Saari | |
Nativename: | Nsari |
Region: | Cameroon |
Speakers: | 7,600 |
Date: | 2008 |
Ref: | e25 |
Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
Fam3: | Benue–Congo |
Fam4: | Southern Bantoid |
Iso3: | asj |
Glotto: | nsar1238 |
Glottorefname: | Nsari |
Saari, or Nsari, is an Eastern Beboid language of Cameroon. According to Ethnologue, it's 84% lexically similar to Ncane, making it very close to the Noni cluster. It is spoken in the Misaje Sub-Division, Donga-Mantung Division, North West Region. The Ethnologue has Sari as the language name, and lists the following as alternate language names: Akweto, Nsari, Pesaa, Saari, Sali.
The language is spoken by the Besaa people, who live predominately in Akweto, Kamine, and Mbissa. There are approximately 7,600 (Lewis, 2015) speakers of the language, although the exact number is unknown as there are reportedly sizable clusters of people living outside the area, particularly in the Southwest Region.[1]