Bua languages
The Bua languages are a subgroup of the Mbum–Day subgroup of the Savanna languages spoken by fewer than 30,000 people in southern Chad in an area stretching roughly between the Chari River and the Guéra Massif. They were labeled "G13" in Joseph Greenberg's Adamawa language-family proposal. They are ultimately part of the Niger–Congo family, and have exerted a significant influence on Laal.
Bua languages have had extensive contact with Chadic languages.
Languages
The Bua languages include:- Bua language, north of the Chari River around Korbol and Gabil ; mutually comprehensible with Fanian.
- Fanian, or Mana, or Kobe, in the villages of Mouraye, Sengué, Malakonjo, Rim, Sisi, Karo west of Lake Iro.
- Niellim or Lua, spoken around Niellim and Niou along the Chari River north of Sarh
- Tunia, around Sarh
- Noy or Loo, spoken in Bedaya, Balimba, Djoli, Koumra, and Koumogo south of Sarh. Nearly extinct.Gula languages:
- * Gula Iro or Kulaal, around Lake Iro.
- * Zan Gula, around Zan and Chinguil.
- * Bon Gula, in the villages of Bon and Ibir.
- Koke, around Daguela
- Bolgo, near Melfi, in Koya, Boli, Gagne, and Bedi.
A full list of Bua languages from Boyeldieu, et al. is given below.
| Language | Alternate names | Self-designation | Locations | Number of speakers |
| Lua | Niellim, Nielim | luāà | Niellim, Niou, Sarh | 5,000 |
| Cini | ci᷅nī | Niellim | extinct | |
| Tun | Tounia, Tunya | tǔn | Sarh | 2,000 |
| Perim | pèrìm | surroundings of Niellim | extinct | |
| Lɔɔ | Noy | lɔ́ɔ̄ | Bédaya, Djoli, Balimba, Koumogo Koumra | extinct |
| Kulaal | Goula d’Iro, Gula Iro | glossonym: kùláál | Masidjanga, Boum Kabir, Tiéou, Tiolé Kabir | 3,500 |
| Bon Gula | Eeni | Bon, Ibir | 1,200 | |
| Zan Gula | Moraj | glossonym: More or Morre | Zan, Chinguil | 3,200 |
| Ɓa | Boua, Boa, Bua | ɓà | Korbol, Lagouaye, Nyamko, Tigli, Tim, Bar, Sakre Deleb, Malbom, Ladon and, more to the North, an isolated group in Gabil | 8,000 |
| Korom/Kawãwãy | Bar, Sarabara, Sakré Deleb, Tilé Nougar | 60 | ||
| Fanya | Fanian | fãỹa | Karo, Ataway, Tilé Nougar, Timan, Sisi, Rim | 1,000 |
| Tereu | Bolgo Dugag | tērēù, glossonym: tērēùnī | Aloa, Niagara, Koya, Boli | 1,000 |
| Bolgo proper | Bolgo Kubar | bólgò, glossonym: bólgònî | Agrap, Gagne, Bedi, Moulouk, Hari, Kodbo | 1,800 |
| Bormo | Bolgo Kubar | bòrmó, glossonym: bòrmónì | Agrap, Gagne, Bedi, Moulouk, Hari, Kodbo | 1,800 |
| Koke | Khoke | Daguéla, Chobo | 600 |
Classification
Kastenholz's preliminary classification divides the Bua languages into a Riverine group and an Inland group.- Bua
- *Riverine
- **Tun
- **Ɓa, Lua
- *Inland
- **Koke, Bolgo
- **Gula
- ***Bon Gula
- ***nuclear Gula
- ****Zan Gula
- ****Fãya, Kulaal
Linguistic features
All of these languages are tonal, with distinctive vowel length and nasal vowels in limited contexts. Most of these languages have lost the typical Niger–Congo noun class system However, its former presence is betrayed by their quite complicated system of plural formation, combining internal ablaut with changes to final consonants and/or suffixation.General relevance
- Pascal Boyeldieu and C. Seignobos, "Contribution à l'étude du pays niellim ", L'homme et le milieu, Aspects du développement au Tchad, N'Djamena, "Annales de l'Universite du Tchad", Série: Lettres, Langues vivantes et Sciences humaines, no. 3, 1975, pp. 67–98. Includes an 80-word comparative list for Niellim and three Tunia varieties, with some remarks on regular correspondences
- P. Boyeldieu. ", pp. 275–286, in: : Le Milieu et les Hommes. Recherches comparatives et historiques dans la bassin du lac Tchad. Actes du 2ème colloque Méga-Tchad ORSTOM BONDY, le 3 et 4 octobre 1985. Ministère française de la Coopération & MESRES Cameroun, 1985.
- P. Boyeldieu, "vestiges de suffixes des classes nominales dans les langues du groupe boua " – Current Approaches to African Linguistics, vol. 2 – Dordrecht/Cinnaminson, Foris Publications, pp. 3–15.
- P. Boyeldieu & C. Seignobos, Contribution à l'étude du pays niellim, Université du Tchad / INTSH, N'djamena, 1974. Includes word lists for Kwa Tchini and Kwa Perim.
- P. Boyeldieu. "Vestiges de suffixes de classes nominales dans les langues du groupe boua " in Current Approaches to African Linguistics . Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1983, p. 3-15. Coll. Publications in African languages and linguistics.
- M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Documents sur les langues de l'Oubangui-Chari, Paris, 1907. Includes a 200-word comparative list of Bua, Niellim, Fanian, and Tunia, with a brief grammar and some phrases collected by Decorse.
- A. Joly, Le canton de Boli, 1935, N'djamena archives W-52/19. Contains some 200 Fanian and Bolgo words
- J. Lukas, Zentralsudanisches Studien, Hamburg, Friedrichsen, de Gruyter & Cie, 1937. Gives the wordlists of Nachtigal, zu Mecklenburg, Barth, and Gaudefroy-Demombynes for Bua, Niellim, and Koke.
- P. Palayer, "Notes sur les Noy du Moyen-Chari ", Les langues du groupe Boua, N'djamena, I.N.S.H., "Etudes et documents tchadiens", Série C, no. 2, pp. 196–219. Elements of Noy, plus a 50-word comparative list of Noy, Niellim, Tunia, Iro Gula.
- Gen. de Rendinger, "Contribution à l'étude des langues nègres du Centre Africain", Journal de la Société des Africanistes, XIX-II, 1949, pp. 143–194. Includes examples and grammatical information on Bolgo varieties and Zan Gula.
- A. N. Tucker & M. A. Bryan, The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa, Handbook of African Languages, part III, Oxford University Press for International African Institute, 1956. Includes an over-inclusive list of Bua languages, a grammatical summary of Bua, Tunia, and Niellim based on existing fieldwork, and a brief comparative wordlist for Day.
Specific languages
See Niellim, Gula Iro for works on those languages.- P. A. Benton, Languages and Peoples of Bornu Vol. I, Frank Cass & Co:London 1912 /1968 Gives Barth's unpublished vocabulary of Bua on pp. 78–130.
- P. Boyeldieu, La langue lua Phonologie – Morphologie – Dérivation verbale. Descriptions des langues et monographes ethnologuistiques, 1. Cambridge University Press & Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme for SELAF. Paris 1985. .
- Faris, David and Marba Meundeung. 1993. . SIL Chad. Includes wordlist.
- J. Mouchet, "Contribution à l'étude du Gula ", Bulletin de l'IFAN, vol. XX, series B, no. 3-4, 1958, pp. 593–611. On Bon Gula.
- P. Palayer, Esquisse phonologique du Tounia, INSH, 1974.