Bijago language

{{Short description|Senegambian language spoken in Guinea-Bissau}} {{Infobox language |name=Bidyogo |altname=Bijago |states=Guinea-Bissau |region=Offshore Bissagos Islands |speakers=36,000 |date=2022 |ref=e26 |script=Latin |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam2=Atlantic–Congo |fam3=Atlantic |fam4=Senegambian |fam5=Bak |dia4=Kamona |dia3=Anhaqui (Anhaki) |dia1=Kagbaaga |dia2=Kajoko (Orango) |iso3=bjg |glotto=bijo1239 |glottorefname=Bijogo |notice=IPA }}

'''Bijago''' or '''Bidyogo''' is the language of the Bissagos Archipelago of Guinea-Bissau. Bidyogo is the "dominant mother tongue of the archipelago population", though it is not used in schooling there, a role that has been taken over by Kriol since the 1990s.<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384074386_Bilingual_education_in_the_Bissagos_islands_of_Guinea-Bissau Feytor Pinto, Paulo. 2024. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384074386_Bilingual_education_in_the_Bissagos_islands_of_Guinea-Bissau], p. 53</ref> There are some difficulties of grammar and intelligibility between dialects, with the Kamona dialect being unintelligible to the others.

Dialects are as follows:

* Anhaki on Canhabaque (Roxa) Island * Kagbaaga on Bubaque Island * Kajoko on Orango and Uno Islands * Kamona on the northern Caravela and Carache Islands

==Characteristics== The Kajoko dialect is one of the few in the world known to use a linguolabial consonant, the voiced stop {{IPA|[d̼]}} (or, given that it behaves as a labial consonant, {{IPA|[b̼]}}), in its basic sound system.{{sfn|Olson|Reiman|Sabio|da Silva|2009}}

=== Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |+Kajoko consonants (Wilson 2000/2001:20) ! colspan="2" | !Labial !Alveolar !Retroflex !Palatal !Velar !Labial- velar !Glottal |- ! rowspan="2" |Plosive !voiceless |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} |{{IPA link|ʈʂ}} | |{{IPA link|k}} |{{IPA link|kp}} | |- !voiced |{{IPA link|b̼}} |{{IPA link|d}} |{{IPA link|ɽ}} | |{{IPA link|ɡ}} |{{IPA link|ɡb}} | |- ! rowspan="2" |Fricative !voiceless | |{{IPA link|s}} | | | | |({{IPA link|h}}) |- !voiced |{{IPA link|β}} | | |{{IPA link|ʒ}} | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} |{{IPA link|n}} | |{{IPA link|ɲ}} |{{IPA link|ŋ}} | | |- ! colspan="2" |Rhotic | |{{IPA link|r}} | | | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Approximant | | | |{{IPA link|j}} | |{{IPA link|w}} | |}

==Classification== Bijago is highly divergent. Sapir (1971) classified it as an isolate within the West Atlantic family. However, Segerer 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 (a Bak language) are completely regular, but had not previously been identified:{{sfn|Segerer|Lionnet|2010}}

{|class=wikitable |+ {{sronly|Classification}} !Gloss!!Bijago!!Joola Kasa |- !head |bu ||fu-kow |- !eye |nɛ ||ji-cil |}

==See also== *Bijogo word list (Wiktionary)

==References== {{reflist}}

{{refbegin}} * {{Cite journal|last= Olson |first= Kenneth S.|first2= D. William |last2=Reiman|first3= Fernando|last3= Sabio |first4= Filipe Alberto |last4= da Silva|date=2009|title=The voiced linguolabial plosive in Kajoko|journal=Chicago Linguistic Society|volume=45|issue=1|pages= 519–530}} * {{Cite book|last=Segerer|first=Guillaume|author-link=Guillaume Segerer|title= La langue bijogo|publication-place= Oxford|publisher= Pergamon Press|date=1997}} * {{Cite book|last=Segerer|first=Guillaume|author-link=Guillaume Segerer|chapter= Lʼorigine des Bijogo : hypothèses de linguiste|editor-last= Gaillard|editor-first= Gérald |title=Migrations anciennes et peuplement actuel des Côtes guinéennes|publication-place= Paris|publisher= LʼHarmattan|date=2000|pages=183–191}} * {{Cite book|last=Segerer|first=Guillaume|author-link=Guillaume Segerer|title=La langue bijogo de Bubaque (Guinée Bissau)|publication-place=Louvain and Paris|publisher= Editions Peeters|date=2002}} * {{cite conference|first=Guillaume|last=Segerer|author-link=Guillaume Segerer|date=2010-12-04|first2=Florian|last2=Lionnet|title='Isolates' in 'Atlantic'|conference=Language Isolates in Africa|location=Lyon}} {{refend}}

Category:Bak languages Category:Languages of Guinea-Bissau