Yasa language

{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea}} {{distinguish|Bongwe language}} {{Infobox language | name = Yasa | altname = Bongwe | nativename = ''Iyasa'' | states = Cameroon<br>Equatorial Guinea<br>Gabon | region = | ethnicity = Yasa and Pygmies<ref name=e18/> | speakers = 2,400 in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea | date = 2000–2011 | ref = e18 | speakers2 = unknown number in Gabon<ref name=e18/> | familycolor = Niger-Congo | fam2 = Atlantic–Congo | fam3 = Benue–Congo | fam4 = Bantoid | fam5 = Bantu (Zone A) | fam6 = Sawabantu (A.30) | fam7 = Kombe? | map2 = Lang Status 60-DE.svg | mapcaption2 = {{center|Yasa is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO ''Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger''.}} | iso3 = yko | glotto = yasa1242 | glottorefname = Yasa | guthrie = A.33a }}

'''Iyasa''' (Yasa, Yassa) is a Bantu language spoken in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea by the Iyasa and Ndowe coastal fishing peoples. It is also spoken by Pygmies, perhaps Babongo, in Gabon. Approximately 3,000 people speak Iyasa,<ref>{{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}}</ref> though some note that this number may be an overestimation.<ref>{{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}}</ref>

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. Speakers report that Kombe and Iyasa are almost perfectly mutually intelligible.<ref name=":0">{{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}}</ref>

== Classification == Dieu and Renaud (1993) classify Iyasa as a Sawabantu language (A.30 in Guthrie classification).<ref>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.</ref>

== Geographic Distribution == Iyasa is spoken along the coast of Cameroon south of Kribi, including in the city of Campo. It is also spoken across the Ntem River in Equatorial Guinea.<ref name=":1">{{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}}</ref> The northernmost Iyasa village is Lolabe, 31 km south of Kribi.<ref name=":0" />

== Phonology == Iyasa has a seven-vowel system:<ref name=":0" /> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+Monophthong phonemes ! !Front !Central !Back |- !Close |{{IPA link|i}} | |{{IPA link|u}} |- !Close-mid |{{IPA link|e}} | |{{IPA link|o}} |- !Open-mid |{{IPA link|ɛ}} | |{{IPA link|ɔ}} |- !Open | |{{IPA link|a}} | |}

It also has 22 phonemic consonants:<ref name=":0" /> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! colspan="2" | ! Labial ! Alveolar ! Post-<br />alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar ! Glottal |- ! colspan="2" | Nasal | {{IPA link|m}} | {{IPA link|n}} | | {{IPA link|ɲ}} | {{IPA link|ŋ}} | |- ! rowspan="3" | Plosive/<br />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}} | {{IPA link|ɓ}} | {{IPA link|ɗ}} | | | | |- ! colspan="2" | Fricative | {{IPA link|v}} | {{IPA link|s}} | | | | {{IPA link|h}} |- ! colspan="2" | Semivowel | {{IPA link|w}} | | | {{IPA link|j}} | | |- ! colspan="2" | Lateral | | {{IPA link|l}} | | | | |}

== Grammar ==

=== Noun classes === Iyasa has 12 noun classes, as outlined in the table below (adapted from Bôt 2011 and Bouh Ma Sitna 2004):<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />

{| class="wikitable" !Class number !Prefix !Allomorphs !Example (IPA) !Translation (French) !Translation (English) |- |1 |mù- |mʷ- |mù-tʃɛ́tʃɛ́ mw-ánà |le bébé l'enfant |baby child |- |2 |wà- |w- |wà-dó |les femmes |women |- |3 |mò- |m-, mʷ-, ŋ- |mò-ló ŋ-kɔ́jɛ́ |la fête le pannier |party basket |- |4 |mè- |m-, mʲ- |mè-kɔ |les panniers |baskets |- |5 |ɗì- |ɗ-, i-, dʒ- |ɗì-lɔ̂ ì-dàkà |l'oreille la maladie |ear illness |- |6 |mà- |m- |mà-lɔ̂ |les oreilles |ears |- |7 |è- |èj- |è-lɛ́mi |la langue |tongue |- |8 |ɓè- |ɓèj- |ɓè-kòndà ɓèj-ìmà |les souliers les choses |shoes things |- |9/10 |N- |m-, n-, ŋ-, ɲ-, ø |m-bàdì n-dómì

ø-sɔ̀kù |maison(s) père(s)

éléphant(s) |house(s) father(s)

elephant(s) |- |13 |lì- |l- |lì-ɲɔ̀ní l-éjì |les oiseaux les soleils |birds suns |- |14 |ɓù- |ɓʷ- |ɓù-dù bʷ-àló |l'âne la pirogue |donkey canoe |- |19 |vi- |v- |vì-ɲɔ̀ní |l'oiseau |bird |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [https://www.endangeredlanguages.com/elp-language/558 Iyasa page] at the Endangered Languages Project * [http://www.peupleiyasa.com Homepage of the Iyasa language committee] * [https://www.facebook.com/groups/iyasa/ Etomba a Iyasa Facebook group] * Paradisec has an open access collection of Roger Blench's materials ([http://catalog.paradisec.org.au/collections/RB5 RB5]) that includes Yasa language materials {{Languages of Cameroon}} {{Languages of Gabon}} {{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B)}}

Category:Definitely endangered languages Category:Languages of Cameroon Category:Languages of Equatorial Guinea Category:Languages of Gabon Category:Sawabantu languages

Yasa language

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