonology Consonants Vowels References External linksSuma materials from Raymond Boyd Gbaya languages Languages of the Central African Republic {{VoltaCongo-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biyanda Language
Biyanda (''Ɓìyàndà'') and Buli (''Ɓùlì'') constitute a Gbaya language of the Central African Republic. ''Ethnologue'' groups them as Southwest Gbaya, but it is not clear how many of the Southwest varieties are part of the same language; Toongo and Mbodomo, for example, are not closely related, though Toongo speakers identify ethnically as Buli, and ''Ethnologue'' also lists Mbodomo as a separate language. References Gbaya languages Languages of the Central African Republic {{gbaya-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northwest Gbaya Language
Northwest Gbaya is a Gbaya language spoken across a broad expanse of Cameroon and the Central African Republic. The principal variety is Kara (Kàrà, Gbaya Kara), a name shared with several neighboring languages; Lay (Làì) is restricted to a small area north of Mbodomo, with a third between it and Toongo that is not named in Moñino (2010), but is influenced by the Gbaya languages to the south. For male initiation rites, the Gbaya Kara use a language called '' La'bi''. Phonology The following information is based on the 'Bodoe (Kàrà) and northern dialects: Consonants * The labio-dental flap /ⱱ/ appears only in ideophonic adverbs within word-initial or intervocalic position. Vowels * /w/ can be heard as centralized when preceding front vowels /i, e, ɛ/. * /w/ is heard as nasalized ̃when preceding nasal vowels. Writing system Paulette Roulon-Doko uses a uses a phonetic transcription in her works on Northwest Gbaya. The nasal vowels are noted there wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngbaka Language
Ngbaka (''Ngbàkà'') is a Gbaya language spoken by just over a million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a regionally important language, used by the Gilima, Ngbundu, Mbandja and Mono peoples, and is taught in primary schools; 10% are literate in Ngbaka. ''Ngbaka'' is a common local ethnic name; the language may be distinguished from other languages called "Ngbaka" as Ngbaka Gbaya or Ngbaka Minagende. There are no significant dialectal differences within Ngbaka, and it may be mutually intelligible with members of the Manza dialect cluster. Phonology Consonants * The trill /r/ mainly occurs in ideophones, in both initial and final position. When it occurs in loanwords, it is often pronounced as a lateral * The glottal stop /ʔ/ mostly occurs before word-initial vowels. * Sounds /ŋ͡m, ʔ, h, w/, do not appear in intervocalic position. * /ŋ/ does not appear in word-initial position * The fricative /f/ can be pronounced in the western dialects a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngombe Language (Central African Republic)
Bangando and Ngombe constitute a Gbaya language of Cameroon and CAR. There are two populations: Bangando proper (''Bàngàndò''), in Cameroon, and Ngombe (''Ba(n)gando-Ngombe'', ''Ngombe-Kaka'') clustered around Mambéré-Kadéï Prefecture across the border in the Central African Republic. There are several populations called Ngombe, and it is not clear to which the spurious ISO code for Ngombe belongs. On a global scale, Bangando is considered to be a threatened language with approximately anywhere between 2,700-3,500 speakers. Language status levels can be derived from the Ethnologue ''Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale''. Distribution Bangandu is spoken at the southern end of Boumba-et-Ngoko department (Eastern Region) in the commune of Moloundou, along the road from the main town of Moloundou to Lokomo. Bangandu is also spoken in Congo. In both Cameroon and Congo, there are about 2,700 speakers total (Voegelin & Voegelin 1977). (Bangandu, called ''Banga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gbaya Languages
The Gbaya languages, also known as Gbaya–Manza–Ngbaka, are a family of perhaps a dozen languages spoken mainly in the western Central African Republic and across the border in Cameroon, with one language (Ngbaka) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a few small languages in the Republic of the Congo. 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 Ubangian family. History Moñino (1995:22) proposes that the Proto-Gbaya homeland was located in an area around Carnot, Central African Republic. Classification The Gbaya languages are traditionally classified as part of the Ubangian family. Moñino (2010), followed by Blench (2012), propose that they may instead be most closely related to the Central Gur languages, or perhaps constitute an independent branch of Niger–Congo, but that they do not form a group with Ubangian. Connections with Bantu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
