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1.2.2 Banda internal relationships
Table 1.1 presents a subclassification of Banda. Note that the node labels (e.g.
“Central Core”, “Mid-Southern”) are not terms that the Banda people use to describe
themselves, but were created by linguists for classificatory purposes. On the other hand,
the name of the group as a whole, “Banda”, and the names of the individual languages are
used by the people in referring to themselves. 2
Table 1.1: Banda sub-classification. Languages marked C and S occur only in D. R.
Congo and Sudan, respectively. Languages marked +C and +S occur in D. R. Congo and
Sudan, respectively, as well as in CAR. Unmarked languages occur only in CAR.
I. Central
1. Central Core
a. Banda-Bambari: Linda, Joto, Ndokpa, Ngapo, Gbende
b. Banda-Banda: Banda-Banda, Bereya, Buru(+S), Gbaga-South, Gbambiya, Hai,
Ka, Mbi, Ndi, Ngalabo, Ngola, Vidiri (+S), GoLoro(S), Wundu(S)
c. Banda-Mbrès: Buka, Mbre, Moruba, Sabanga, Wada(+S)
d. Banda-Ndélé: Ndélé, Junguru(+S), Tangbago(+S), Ngao, Ngbala, Kpaya(S)
e. Mid-Southern: Bongo, Dukpu(+S), Yakpa(+C), Wasa(+S), Gobu (+C),
Kpagua, Mono(C)
f. Togbo-Vara: Togbo(+S,+C), Vara
2. Banda-Yangere: Yangere
II. South Central: Langbasi(+C), Langba, Ngbugu(+C)
III. Southern: Mbandja
IV. Southwestern: Ngbundu(C)
V. West Central: Dakpa, Gbaga-North, Gbi, Vita, Wojo, Golo(S)
The first attempt to sub-classify Banda was Tisserant (1930: 4-5). However, he
does not provide data or evidence to support his classification. It appears that this
classification is based purely on his impressions and not on a rigorous methodology.
Tisserant himself admits that his classification is not to be taken as definitive.
Cloarec-Heiss (1978) studies eleven Banda dialects and sets up a classification
based on phonological and lexical data. Her published data include an 80-item word list.
2 Grimes (1996) (1) does not list Buru in Sudan, (2) incorrectly lists Buka, Mbre, Moruba, and
Sabanga as occurring in Sudan, (3) lists Gobu as “Gubu”, (4) lists Langbasi as “Langbashe”, (5) lists
Mbandja as “Mbanza”, and (6) lists Gbaga-North as “Gbaga-Nord”. Cloarec-Heiss (1988) does not list
Golo in Sudan.
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