Baga language explained

Baga
Nativename:	Barka
States:	Guinea
Ethnicity:	Baga
Speakers:	Koga: No data Sitemu: 40,000 (2018) Mandari: 4,000 (2011) Kaloum: Extinct by the 1950s Sobané: Extinct by the 1950s
Ref:	e25
Familycolor:	Niger-Congo
Fam2:	Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:	Mel
Fam4:	Temne
Fam5:	Baga languages
Lc1:	bgo
Ld1:	Koga
Lc2:	bsp
Ld2:	Sitemu
Lc3:	bmd
Ld3:	Mandari
Lc5:	bqf
Ld5:	Kaloum (spurious)
Lc6:	bsv
Ld6:	Sobané (spurious)
Glotto:	temn1245
Glottorefname:	Northern Mel
Glottoname:	adds Temne & Landoma

Baga, or Barka, is a dialect cluster spoken by the Baga people of coastal Guinea. The name derives from the phrase bae raka Slaves trading place (a mispronounced bae=Arabic for sellers and Raka= Arabic for slaves)and understood by the local as 'people of the seaside' outcast people. 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.

Varieties

The varieties as distinct enough to sometimes be considered different languages.^[1] 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 had spoken Koga and Sitemu, respectively.^[2]

Neighboring Baga Pokur is not closely related.

Geographical distribution

Geographical distribution of Baga varieties, listed from north to south, according to Fields-Black (2008:85):^[3]

• Baga Mandori: coast of Guinea, north of the mouth of the Nunez River
• Baga Sitem: coast of Guinea, south of the mouth of the Nunez River
• Baga Kakissa: coast of Guinea, north of the mouth of the Pongo River
• Baga Koba: coast of Guinea, from south of the mouth of the Pongo River to north of the mouth of the Konkouré River
• Baga Kalum: Îles de Los and area surrounding Conakry

Geographical distribution and demographics of Baga varieties according to Wilson (2007), citing a 1997 colloquium talk at Lille by Erhard Voeltz:^[4]

• Baga Manduri: spoken at Dobale, and very similar to Citɛm.
• Baga Sitemu (properly Citɛm): spoken in a cluster of villages on the Campaces River. This is the only vibrant Baga linguistic variety.
• Baga Sobane: only two known speakers in an isolated location.
• Baga Marara: spoken on three islands in the Rio Pongo. It is still being spoken by children.
• Baga Koba: spoken near Kaporo town only by elderly speakers over age 60. It is reportedly very similar to Baga Kaloum.
• Baga Kaloum: originally spoken in a quarter of what is now the Conakry area, and in the Îles de Los. It is close to Temne. Only spoken in a remote area now.

Noun Class Systems

Baga has prefixes for eight noun classes:^[1]

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

Below is a selection of basic vocabulary in Baga Maduri:^[1]

• - dog
• - dogs
• - fish
• - pig
• - earth, land
• - the chief's head
• - the cow's head
• - eye
• - tooth
• - teeth
• - hang
• - hand, arm
• - hands, arms
• - hair
• - drink
• - iron
• - turn onto front

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

Notes and References

1. W.A.A.Wilson, Temne, Landuma and the Baga Languages in: Sierra Leone Language Review, No. 1, 1962 published by Fourah Bay College, Freetown.
2. Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
3. Fields-Black, Edda L. 2008. Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora. (Blacks in the Diaspora.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
4. Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.