| Basaa | |
| Also Known As: | Mbene |
| Nativename: | ɓasaá, ɓàsàa |
| States: | Cameroon |
| Region: | Centre and Littoral Provinces |
| Speakers: | 300,000 |
| Ethnicity: | Basaa people |
| Date: | 2005 SIL |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam4: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam5: | Bantu (Zone A) |
| Fam6: | Basaa languages (A.40) |
| Iso2: | bas |
| Iso3: | bas |
| Glotto: | basa1284 |
| Glottorefname: | Basa (Cameroon) |
| Guthrie: | A.43a |
| Notice: | IPA |
Basaa (also spelled Bassa, Basa, Bissa), or Mbene, is a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon by the Basaa people. It is spoken by about 300,000 people in the Centre and Littoral regions.
Maho (2009) lists North and South Kogo as dialects.
Basaa is spoken by 230,000 speakers. They live in Nyong-et-Kelle (Central Region) and Sanaga Maritime (with the exception of the Edéa commune, which has a Bakoko majority) and most of Nkam commune (Littoral Region). In the western and northern parts of this department, the peripheral Basaa dialects are spoken: Yabasi in the commune of Yabassi, Diɓuum in the commune of Nkondjok (Diboum Canton), north of Ndemli and Dimbamban.
Similarly, Basaa Baduala is spoken in Wouri Department (Littoral Region), traditional Basaa territory that is being transformed by the growth of Douala. Basaa is also found in Océan Department (commune of Bipindi, Southern Region).
Hijuk is spoken only in the quarter of Niki in Batanga commune, in Yangben Canton (Ch. Paulian (1980)) by 400 people. Hijuk is a Basaa dialect, despite its geographical location in the southeast of Bokito arrondissement (Mbam-et-Inoubou department, Central Region).[1]
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Close-mid | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Bilabial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| prenasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| implosive | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Tap | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Lateral | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||||
Basaa contrasts four tones: high, low, high-to-low (falling) and low-to-high (rising).
The language uses a Latin-based alphabet, with the addition of the letters Ɓɓ, Ɛɛ, Ŋŋ, Ɔɔ, ten multigraphs, as well as acute, grave, and circumflex accents:[2]
| Capital | Small | |
|---|---|---|
| A | a | |
| B | b | |
| Ɓ | ɓ | |
| C | c | |
| D | d | |
| E | e | |
| Ɛ | ɛ | |
| F | f | |
| G | g | |
| GW | gw | |
| H | h | |
| HY | hy | |
| I | i | |
| J | j | |
| K | k | |
| KW | kw | |
| L | l | |
| M | m | |
| MB | mb | |
| N | n | |
| NJ | nj | |
| NY | ny | |
| ND | nd | |
| Ŋ | ŋ | |
| ŊG | ŋg | |
| ŊGW | ŋgw | |
| ŊW | ŋw | |
| O | o | |
| Ɔ | ɔ | |
| P | p | |
| R | r | |
| S | s | |
| T | t | |
| U | u | |
| V | v | |
| W | w | |
| Y | y |