Balanta languages

Balanta
Native to	(Balanta-Kentohe) Guinea-Bissau, (Balanta-Ganja) the Gambia, Senegal
Ethnicity	400,000 Balanta (2022)[1]
Native speakers	460,000 (2021–2022)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Senegambian Bak–Bijago Bak proper Balanta
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Senegal
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: ble – Balanta-Kentohe bjt – Balanta-Ganja
Glottolog	bala1300

Balanta (or Balant or Bulanda) is a group of two closely related Bak languages of West Africa spoken by the Balanta people.

Balanta is now generally divided into two distinct languages: Balanta-Kentohe and Balanta-Ganja.^[2][3]

The Balanta-Kentohe (Kəntɔhɛ) language is spoken by about 423,000 people on the north central and central coast of Guinea-Bissau (where as of 2006 it is spoken by about 397,000 people, many of whom can be found in the Oio Region^[4]) as well as in the Gambia. Films and portions of the Bible have been produced in Balanta-Kentohe.

The Kəntɔhɛ dialect is spoken in the north, while the Fora dialect is spoken in the south.^[5]

Ethnologue lists the alternative names of Balanta-Kentohe as Alante, Balanda, Balant, Balanta, Balante, Ballante, Belante, Brassa, Bulanda, Frase, Fora, Kantohe (Kentohe, Queuthoe), Naga and Mane. The Naga, Mane and Kantohe dialects may be separate languages.

Balanta-Ganja is spoken by 86,000 people (as of 2006) in the southwest corner of and the south of Senegal. Literacy is less than 1% for Balanta-Ganja.^[2][3] In September 2000, Balanta-Ganja was granted the status of a national language in Senegal, and as of then can now be taught in elementary school.

Ethnologue lists the alternative names of Balanta-Ganja as Alante, Balanda, Balant, Balante, Ballante, Belante, Brassa, Bulanda, Fjaa, Fraase (Fraasɛ). Its dialects are Fganja (Ganja) and Fjaalib (Blip).

Balanta has case prefixes and suffixes alternatively interpreted as a definite article dependent on the noun class.^{[citation needed]}

The following are the phonemes of the Balanta dialects.^[6][7]

Voiceless sounds [c k kp] are only heard in the Guinea Bissau dialect.

In Senegal, Decree No. 2005-979 provides for an orthography of Balanta as follows:^[8][9]

The distinction between tense and non-tense vowels is indicated by the addition of an acute diacritic above tense vowels. Pre-nasalised consonants are indicated by preceding their consonant with a homorganic nasal (i.e. mp, nt, ñj). Unvoiced consonants are represented by doubling voiced consonants (i.e. bb = /p/)

• Creissels, Denis. 2016. A sketch of Ganja (Balant). In Friederike Lüpke (ed.), The Oxford guide to the Atlantic languages of West Africa. Oxford University Press.
• Mansaly, Jules. 2018. Dictionnaire des proverbes balant: Une langue du groupe atlantique-ouest de la famille niger-congo au Sénégal. (Series: Verbal Art and Documentary Literature in African Languages Volume 37.) Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
• Migeod, F.W.H., The Languages of West Africa Volume II London 1913.
• Westermann, D. & Bryan, M.A. The Languages of West Africa. Published for the International African Institute by Dawsons of Pall Mall, Folkestone & London 1970.

• Video about the Balanta language
• Swadesh List for Balanta-Kentohe
• Decree No. 2005-979 of 21 October 2005 relating to the spelling and the separation of words in Balanta Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine via the website of the Journal officiel (in French)