Bolgo language

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Bolgo
Spoken in:	Chad
Total speakers:	1,800
Language family:	Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Volta-Congo North Adamawa-Ubangi Adamawa Mbum-Day Bua Bolgo
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	`nic`
ISO 639-3:	`bvo`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Bolgo language is a member of the Bua languages spoken in south-central Chad, in the villages of Koya, Boli, Gagne, and Bedi southeast of Melfi, by about 1,800 people (SIL 1993.) According to de Rendinger, it has two principal dialects, Bolgo Werel around Daguela and Bolgo Mengo around Aloa-Niagara, as well as a dialect called Bolgo Bormo; according to the Ethnologue, its principal dialects are called Bolgo Dugag and Bolgo Kubar ("small" and "great" Bolgo.) Great Bolgo is spoken to the north, bordering Mogum and Saba; Little Bolgo is spoken to the south, bordering the closely related language Koke as well as Chadian Arabic.

Its typical word order is Subject Verb Object, Noun Adjective, Aspect particle - Verb, Possessor Possessed. There is no true plural, but -gi serves as a collective marker. The verb is negated with ta, placed at the end of the sentence.

Example sentences:

in-nāṇ rīm nāṇ n'ini (give-me water I drink), "give me water to drink"
ibéri koko ao léti (man marry woman two), "the man married two women".

[edit] Bibliography

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.
Peter Fuchs, 1970, Die Religion der Hadjerai: Kult und Autorität. Berlin. (Contains an ethnolinguistic map of the region.)
Ethnologue