West Banda language

"Gbi language" redirects here. For the Kru language, see Gbii language.

West Banda
Golo
Native to	Central African Republic, South Sudan
Native speakers	(7,500 cited 1982–1996)[1]
Language family	Ubangian Banda West Banda
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bbp
Glottolog	west2458

West Banda is a minor Banda language, spoken by 10,000 or so people.^[citation needed]

Dialects

Dialects are Dakpa, Gbaga-Nord (Gbaga-2), Gbi, Vita, and Wojo (Hodjo), as reported by Ethnologue and Moñino (1988).[2]

Dákpá speakers live in some villages near the Sara people of Nyango; clans are Yangbà and Dèkò.[3]

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labial- velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p		t			c	k	kp	ʔ
	voiced						ɟ	ɡ	ɡb
	prenasalized	ᵐb		ⁿd			ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ	ᵑᵐɡb
Fricative	voiceless		f		s	ʃ				h
	voiced		v		z	ʒ
	prenasalized		ᶬv		ⁿz
Nasal		m		n			ɲ		ŋm
Tap/Flap			ⱱ	ɾ
Lateral					l
Approximant							j		w

Vowels

	Front	Mid	Back
Close	i	ɨ	u
Close-mid	e		o
Mid		ə
Open-mid			ɔ
Open		a

Vowel tones in West Banda are rising /ǎ/, falling /â/, mid /ā/, low /à/, and high /á/.[4]

References

1. West Banda at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Moñino, Yves (1988). Lexique comparatif des langues oubanguiennes. Paris: Geuthner.
3. Nougayrol, Pierre. 1989. Les Groupes Banda du Bamingui-Bangoran (RCA). Révue d'Ethnolinguistique (Cahiers du LACITO) 4: 197-208.
4. Sampson, Douglas (1985). Studies in African Linguistics Supplement. pp. 269–274.