Mboteni, also known as Baga Mboteni, Baga Binari,[2] or Baga Pokur, is an endangered Rio Nunez language spoken in the coastal Rio Nunez region of Guinea. Speakers who have gone to school or work outside their villages are bilingual in Pokur and the Mande language Susu.[3]
| Mboteni | |
|---|---|
| Baga Pokur | |
| Native to | Guinea |
| Region | coastal villages of Binari and Mboteni |
| Ethnicity | 3000 (no date) |
Native speakers | 3,700 (2015)[1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Dialects |
|
| Unwritten | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | bcg |
| Glottolog | baga1275 |
| ELP | |
Pokur has lost the noun-class concord found in its relatives.[4]
Geographical distribution
According to Fields (2008:33-34), Mboteni is spoken exclusively in the two villages of Mboteni and Binari on a peninsula south of the mouth of the Nunez River. Mboteni speakers are surrounded by Sitem speakers.[5][1]
Wilson (2007), based on his field reports from the 1950s, reported that Baga Mboteni (called Pukur by the speakers) was spoken on Binari Island by two clans that were hostile to each other.[2]
Classification
As one of the two Rio Nunez languages of Guinea, its closest relative is Mbulungish.[6]
Despite the name, Baga Mboteni is not one of the Baga languages, though speakers are ethnically Baga. The language is instead most closely related to Nalu and Mbulungish, though it shares a low percentage of cognate vocabulary with them.[3]
Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | c ɟ | k g |
| Fricative | f | s | x | |
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ |
| Approximant | w | r, l | j |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Mid-high | e | ə | o |
| Mid-low | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Low | a |
References
Further reading
- Baga Mboteni Profile (PDF), Go West Africa, 2009, retrieved February 12, 2015
- Fields-Black, E. L. (2008). Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.