Kru/Bassa
< Krio, Pidgin | Major Languages | Lingala >
Categories: Languages, Liberia, Western SL
On this page... (hide)
- 1. Classification / Classification
- 2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
- 3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
- 4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
- 5. Usage / Utilisation
- 6. Orthography / Orthographe
- 7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
- 8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
- 9. 9 Comments / Remarques
- 10. 10 References / Références
1. Classification / Classification
The term "Kru/Bassa" refers to some of the languages in the Western Kru subbranch of the Kru branch of Niger-Congo. Although considered as a possible subgroup of Kwa by Greenberg (1963), more recently Bennett and Sterk (1977) accord the Kru branch a more distant relationship to Kru [Kwa??], but still within Niger-Congo. (Webbook?)
Ethnologue? classifies 3 languages as: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Kru, Western, Bassa. In addition it lists 20 other languages under Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Kru, Western, .... It is not clear which among the latter should be considered here, so only the Bassa languages will be covered.
2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
It is spoken in the southern part of Liberia and on into the eastern [western??] part of Côte d'Ivoire. (Webbook)
3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
According to Ethnologue:
- Bassa
- 403,000 in Liberia (2006)
- 5,730 in Sierra Leone (2006)
- Population total all countries: 408,730
- Dewoin
- 8,100 in Liberia (1991 Vanderaa)
- Gbii
- 5,600 in Liberia (1991 Vanderaa).
4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
At least two dialect surveys have been taken of the Kru group, but because of the complicated nature of the dialect/language situation, more research is needed. (Webbook)
(See note in #1, above)
- Bassa
- Gbor
- Gba Sor
- Mabahn
- Hwen Gba Kon
- Central Bassa
- Rivercess Bassa
- Dewoin (No significant dialect differences. Lexical similarity 72% with Bassa)
- Gbii (Lexical similarity 78% with Bassa)
- Gbi-Dowlu
- Gbee
5. Usage / Utilisation
All the languages in the Kru group are used primarily as local languages. (Webbook)
6. Orthography / Orthographe
6.1 Status / Statut
The orthographic status of the Kru/Bassa languages is unknown to us as of this writing. (Webbook)
It is apparently an Latin-based alphabet including extended characters and diacritics to mark tone.
6.2 Sample Alphabet / Alphabet exemple
Alphabet of Bassa as reported by Hartell (1993):
- presented in Systèmes alphabétiques: http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/AfficheTableauOrtho2N.php?choixLangue=bassa
- image from the book on the Rosetta Project site: http://www.rosettaproject.org/archive/bsq/ortho-1
Sample text of Bassa in the "Language Museum" at http://www.language-museum.com/b/bassa.php
7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
7.1 Fonts / Polices
Unicode fonts with extended Latin ranges would be necessary
7.2 Keyboard layouts / Dispositions de clavier
7.3 Content on computers & internet / Contenu en informatique et sur l'Internet
7.4 Localized software / Logiciels localisés
No initiatives on this are known.
7.5 Language codes / Codes de langue
Kru
- ISO 639-1: -
- ISO 639-2: kro
- ISO 639-3: -
Bassa
- ISO 639-3: bsq
Dewoin
- ISO 639-3: dee
Gbii
- ISO 639-3: ggb
7.6 Other / Autre
8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
8.1 Individuals (experts) / Individuelles (experts)
8.2 Institutions / Institutions
8.3 On the internet / Sur la toile
9. 9 Comments / Remarques
10. 10 References / Références
Chanard, Christian (2006), Systèmes alphabétiques des langues africaines, LLACAN, CNRS, http://sumale.vjf.cnrs.fr/phono/
Dwyer, David (1997), Webbook of African Languages, http://africa.isp.msu.edu/afrlang/hiermenu.html (page on "Kru/Bassa," http://africa.isp.msu.edu/afrlang/Kru_root.html )
Hartell, Rhonda L., ed. (1993), The Alphabets of Africa. Dakar: UNESCO and SIL. (The French edition, published the same year, is entitled Alphabets de Langues Africaines).
SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Bassa," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/bsq
______, "Dewoin," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/dee
______, "Gbii," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/ggb
______, "Language Family Trees: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Kru, Western," http://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/western-62
SIL International, "ISO 639 Code Tables," http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp
U.S. Library of Congress, "ISO 639.2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages: Alpha-3 codes arranged alphabetically by the English name of language," http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php
Wikipedia, "Bassa language," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bassa_language
_____, "Kru languages," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kru_languages
< Krio, Pidgin | Major Languages | Lingala >
Categories: Languages, Liberia, Western SL