# Balanta languages

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

## Description

Balanta is now generally divided into two distinct languages: Balanta-Kentohe and Balanta-Ganja.

## Balanta-Kentohe

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) 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.
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

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. 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).

## Grammar

Balanta has case prefixes and suffixes alternatively interpreted as a definite article dependent on the noun class.

## Phonology

The following are the phonemes of the Balanta dialects.

### Consonants

Balanta consonants :
| | | Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar | Glottal |
| Plosive | voiceless | | | t | c | k | kp | |
| Plosive | voiced | b | | d | ɟ | ɡ | ɡb | |
| Plosive | prenasal vl. | | | ⁿt | ᶮc | ᵑk | ᵑkp | |
| Plosive | prenasal vd. | ᵐb | | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡb | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ | s | | | | h |
| Fricative | prenasal | ᶬf | ⁿθ | ⁿs | | | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | | n | ɲ | ŋ | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | | r | | | | |
| Lateral | Lateral | | | l | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | | | j | | w | |
Voiceless sounds [c k kp] are only heard in the Guinea Bissau dialect.

### Vowels

Balanta vowels :
| | Front | Central | Back |
| High | i iː | | u uː |
| High | ɪ ɪː | | ʊ ʊː |
| Mid | e eː | ə | o oː |
| Mid | ɛ ɛː | | ɔ ɔː |
| Low | | a aː | |

## Writing

In Senegal, Decree No. 2005-979 provides for an orthography of Balanta as follows:
Letters of the alphabet (Senegal) :
| A | B | Ɓ | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | L | M | N | Ñ | Ŋ | O | R | S | T | Ŧ | U | W | Y |
| a | b | ɓ | d | e | f | g | h | i | j | l | m | n | ñ | ŋ | o | r | s | t | ŧ | u | w | y |
| a | b | | d | varies | f | ɡ | h | varies | ɟ | l | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | varies | r | s | t | θ | varies | w | j |
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/)