# Yasa language
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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Yasa_language.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasa_language
> Source revision: 1349122051
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{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea}}
{{distinguish|Bongwe language}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Yasa
| altname = Bongwe
| nativename = ''Iyasa''
| states = [Cameroon](/source/Cameroon)
[Equatorial Guinea](/source/Equatorial_Guinea)
[Gabon](/source/Gabon)
| region =
| ethnicity = [Yasa](/source/Yasa_people) and [Pygmies](/source/Pygmies)[
| speakers = 2,400 in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea
| date = 2000–2011
| ref = e18
| speakers2 = unknown number in Gabon][
| familycolor = Niger-Congo
| fam2 = [Atlantic–Congo](/source/Atlantic%E2%80%93Congo_languages)
| fam3 = [Benue–Congo](/source/Benue%E2%80%93Congo_languages)
| fam4 = [Bantoid](/source/Bantoid_languages)
| fam5 = [Bantu](/source/Bantu_languages) ([Zone A](/source/Guthrie_classification_of_Bantu_languages))
| fam6 = [Sawabantu](/source/Sawabantu_languages) (A.30)
| fam7 = [Kombe](/source/Kombe_language)?
| map2 = Lang Status 60-DE.svg
| mapcaption2 = {{center|Yasa is classified as Definitely Endangered by the [UNESCO](/source/UNESCO) ''[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger](/source/Atlas_of_the_World's_Languages_in_Danger)''.}}
| iso3 = yko
| glotto = yasa1242
| glottorefname = Yasa
| guthrie = A.33a
}}
'''Iyasa''' (Yasa, Yassa) is a [Bantu language](/source/Bantu_language) spoken in [Cameroon](/source/Cameroon) and [Equatorial Guinea](/source/Equatorial_Guinea) by the Iyasa and [Ndowe](/source/Ndowe) coastal fishing peoples. It is also spoken by [Pygmies](/source/Pygmies), perhaps [Babongo](/source/Babongo), in [Gabon](/source/Gabon). Approximately 3,000 people speak Iyasa,][{{Cite web|title=Did you know Iyasa is threatened?|url=http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/558|access-date=2021-06-10|website=Endangered Languages|language=en|archive-date=2022-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012024625/https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/lang/558|url-status=dead}}] though some note that this number may be an overestimation.[{{Cite journal|last=Belew|first=Anna|date=2018|title=Discourses of speakerhood in Iyasa: Linguistic identity and authenticity in an endangered language|url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/24769|journal=Language Documentation & Conservation|language=en-US|pages=339–358|hdl=10125/24769 |issn=1934-5275}}]
Iyasa also goes by the names Bongwe, Lyaasa, and Maasa. Dialects are ''Bweko, Vendo, Bodele, Marry, One, Asonga, Bomui, Mogana, Mooma, Mapanga''. It may in turn be a dialect of [Kombe](/source/Kombe_language). Speakers report that Kombe and Iyasa are almost perfectly mutually intelligible.[{{Cite book|title=Le Syntagme Nominal du Yasa|last=Bouh Ma Sitna|first=Charles Lwanga|publisher=University of Yaoundé I: Master's thesis|year=2004}}]
== Classification ==
Dieu and Renaud (1993) classify Iyasa as a Sawabantu language (A.30 in Guthrie classification).[Dieu, Michel, and Patrick Renaud. 1993. ''Situation linguistique en Afrique centrale, inventaire pre@liminaire: Le Cameroun.'' In Atlas Linguistique du Cameroun. Yaounde@: ACCT-CERDOTOLA-DGRST.]
== Geographic Distribution ==
Iyasa is spoken along the coast of Cameroon south of [Kribi](/source/Kribi), including in the city of [Campo](/source/Campo%2C_Cameroon). It is also spoken across the Ntem River in Equatorial Guinea.[{{Cite journal|last=Bôt|first=Dieudonné Martin Luther|year=2011|title=Le Préfixe Nominale Yasa|journal=Journal of West African Languages|volume=38 |issue=1|pages=99–122}}] The northernmost Iyasa village is Lolabe, 31 km south of Kribi.
alveolar](/source/Postalveolar_consonant)
! [Palatal](/source/Palatal_consonant)
! [Velar](/source/Velar_consonant)
! [Glottal](/source/Glottal_consonant)
|-
! colspan="2" | [Nasal](/source/Nasal_consonant)
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|-
! rowspan="3" | [Plosive](/source/Plosive)/
[Affricate](/source/Affricate)
! {{small|voiceless}}
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
| {{IPA link|tʃ}}
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
|
|-
! {{small|voiced}}
|
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|dʒ}}
| {{IPA link|ɟ}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|
|-
! {{small|[implosive](/source/Implosive_consonant)}}
| {{IPA link|ɓ}}
| {{IPA link|ɗ}}
|
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [Fricative](/source/Fricative)
| {{IPA link|v}}
| {{IPA link|s}}
|
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
! colspan="2" | [Semivowel](/source/Semivowel)
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" | [Lateral](/source/Lateral_consonant)
|
| {{IPA link|l}}
|
|
|
|
|}
== Grammar ==
=== Noun classes ===
Iyasa has 12 [noun class](/source/noun_class)es, as outlined in the table below (adapted from Bôt 2011 and Bouh Ma Sitna 2004):