Banda is a family of Ubangian languages spoken by the Banda people of Central Africa. Banda languages are distributed in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan.

Banda
EthnicityBanda people
Geographic
distribution
Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
Subdivisions
  • Central
  • South
  • Mbandja
  • Ngbundu
  • West
Language codes
ISO 639-2 / 5bad
Glottologband1341

Languages

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Olson (1996)

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Olson (1996) classifies the Banda family as follows (Ethnologue 16 employs this classification):

Moñino (1988)

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A comprehensive list of Banda languages and dialects listed in Moñino (1988) is provided as follows. All of them are spoken in the Central African Republic unless otherwise noted in parentheses, since some Banda languages and dialects are also spoken in the DR Congo and South Sudan.[1]

Banda

Banda-Ndélé groups are Govo, Ngàjà, Gbòngó, Mbàtá, Gbàyà, Tulu, and Dabùrù (Moñino 1988).

Central Sudanic influences

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The Banda languages have a Bongo-Bagirmi substratum (Cloarec-Heiss 1995, 1998). Central Sudanic, particularly Bongo-Bagirmi, influence is evident in Banda phonology, morphosyntax, and lexicon (including cultural vocabulary, and names for flora and fauna). Many of these influences are absent in other Ubangian language groups.[3][4]

Notes

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  1. ^ Moñino, Yves (1988). Lexique comparatif des langues oubanguiennes. Paris: Geuthner.
  2. ^ Nougayrol, Pierre. 1989. Les Groupes Banda du Bamingui-Bangoran (RCA). Révue d'Ethnolinguistique (Cahiers du LACITO) 4: 197-208.
  3. ^ Cloarec-Heiss, France. 1995. Emprunts ou substrat? Analyse des convergences entre le groupe banda et les langues du Soudan Central. In Nicolaï & Rottland (eds.), 321–355.
  4. ^ Cloarec-Heiss, France. 1998. Entre oubanguien et soudan central: les langues banda. In Maddieson & Hinnebusch (eds.), 1–16.

References

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  • Olson, Kenneth S. (1996) 'On the comparison and classification of Banda dialects'. Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS) 32(1). 267–283.