Kenga

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A language of Chad

ISO 639-3
kyq
Alternate Names
Cenge, Kenge
Population

40,000 (1997 SIL).

Location

Guéra Region, Guéra department, Bitkine subprefecture, Bitkine area, 52 villages, including Bolongo and Bokiyo.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification
Nilo-Saharan, Central Sudanic, West, Bongo-Bagirmi, Sara-Bagirmi, Bagirmi
Dialects

Banala (Tar Banala), Banama (Tar Banama), Bidjir, Bolong (Tar Bolongo), Cenge (Tar Cenge). Related to Naba [mne] and Jaya [jyy]. Lexical similarity: 62% with Jaya [jyy], 81%–93% with the Bolong (Tar Bolongo) dialect.

Typology

SVO

Language Use

Less than ten Bolong dialect speakers used Kenga as L1 in 2002. Positive attitudes. Most men use Chadian Spoken Arabic [shu] as L2. Some also use French [fra].

Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: 1%–5%. Literacy rate in L2: Men: 15% or below in French, 1% in Arabic [arb]; women: below 1%. Roman Catholic songbook and prayer book. Dictionary. Grammar. NT: 2012.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Kenga
Writing
Latin script.
Other Comments

Some consider Bidjir a distinct language. Muslim, Christian, traditional religion.