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
Ethnicity400,000 Balanta (2022)[1]
Native speakers
460,000 (2021–2022)[1]
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
ble – Balanta-Kentohe
bjt – Balanta-Ganja
Glottologbala1300

Description

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

Balanta-Kentohe

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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

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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

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

Phonology

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

Consonants

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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

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Balanta vowels
Front Central Back
High i u
ɪ ɪː ʊ ʊː
Mid e ə o
ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Low a

Writing

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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

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  1. ^ a b Balanta-Kentohe at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)  
    Balanta-Ganja at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)  
  2. ^ a b "Balanta-Kentohe". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  3. ^ a b "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

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  • 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.
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