| Balanta | |
|---|---|
| Native to | (Balanta-Kentohe)Guinea-Bissau, (Balanta-Ganja)the Gambia,Senegal |
| Ethnicity | 400,000Balanta (2022)[1] |
Native speakers | 460,000 (2021–2022)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:ble – Balanta-Kentohebjt – Balanta-Ganja |
| Glottolog | bala1300 |
Balanta (orBalant) is a group of two closely relatedBak languages ofWest Africa spoken by theBalanta people.
Balanta is now generally divided into two distinct languages: Balanta-Kentohe and Balanta-Ganja.[2][3]
The Balanta-Kentohe (Kəntɔhɛ) language is spoken by about 423,000 people on the north central and central coast ofGuinea-Bissau (where as of 2006 it is spoken by about 397,000 people, many of whom can be found in theOio Region[4]) as well as inthe Gambia. Films and portions of theBible have been produced in Balanta-Kentohe.
TheKəntɔhɛ dialect is spoken in the north, while theFora dialect is spoken in the south.[5]
Ethnologue lists the alternative names of Balanta-Kentohe as Alante, Balanda, Balant, Balanta, Balante, Ballante, Belante, Brassa, Bulanda, Frase, Fora, Kantohe (Kentohe, Queuthoe), Naga and Mane. The Naga, Mane and Kantohe dialects may be separate languages.
Balanta-Ganja is spoken by 86,000 people (as of 2006) in the southwest corner of and the south ofSenegal.Literacy is less than 1% for Balanta-Ganja.[2][3] In September 2000, Balanta-Ganja was granted the status of anational language in Senegal, and as of then can now be taught inelementary school.
Ethnologue lists the alternative names of Balanta-Ganja as Alante, Balanda, Balant, Balante, Ballante, Belante, Brassa, Bulanda, Fjaa, Fraase (Fraasɛ). Its dialects are Fganja (Ganja) and Fjaalib (Blip).
Balanta has caseprefixes andsuffixes alternatively interpreted as adefinite article dependent on thenoun class.[citation needed]
The following are the phonemes of the Balanta dialects.[6][7]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | t | c | k | kp | |||
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | ɡb | |||
| prenasal vl. | ⁿt | ᶮc | ᵑk | ᵑkp | ||||
| prenasal vd. | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡb | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | h | |||
| prenasal | ᶬf | ⁿθ | ⁿs | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Rhotic | r | |||||||
| Lateral | l | |||||||
| Approximant | j | w | ||||||
Voiceless sounds[ckkp] are only heard in the Guinea Bissau dialect.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | iiː | uuː | |
| ɪɪː | ʊʊː | ||
| Mid | eeː | ə | ooː |
| ɛɛː | ɔɔː | ||
| Low | aaː |
In Senegal, Decree No. 2005-979 provides for anorthography of Balanta as follows:[8][9]
| Letters of the alphabet (Senegal) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | B | Ɓ | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | L | M | N | Ñ | Ŋ | O | R | S | T | Ŧ | U | W | Y |
| a | b | ɓ | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | l | m | n | ñ | ŋ | o | r | s | t | ŧ | u | w | y |
| a | b | d | varies | f | ɡ | h | varies | ɟ | l | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | varies | r | s | t | θ | varies | w | j | |
The distinction between tense and non-tense vowels is indicated by the addition of an acute diacritic above tense vowels. Pre-nasalised consonants are indicated by preceding their consonant with a homorganic nasal (i.e. mp, nt, ñj). Unvoiced consonants are represented by doubling voiced consonants (i.e. bb = /p/)
| Official language | ||
|---|---|---|
| Indigenous languages | ||
| Sign languages | ||
| Immigrant languages | ||
