Bayot language

Bayot
Spoken in Senegal, Guinea-Bissau
Native speakers 19,000  (2006)
Language family
Dialects
Essin
Language codes
ISO 639-3 bda

Bayot (Baiot, Baiote, Bayotte) is a language of southern Senegal, southwest of Ziguinchor in a group of villages near Nyassia, in northwestern Guinea-Bissau, along the Senegalese border, and in The Gambia.

Bayot has traditionally been considered the most divergent Jola language, in the (geographic) Atlantic branch of the Niger鈥揅ongo language family. However, half of its vocabulary, including basic terms such as pronouns, are not Jola or even Atlantic, and may not be Niger鈥揅ongo, though grammatically it behaves as a typical Jola language. It is therefore often left unclassified pending further research.