Bak
Bak–Bijago
Geographic
distribution		Senegal, Guinea-Bissau
Linguistic classificationNiger–Congo?
Subdivisions
  • Bak proper
  • Bijago
Glottologcent2230

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.

Name

David Dalby coined the term Bak from the bVk- prefix found in the personal plural forms of demonstratives in the Bak languages. The -k- is not found in other Atlantic languages.[1]

Languages

Classification of Bijago

Bijago is highly divergent. Sapir (1971) classified it as an isolate within West Atlantic.[2] However, Segerer (2010) showed that this is primarily due to unrecognized sound changes, and that Bijago is in fact close to the Bak languages.[3][4] 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

Segerer reconstructs the ancestral forms as *bu-gof and *di-gɛs, respectively, with the following developments:

Comparative vocabulary

Comparison of basic vocabulary words of the Bak languages:[1]

Language eye ear nose tooth tongue mouth blood bone tree water name; surname
Diola (Felup) nyi-kil / ku- ka-ɔs / o- e-ŋindu / si- ka-ŋin / o- u-reeruɸ / ku- bo-ʂom / o- ha-sim ka-gaka
Diola (Husuy) ji-kil ka-noo (outer); ɛ-jan (inner) ɛ-ŋendu ka-ŋiin ho-leluf bu-tum h-äsim ɛ-wool bu-nunukɛn / u- mal ka-jaw; ka-saaf / u-
Diola (Diembereng) di-gin ka-gɔndin; ɛ-jamo ɛ-yinu ka-ŋiin kaa-leeluf bu-tum hallna na-nukanuk / nyu- mɔ-hujɔ ho-roo
Karon ni-kin kaa-now y-iinu ka-ŋiin hi-lɛɛluuf pu-tum hi-sim kaa-cɛc
Papel (Biombo) p-kihl / k- / i- k-warʂ bu-ihl / i- 'nose'; b-ihl 'nostril' p-nyiḭ p-remtɛ́ / k- / i- m-ntum p-nyaak p-mɔ(h)ɔ b-oonoʔ / ŋ- / m-; bu-mul 'log' m-nrʂup k-tim / i-; p-nɔntʂa
Papel (Safim) kiś b-iś m-tuɣum
Manjaco (Baboque) pə-kəs / k- kä-batʂ b-iis / g- pə-roomaj / i- pə-ndeämənt m-tum pə-nyak ka-muä b-kɔʔ / g- / m-ŋk m-lek ka-tim
Manjaco (Pecixe) kəkähl / kə- / i- ka-barʂ bu-ahl / iihl 'nose'; b-iihl / ŋ- 'nostril' pədoomiʔ p-diämət m-tum / ŋ- / i- pə-nyaak ka-mua ka-tim
Manjaco (Churo) pə-kəs ka-bah b-iis p-roomɛɛʔ p-reemint n-tum pə-nyaak ka-muh bo-mol / o- n-nek ka-tim 'land'
Mancanha pə-kəʂ ka-batʂ b-yis pə-nyḭ pə-ndɛmənt m-ntum pə-nyaak pə-mɔh bə-jɛl / ŋ- m-ɛl ka-tim; ka-bɛp
Balanta (northern, Kəntɔhɛ) f-kit / k- kə-lɔʔ / k- b-fuŋa / #- f-sec / k- kə-dɛmat / Ø- b-sum / #- k-saham f-hool / k- b-ta / Ø- wɛdɛ f-tookɛ; f-mbɛɛm
Bijago n-ɛ̂ / ŋ- kɔ-nnɔ / ŋa- ŋɔ́-mɔ̀ ká-nyì / ŋá nú-númɛ̀ ká-nà / ŋa- nɛ-nyɛ ka-ŋkpeene / ŋa- ŋɔ-maŋgi / mɔ- n-nyo; n-to 'brine' ŋa-βin / N-

References

  1. ^ a b Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
  2. ^ Sapir, David (1971). "West Atlantic: An inventory of the languages, their noun class systems and consonant alternations." Current Trends in Linguistics 7:45-112. The Hague: Mouton.
  3. ^ Segerer, Guillaume. 2010a. ‘Isolates’ in ‘Atlantic’. Paper presented at the International Workshop “Language Isolates in Africa,” Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage (DDL) Lyon, 3‒4 December.
  4. ^ Segerer, Guillaume. 2010b. The Atlantic languages: State of the art. Paper presented at the International Workshop “Genealogical language classification in Africa beyond Greenberg,” Humboldt University Berlin, 21‒22 February. (accessed 30 March 2017).
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