Balanta languages

Balanta (or Balant) is a group of two closely related Bak languages of West Africa spoken by the Balanta people.

Balanta
Native to	(Balanta-Kentohe) Guinea-Bissau, (Balanta-Ganja) the Gambia, Senegal
Ethnicity	400,000 Balanta (2022)[1]
Native speakers	460,000 (2021–2022)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Senegambian Bak–Bijago Bak proper Balanta
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Senegal
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: ble – Balanta-Kentohe bjt – Balanta-Ganja
Glottolog	bala1300

Description

Balanta is now generally divided into two distinct languages: Balanta-Kentohe and Balanta-Ganja.^[2][3]

Balanta-Kentohe

The Balanta-Kentohe (Kəntɔhɛ) language is spoken by about 423,000 people on the north central and central coast of Guinea-Bissau (where as of 2006 it is spoken by about 397,000 people, many of whom can be found in the Oio Region^[4]) as well as in the Gambia. Films and portions of the Bible have been produced in Balanta-Kentohe.

The Kəntɔhɛ dialect is spoken in the north, while the Fora 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

Balanta-Ganja is spoken by 86,000 people (as of 2006) in the southwest corner of and the south of Senegal. Literacy is less than 1% for Balanta-Ganja.^[2][3] In September 2000, Balanta-Ganja was granted the status of a national language in Senegal, and as of then can now be taught in elementary 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).

Grammar

Balanta has case prefixes and suffixes alternatively interpreted as a definite article dependent on the noun class.^{[citation needed]}

Phonology

The following are the phonemes of the Balanta dialects.^[6][7]

Consonants

Balanta consonants

		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 [c k kp] are only heard in the Guinea Bissau dialect.

Vowels

Balanta vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
	ɪ ɪː		ʊ ʊː
Mid	e eː	ə	o oː
	ɛ ɛː		ɔ ɔː
Low		a aː

Writing

In Senegal, Decree No. 2005-979 provides for an orthography 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/)

References

1. Balanta-Kentohe at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
   Balanta-Ganja at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
2. "Balanta-Kentohe". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
3. "Balanta-Ganja". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
4. "Balanta-Kentohe Language (ble)". The Rosetta Project. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-02-28.
5. Wilson, William A. A. (2007). Guinea Languages of the Atlantic Group: Description and Internal Classification. Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
6. Creissels, Denis; Biaye, Séckou (2016). Le balant ganja: phonologie, morphosyntaxe, liste lexicale, textes (in French). Dakar: IFAN Cheikh Anta Diop.
7. Mbodj, Chérif (2011). Description synchronique du Balante So:fa (Guinée-Bissau) [Synchronic description of Balante So:fa (Guinea-Bissau)] (Doctoral thesis) (in French). Université Cheikh Anta Diop.
8. Gomes, Cleonice Candida (2008). O sistema verbal do balanta: um estudo dos morfemas de tempo [The verbal system of Balanta: a study of time morphemes] (Doctoral thesis) (in Portuguese). Universidade de São Paulo. doi:10.11606/t.8.2008.tde-19012009-154521.
9. Gouvernement du Sénégal, Décret n° 2005-979.

Relevant literature

• Creissels, Denis. 2016. A sketch of Ganja (Balant). In Friederike Lüpke (ed.), The Oxford guide to the Atlantic languages of West Africa. Oxford University Press.
• Mansaly, Jules. 2018. Dictionnaire des proverbes balant: Une langue du groupe atlantique-ouest de la famille niger-congo au Sénégal. (Series: Verbal Art and Documentary Literature in African Languages Volume 37.) Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
• Migeod, F.W.H., The Languages of West Africa Volume II London 1913.
• Westermann, D. & Bryan, M.A. The Languages of West Africa. Published for the International African Institute by Dawsons of Pall Mall, Folkestone & London 1970.

External links

• Video about the Balanta language
• Swadesh List for Balanta-Kentohe
• Decree No. 2005-979 of 21 October 2005 relating to the spelling and the separation of words in Balanta Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine via the website of the Journal officiel (in French)