Baba (Supapyag)

Baba is an Eastern Grasslands language spoken by about 24,500 people in the Northwest Region of Cameroon. In particular, it is spoken in Baba I and other villages on the Ndop Plain in the Babessi District in the northeast of the Ngo-Ketunjia Department in the south of the Northwest Region

Baba is also known as Bapa, Bapakum, Papia, Papiakum or Supapya. A way to write Baba with the Latin alphabet was created in 2006, and revised in 2024. The native name of the language was written Supapyak’ before 2024, and is now written Supapyag.

Baba alphabet and pronunciation

Download an alphabet chart for Baba (Excel)
Details of the Baba alphabet provided by Wolfram Siegel (PDF)

Notes

The letters B, D, G and J are only used in loanwords from other languages and personal names.

Sample sentences

Kunyam tomə mbutə mbo ŋgywi Kywiŋgaŋlə ŋga “Ndu wu pə ya lo?” Yi ti par.
The pig came and asked the tortoise's wife, “Where is your husband?” But she didn't respond.
Yo yi nje nyo la, yi la̧ ŋkog ŋge mə mgbi yəri.
Since she saw the snake, she has not returned to that farm.
Yi ri mbo ŋgywi yi ŋga,ȳ i loʼ yi, naʼ mə wo, ŋgag ndə.
He said to his wife that she should take him and put him on the grinding stone and grind food.
Pogó ŋge mgbi, n nje nyo, ntye.
We went to the farm, I saw a snake, and (I) ran away.

Source: Supapyag Orthography Guide spoken in Baba 1 by Cameron Hamm. 2024.

Information about baba | Numbers

Links

Information about Baba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_language
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_(langue)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_(Sprache)
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/baba1264
http://www.language-archives.org/language/bbw
https://www.sil.org/resources/search/language/bbw
https://www.webonary.org/supapyag/overview/introduction/

Grassfields languages

Aghem, Ambele, Awing, Baba, Babanki, Bambalang, Bamukumbit, Bamum, Bamunka, Bangolan, Feʼfeʼ, Fut, Ghomalaʼ, Kenswei Nsei, Kom, Kwaʼ, Limbum, Mfumte, Mmen, Ndemli, Ngaʼka, Ngiemboon, Ngomba, Ngombale, Nso, Oku, Vengo, Yamba, Yemba

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

Page created: 07.10.25. Last modified: 08.10.25

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