| Bube | |
|---|---|
| Idioma Bubé | |
| Bubi, Bohobé, Bube–Benga, Bobe | |
| Native to | Equatorial Guinea,Gabon,Cameroon |
| Region | Bioko Island,[1] Río Muni (only spoken by minority) |
| Ethnicity | Bubi,Wovea |
Native speakers | 51,000 (2011)[2] |
Early form | Pre-Bube |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bvb – inclusive codeIndividual code: bbx – Bubia (Wovea) |
| Glottolog | bube1242 |
A.31, A.221[3] | |
| ELP | Bubia |
 Lenguas de Guinea Ecuatorial (Bube (pink) | |
TheBube language orBubi,Bohobé,Bube–Benga orFernandian (Bobe) is aBantu language spoken predominately by theBubi, aBantu people native to, and once the primary inhabitants ofBioko Island inEquatorial Guinea. The language was brought to Bioko from continental Africa more than three thousand years ago when theBubi began settling on the island.[4]
It has around 50,000 speakers, with three variants: North, South and Central-East. It is noted for itstonal character and the divergence of words by gender. The language is also spoken by the Bubi native toGabon andCameroon.
The Bube language is divided into six different dialects that vary in the northern and southern regions of Bioko Island. For example, in the North, people speakRebola and its variations:Basile,Banapa andBasupa. However, in the North-East,Bakake is spoken.[citation needed]
Bube is also spoken in a small area on the mainland closest to the island, where speakers are shifting toWumboko.[5] This has been reported as "Bube", "Bubia" or "Wovea" (seeWovea people).
The first works on the Bube language were those of the Baptist missionaryJohn Clarke, published in 1846 and 1848.[6] A later Bube-to-Englishprimer was authored in 1875 byWilliam Barleycorn, a colonial eraPrimitive Methodistmissionary ofIgbo andFernandino descent, while he was serving in the Bubi village ofBasupu. An official language dictionary and grammar guide was published by the ethnic Bubi scholarJusto Bolekia Boleká.
Other names and forms of the name include Bubé, eVoové, eBubée, Bhubhi, Bubi, Ibubi, Ibhubhi, Pove and Eviia.
Bube has 7 vowels that can be either short or long:
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː (ĩ) | u uː (ũ) |
| Close-mid | e eː (ẽ) | o oː (õ) |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː (ɛ̃) | ɔ ɔː (ɔ̃) |
| Open | a aː (ã) | |
Thenasal vowels areallophones of respective oral vowels.
Bube has 29 consonants. Some of them areprenasalized:
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | voiceless | m̥ | n̥ | ||||
| voiced | m | n | ɲ | ||||
| Stop | plain | voiceless | p | t | c | k | ʔ |
| voiced | b | d | ɟ | ɡ | |||
| prenasal | voiceless | ᵐp | ⁿt | ᶮc | |||
| voiced | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | |||
| voiced | v | ||||||
| prenasal | ⁿs | ||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | ||||
| Rhotic | r | ||||||
The numbers one through ten in Bube are as follows:[7]
| Number | Northern Bube | Northwestern Bube | Southern Bube |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | buule | muule | |
| 2 | eppa | memba | |
| 3 | betta | metta | |
| 4 | yeele | myeeme | |
| 5 | betto | metto | |
| 6 | ra'a 6 | metto na muule 5+1 | |
| 7 | ra'a la buule 6+1 | metto na memba 5+2 | |
| 8 | yeele ketoppa 4x2 | ra'a la eppa 6+2 | metto na metta 5+3 |
| 9 | yeele ketoppa la buule 4x2+1 | baa buule ka yo 10-1 | metto na myeene 5+4 |
| 10 | yo | myo | |
