Baka language

Baka is spoken in much of the southeastern forest zone of Cameroon, in:

• Eastern Region
• Kadey department (Ndélélé and Mbang communes)
• Haut-Nyong department (Dimako, Doumé, Abong-Mbang, Lomié, and Ngoyla communes)
• Boumba-et-Ngoko department (Moloundou, Yokadouma, and Gari-Gombo communes)
• Southern Region
• Dja-et-Lobo department (Bengbis, Meyomessala, Sangmélima, Djoum, Oveng, and Mintom communes)

The Baka live together with other ethnic groups that are generally located along the main roads. The Baka speak a language very close to that of the Ngbaka Ma'bo of the Central African Republic, which clearly indicates that the Baka of Cameroon had recently arrived from an area much further to the east. In Cameroon, they are referred to as Eastern Pygmies, as opposed to the Bagyali, Pygmy groups from Océan Department who speak a Bantu language (A80 subgroup). The Baka number 25,000 in Cameroon. They are also found in Gabon (Phillips 1980) and in the Central African Republic.{{cite book|editor-last=Binam Bikoi|editor-first=Charles|date=2012|title=Atlas linguistique du Cameroun (ALCAM)|trans-title=Linguistic Atlas of Cameroon|volume=1: Inventaire des langues|language=fr|location=Yaoundé|publisher=CERDOTOLA|series=Atlas linguistique de l'Afrique centrale (ALAC)|isbn=9789956796069}}

Approximately 30% of Baka's vocabulary is not Ubangian. Much of this concerns a specialized forest economy, such as words for edible plants, medicinal plants, and honey collecting, and has been posited as the remnant of an ancestral Pygmy language which has otherwise vanished.Serge Bahuchet, 1993, History of the inhabitants of the central African rain forest: perspectives from comparative linguistics. In C.M. Hladik, ed., Tropical forests, people, and food: Biocultural interactions and applications to development. Paris: Unesco/Parthenon. However, apart from some words shared with the Aka, there is no evidence for a wider linguistic affiliation with any of the other Pygmy peoples.[http://www.rogerblench.info/Genetics/SAFA%202004%20genetics%20paper.pdf Blench (in press)]

It is unclear if Gundi (Ngundi), Ganzi, and Massa (Limassa), are mutually intelligible with Baka proper. Most Massa have shifted to Gundi, which is spoken by 9,000 people.

The Ngombe tribe speaks Gundi. It may have been confused in the literature with the Ngombe population speaking the Bangandu language.

/d͡z/ can also be heard as post-alveolar [d͡ʒ], among different dialects.{{Cite book|last=Bertille|first=Djoupee|title=Morphologie Nominale du Baka|last2=Essono|first2=Jean-Jacques Marie|publisher=Université de Yaoundé|year=2002}}

{{Cite book|title=Les Baka du Gabon dans une dynamique de transformations culturelles|last=Paulin|first=Pascale|year=2010}}

Baka does not have a standard orthography, and there are many different ways to write it. The following is a 2009 recommendation which is supported by the {{ill|Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation|fr|Ministère de la Recherche scientifique et de l'Innovation (Cameroun)}}. It is based on the General Alphabet of Cameroon Languages.

Tones are indicated by diacritics: the acute for high tone (á é ɛ́ í ó ɔ́ ú), and the grave for low tone (à è ɛ̀ ì ò ɔ̀ ù), middle tone is not indicated)

Brisson uses a noticeably different orthography in his dictionaries. He noticeably uses the glottal stop (ʔ) instead of the apostrophe.Brisson, 2010

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book|date=2010 |first=Robert |isbn=978-2-296-12298-7 |last=Brisson |publisher=Harmattan |title=Lexique français-baka}}
• {{cite book|date=2009 |first=Yves |last=Léonard |location=Yaoundé |publisher=Ministère de la Recherche scientifique et de l’Innovation, SIL |title=Orthographe baka |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/47351}}

• [http://www.pygmies.org/baka/ Baka Pygmies] Culture and photos, with soundscapes of Baka camps in the rainforest
• [http://www.baka.co.uk/baka/ Baka Forest People] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211122300/http://www.baka.co.uk/baka/ |date=2008-12-11 }} Information, videos, music and photos of the Baka from Moloundou region of Cameroon.
• [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Afroasiatic/Chadic/Central/Baka/Baka%20wordlist%20Cameroun%2009.pdf Baka: A Highly Endangered Language of Northern Cameroun] Baka information and word list
• ELAR collection: [https://elar.soas.ac.uk/Collection/MPI1035153 A documentation of the remnant Baka-Gundi language Limassa] deposited by Benedikt Winkhart

{{Pygmy languages}}

{{Languages of Cameroon}}

{{Languages of Gabon}}

{{Ubangian languages}}

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Category:Ngbaka languages

Category:African Pygmies

Category:Pygmy languages

Category:Languages of Cameroon

Category:Languages of Gabon