Bak languages
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bak | |
|---|---|
| Bak–Bijago | |
| Geographic distribution: | Senegal, Guinea Bissau |
| Linguistic classification: | Niger–Congo |
| Subdivisions: |
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| Ethnologue codes: | 17-1244, 17-1246 |
The Bak languages are a group of typologically Atlantic languages of Senegal and Guinea Bissau linked in 2010 to the erstwhile Atlantic isolate Bijago. Bak languages are non-tonal.
Languages
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Bayot, once assumed to be a Jola language, appears to be more divergent, perhaps even a language isolate.
Bijago
Bijago is highly divergent. Sapir (1971) classified it as an isolate within West Atlantic. However, Segerer (2010) showed that this is primarily due to unrecognized sound changes, and that Bijago is in fact close to the Bak languages. For example, the following cognates in Bijago and Joola Kasa (one of the Jola languages) are completely regular, but had not previously been identified:
| Gloss | Bijago | Joola Kasa |
|---|---|---|
| head | bu | fu-kow |
| eye | nɛ | ji-cil |
References
- Guillaume Segerer and Florian Lionnet, 2010. "Isolates" in "Atlantic". Presentation at « Language Isolates in Africa », Lyons, Dec. 3–4.
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