Boan languages

Boan
Ababuan
Geographic distribution:	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Linguistic classification:	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu (Zones C–D) Boan
Subdivisions:	Bati–Angba (Bwa) Komo–Bira
Glottolog:	abab1240[1]

Boan (Buan, Ababuan) is a proposed intermediate group of Bantu languages coded Zones C and D in Guthrie's classification.^[2] There are three branches:

• Komo (D20)
• Bali (D20), ?Beeke
• Bomokandian (the various Bwa and Biran languages)
  • Biran (Bira–Amba) (D22, D30)
  • Homa (Ngenda) (D40)
  • Lika (D20)
  • Bati–Angba (Bwa) (C40)

Beeke is an erstwhile member of the Nyali cluster that seems to be closest to Bali.

In the Glottolog 2.3 classification, several additional, poorly attested languages are included as being closest to Homa/Ngenda:

• Bali (D20)
• Old Bomokandian
  • Komoic (Biran, incl. Komo)
  • Middle Bomokandian (Lika & Bati–Angba)
  • Ngbele–Ngenda
    • Extreme-north Vestigial-suffix Bantu: Kari, Ngbee, Nyanga-li (Gbati-ri)
    • Ngendan
      • Homa, Ngbinda, ?Boguru, ?Bodo (perhaps instead Lebonya)

References

1. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Ababuan". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
2. McMaster, Mary Allen. 1988. Patterns of Interaction: A comparative ethnolinguistic perspective on the Uele region of Zaïre ca. 500 A.D. to 1900 A.D. Los Angeles: University of California. 346.