Kwah language

For the Indian language also known as Ba, see Aka-Bo language.

Not to be confused with Kwa languages or Kwaʼ language.

Kwah (Kwa), also known as Baa (Bàː^[3]), is a Niger–Congo language of uncertain affiliation; the more it has been studied, the more divergent it appears. Joseph Greenberg counted it as one of the Bambukic languages of the Adamawa family. Boyd (1989) assigned it its own branch within Waja–Jen. Kleinewillinghöfer (1996) removed it from Waja–Jen as an independent branch of Adamawa. When Blench (2008) broke up Adamawa, Kwah became a provisional independent branch of his larger Savannas family.

Kwah
Baa
nyaa Báà
Native to	Nigeria
Region	Numan LGA, Adamawa State
Native speakers	(7,000 cited 1992)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Savannas (unclassified) Kwah
Dialects	Gyakan Kwa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kwb
Glottolog	kwaa1262

Báà[2]
Person	raBáà
People	Báà
Language	nyaa Báà

Blench (2019) lists the locations of Baa as Gyakan and Kwa towns (located near Munga) in Numan LGA, Adamawa State, Nigeria. One Baa-speaking person (singular) is raBáà (sg.), and more than one would be Báà (pl.); the language is referred to by speakers as nyaa Báà.^[2] The Baa varieties in each of the two towns differ primarily in phonology.^[4]

Baa traditional religion has two main deities, Gbandima and Kassimin.^[5]

Further reading

• Möller Nwadigo, Mirjam. 2016. A documentation project of Baa, a language of Nigeria. London: SOAS, Endangered Languages Archive.