Basaa language
From Freepedia
| Basaa (ɓasaá) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Cameroon |
| Region: | Centre and Littoral Provinces |
| Total speakers: | 230,000 |
| Ranking: | not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | --- |
| Regulated by: | --- |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | |
| ISO 639-2 | bas |
| SIL | BAA |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Basaa (also spelled Bassa, Basa, Bissa) is a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon. It is spoken by about 230,000 people in Centre and Littoral provinces.
Contents |
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i, iː | u, uː |
| Close-mid | e, eː | o, oː |
| Open-mid | ɛ, ɛː | ɔ, ɔː |
| Open | a, aː | |
Consonants
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | c, ɟ | k | kʷ, ɡʷ |
| Implosive | ɓ | ||||
| Fricative | s | x | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋʷ |
| Prenasalized stop | ⁿb | ⁿd | ⁿɟ | ⁿɡ | |
| Lateral | l | ||||
| Approximant | j | w |
- When not root-initial and not occur after a pause, the voiceless stops /p t k/ are realized as voiced stops or voiced fricatives.
Tone
Basaa contrasts four tones: high, low, high-to-low (falling) and low-to-high (rising).
External links
- "Ethnologue report for language code:bas". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. URL accessed on 9 September, 2005.
- Hyman, Larry M. (2003). "Basaá (A.43)". In Nurse, Derek and Philippson, Gérard (ed.), The Bantu Languages, pp. 257–282. Routledge. ISBN 0700711341.
