| Also Known As: Bassa,Bassa language
Description:
The Bassa language is a Niger-Congo language (Kru languages).
It is spoken by about 350,000 people in Liberia and 5,000 in Sierra Leone by Bassa people.
It has an indigenous script, Vah, developed before 1907 by Dr. Thomas Narvin Lewis (c.1880-?) while he was studying at Syracuse University in the United States. The first primer was printed by Lyman Brothers circa 1907. Dr. Lewis returned to Liberia where he began teaching his script to Bassa children. The language was taught in some of the Poro society schools.
The script has been described as one which, "like the system long in use among the Vai, consists of a series of phonetic characters standing for syllables." In fact, however, the Vah script is alphabetic. It includes 30 consonants, seven vowels, and five tones that are indicated by dots and lines inside of each vowel.
In the 1970's the United Bible Societies (UBS) published a translation of the New Testament. June Hobley, of Liberia Inland Mission, was primarily responsible for the translation. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) was used for this translation rather than the Vah script, mostly for practical reasons related to printing. Because the Bassa people had a..... full article at Wikipedia |
