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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	Balanta
Native speakers	510,000 (2006)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo 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

References

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 via the website of the Journal officiel (in French)

На других языках

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[de] Balanta (Sprache)

Balanta ist eine westatlantische Sprache von Westafrika, die vom Volk der Balanta gesprochen wird.

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- [en] Balanta language

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[fr] Balante

Le balante est une langue atlantique d'Afrique de l'Ouest parlée par le peuple des Balantes (ou Balantés).

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