Baka language (South Sudan)

Not to be confused with Baka language.

Baka
Native to	South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Native speakers	60,000 (2017)[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Central Sudanic Bongo–Bagirmi Bongo–Baka Baka
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bdh
Glottolog	baka1274

Baka (Tara Baka) is a Central Sudanic language of South Sudan, with the majority living in an area centered on Maridi, South Sudan, but also a couple thousand speakers in the DRC. It has consonants with trilled release such as /dr/ and /ɡ͡bʙ/.

A 2013 survey reported that the Baka were the largest ethnic group in Maridi County, South Sudan. They also live in Baka Boma, Tore Payam, Yei County, South Sudan.^[2]

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Alveopalatal	Velar	Labiovelar
Stop:
Voiceless	p	t	c	k	kp
Voiced	b	d		g	gb
Prenasalized	mb	nd		ŋg	ŋmgb
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ	'y
Nasal:	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Trill:
Voiceless			tr		kʙ̥
Voiced	ʙ		dr		gʙ
Prenasalized			ndr		ŋmgʙ
Fricative:
Voiceless	f	s
Voiced	v	z
Prenasalized	nv	nz
Flap:	ⱱ̟	r	ř
Lateral:		l
Semivowel:	w		y

Vowels

(-ATR)

	Front	Central	Back
High	ʟ		ʊ
Low	ɞ	a	ɔ

Neutral vowel: ɨ

(+ATR)

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Low	e	ə	o

^[3]

References

1. Baka at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. "Village Assessment Survey". International Organization for Migration South Sudan. 2013.
3. Parker, Kirk H. (1985). Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages 4. Juba, Sudan: Summer Institute of Linguistics and Institute of Regional Languages and College of Education U. of Juba. pp. 63–85.