Gbaya encompasses those languages belonging to the Gbaya-Mandja-Ngbaka group of Adamawa Eastern (Adamawa-Oubangian), spoken in the Central African Republic, eastern Cameroon, and northeastern Zaire.
Figures range from 300,000 to a high of one million speakers as shown below:
|
C.A.R.
|
Cameroon
|
Zaire
|
Total
|
Source
|
|
500,000
|
?
|
200,000
|
1,000,000
|
Noss,
p.c., 1986
|
|
510,000
|
Bouquiaux,
1978
|
|||
|
300,000
|
Voegelin
and Voegelin, 1971
|
|||
|
300,000
|
Grimes,
1978
|
Noss (personal communication, 1986) states there is considerable dialect variation in Gbaya, with some of the dialects being mutually unintelligible in Cameroon alone. Yaayuwee and Bangando, for example, only share 74 percent of their basic vocabulary. Moņino is presently preparing a reconstruction of Proto-Gbaya, which includes dialect delineation. Tucker and Bryan (1956) consider Gbaya along with Manja and Mbaka (Ngbaka [Ma'bo]), sometimes termed "languages," to be dialects of the same language. Noss and Fr. M. Campagna are preparing a lexicon in four Cameroonian dialects (Yaayuwee, Lai, Dooka, and Mbodomo) of Gbaya using 2,000 basic words with French equivalents.
Noss (personal communication, 1986) reports that "an orthography has been established for a number of dialects, including Yaayuwee, Bangando, Ngbaka, and others."
Given the considerable dialect variation, the likelihood that Gbaya is actually a cluster of languages, and the lack of an encompassing dialect survey, it is unclear at this time how many sets of materials would be sufficient. Noss reports that most of the pedagogical materials available are based on Yaayuwee.
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