Baga language

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 ethnically Baga communities, Sobané and Kaloum, are known to have abandoned their (unattested) language altogether in favour of Susu.

Baga
Barka
Native toGuinea
EthnicityBaga
Native speakers
(undated figure of 13,000, possibly the ethnic population)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
bgo  Koga
bsp  Sitemu
bmd  Mandari
bqf  Kaloum (spurious)
bsv  Sobané (spurious)
Glottologtemn1245  adds Temne & Landoma

Varieties

The varieties as distinct enough to sometimes be considered different languages.[2] They are:

Baga Koga (Koba)
Baga Manduri (Maduri, Mandari)
Baga Sitemu (Sitem, Sitemú, Stem Baga, Rio Pongo Baga)

The extinct Baga Kaloum and Baga Sobané peoples spoken Koga and Sitemu, respectively.[3]

Neighboring Baga Pokur is not closely related.

Geographical distribution

Geographical distribution of Baga varieties, listed from north to south, by Fields-Black (2008:85):[4]

Noun Class Systems

Baga has prefixes for eight noun classes:[2]

Variety12345678
Baga Maduri o- or nonea-a-i-kə-da-cə-sə-
Bagu Sitemu wi- or nonea-a-nonekə-da-cə-sə-
Baga Koba i-a-a-ɛ-kə-da-cə-sə-

Vocabulary

All these are from Baga Maduri:[2]

  • aceen - dog
  • iceen - dogs
  • 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 at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
    Sitemu at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
    Mandari at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
  2. W.A.A.Wilson, Temne, Landuma and the Baga Languages in: Sierra Leone Language Review, No. 1, 1962 published by Fourah Bay College, Freetown.
  3. Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  4. Fields-Black, Edda L. 2008. Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora. (Blacks in the Diaspora.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Further reading

  • Houis, Maurice (1952) 'Remarques sur la voix passive en Baga', Notes Africaines, 9192.
  • Houis, Maurice (1953) 'Le système pronominal et les classes dans les dialectes Baga, i carte', Bulletin de l'IFAN, 15, 381404.
  • Mouser, Bruce L. (2002) 'Who and where were the Baga?: European perceptions from 1793 to 1821', History in Africa, 29, 337364.


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