Baga Manduri is classified as Definitely Endangered, Baga Sitemu is classified as Severely Endangered, Baga Mboteni is classified as Critically Endangered, and Baga Kalem is classified as Extinct by the UNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger.
Baga, or Barka, is a dialect cluster spoken by the Baga people of coastal Guinea. The name derives from the mispronounced Arabic phrase bae raka (bae = sellers and raka = slaves) and understood by the locals as 'people of the seaside' outcast people. Most Baga are bilingual in the Mande language Susu, the official regional language. Two ethnically Baga communities, Sobané and Kaloum, are known to have abandoned their (unattested) language altogether in favour of Susu.
Varieties
The varieties as distinct enough to sometimes be considered different languages. They are:
Baga Koga (Koba)
Baga Manduri (Maduri, Mandari)
Baga Sitemu (Sitem, Sitemú, Stem Baga, Rio Pongo Baga)
The extinct Baga Kaloum and Baga Sobané peoples had spoken Koga and Sitemu, respectively.
Geographical distribution and demographics of Baga varieties according to Wilson (2007), citing a 1997 colloquium talk at Lille by Erhard Voeltz:
Baga Manduri: spoken at Dobale, and very similar to Citɛm.
Baga Sitemu (properly Citɛm): spoken in a cluster of villages on the Campaces River. This is the only vibrant Baga linguistic variety.
Baga Sobane: only two known speakers in an isolated location.
Baga Marara: spoken on three islands in the Rio Pongo. It is still being spoken by children.
Baga Koba: spoken near Kaporo town only by elderly speakers over age 60. It is reportedly very similar to Baga Kaloum.
Baga Kaloum: originally spoken in a quarter of what is now the Conakry area, and in the Îles de Los. It is close to Temne. Only spoken in a remote area now.
Noun class systems
Baga has prefixes for eight noun classes:
Variety
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Baga Maduri
o- or none
a-
a-
i-
kə-
da-
cə-
sə-
Bagu Sitemu
wi- or none
a-
a-
none
kə-
da-
cə-
sə-
Baga Koba
i-
a-
a-
ɛ-
kə-
da-
cə-
sə-
Vocabulary
Below is a selection of basic vocabulary in Baga Maduri:
123W.A.A.Wilson, Temne, Landuma and the Baga Languages in: Sierra Leone Language Review, No. 1, 1962 published by Fourah Bay College, Freetown.
↑Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
↑Fields-Black, Edda L. 2008. Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora. (Blacks in the Diaspora.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
↑Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Further reading
Houis, Maurice (1952) 'Remarques sur la voix passive en Baga', Notes Africaines, 91–92.
Houis, Maurice (1953) 'Le système pronominal et les classes dans les dialectes Baga, i carte', Bulletin de l'IFAN, 15, 381–404.
Mouser, Bruce L. (2002) 'Who and where were the Baga?: European perceptions from 1793 to 1821', History in Africa, 29, 337–364.
