// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Biyanda-Buli say to itself? It had a lot to linguist.

Biyanda-Buli
Southwest Gbaya
Native to	Central African Republic
Native speakers	200,000 (2007) Includes Toongo
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Savannas Gbaya Southern Biyanda-Buli
Dialects	Biyanda Buli
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gso (partial)
Glottolog	sout2785

Biyanda (Ɓìyàndà) and Buli (Ɓùlì) constitute a Gbaya language of the Central African Republic. Ethnologue groups them as Southwest Gbaya, but it is not clear how many of the Southwest varieties are part of the same language; Toongo and Mbodomo, for example, are not closely related, though Toongo speakers identify ethnically as Buli, and Ethnologue also lists Mbodomo as a separate language.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d		k g	kp gb	ʔ
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd, ⁿz		ᵑg	ᵑgb
Fricative	f v	s z				h
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Approximant	w	l	j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid-high	e		o
Mid-low	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

There are also four tones; high, low, falling, and rising.