Bube, Bohobé, or Bube–Benga, is a Bantu or Bantoid language spoken by the Bubi, a Bantu people native to, and once the primary inhabitants of, Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea where the capital Malabo is situated.Annobón is the southernmost island of Equatorial Guinea and is situated just south of the equator. Bioko island is the northernmost point of Equatorial Guinea. Between the two islands and to the...

. The language was brought to Bioko from continental Africa more than three thousand years ago when the Bubi began arriving on the island.

It has around 40,000 speakers, with three variants: North, South and Central-East. The language has maintained nuclear archaisms from its Niger–Congo linguistic root. It is noted for tonal character and the divergence of words by gender. The language is also spoken by Bubi native to Gabon

Gabon

Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...

 and Cameroon

Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...

.

The Bube language is divided into six different dialects that vary in the northern and southern regions of Bioko island. For example, in the North, people speak Rebola and its variations: Basile, Banapa and Basupa. However, in the North-East, Bakake is spoken.

The first Bube-to-English primer

Primer (textbook)

A primer is a first textbook for teaching of reading, such as an alphabet book or basal reader. The word also is used more broadly to refer to any book that presents the most basic elements of a subject....

 was authored in 1875 by William Barleycorn

William Barleycorn

William Napolean Barleycorn , born in Santa Isabel, Fernando Po, Spanish Guinea and a Fernandino of Igbo descent, was Primitive Methodist missionary who went to Fernando Po in Africa, about 1880. From there, he traveled to Edinburgh University...

, a colonial era Primitive Methodist missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 of Igbo

Igbo people

Igbo people, also referred to as the Ibo, Ebo, Eboans or Heebo are an ethnic group living chiefly in southeastern Nigeria. They speak Igbo, which includes various Igboid languages and dialects; today, a majority of them speak English alongside Igbo as a result of British colonialism...

 and Fernandino

Fernandino

Named in reverence of the Portuguese explorer Fernão do Pó who is given credit for discovering their indigenous and adopted homelands, Fernandinos are creole, multi-ethnic or multi-race populations of Equatorial Guinea and former Spanish Guinea. Each population hails from a distinct ethnic, social,...

 descent, while he was serving in the Bubi village of Basupu. An official language dictionary and grammar guide was published by renowned ethnic Bubi scholar Justo Bolekia Boleká

Justo Bolekia Boleká

Justo Bolekia Boleká is an Equatorial Guinean scholar and writer of Bubi descent....

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Alternative names for the Bube Language

• Bubé
• eVoové
• eBubée
• Bhubhi
• Bubi
• Ibubi
• Ibhubhi
• Pove
• Eviia

External links

• Bube language at Ethnologue
• Take a Bubi Course - in Spanish