Linguistic diversity challenge: languages of Africa
I have decided to participate in @languagessi’s linguistic diversity challenge on the languages of Africa. I have chosen seven endangered languages from different language families, because I plan to cover more widely spoken languages in my Languages of the world series.
Busuu (1/7)
What is the language called in English and the language itself?
It is called Busuu or Awa in English. The language itself is known as Bùsùù. Where is the language spoken?
Busuu is spoken in western Cameroon. How many people speak the language?
According to Ethnologue, in 1986 there were 8 speakers left, while as of 2005, only 3 remain. Which language family does it belong to? What are some of its relative languages?
It is a Southern Bantoid language of the Niger-Congo family. Busuu belongs to the same group as Bikya and Bishuo, which are potentially extinct languages, but it shares very little similarity with them, because the Furu language group is made up by unclassified Southern Bantoid languages. What writing system does the language use?
Busuu is written in the Latin alphabet. What kind of grammatical features does the language have?
It does not have a stable, structured grammar, as it was born from the contact between populations with different languages and has some elements from both of them. What does the language sound like?
You can listen to Busuu here, here, here, here, here, and here as part of the Save Busuu campaign created by the language platform that bears its name.
What do you personally find interesting about the language?
I find it very interesting that a company was founded in honor of this critically endangered language and that it has created a campaign to save it. Resources: Wikipedia, Save Busuu, a basic course
