Iyasa
[aka Yasa, Iyassa, Yassa]Classification: Niger-Congo
·threatened
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Threatened
100 percent certain, based on the evidence available
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<3,000
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Some sources approximate roughly 3,000 speakers, though many Iyasa people consider this an overestimation.
- DATE OF INFO
- 2018
- DOMAINS OF USE
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- SPEAKER NUMBER TRENDS
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- TRANSMISSION
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- MORE ON VITALITY
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"While Iyasa still has many speakers in their 20s, most young Iyasa-speaking parents in the Campo area report that their children have only a passive command of Iyasa. Children in Ebodje generally have active command of Iyasa, but are observed speaking mostly French in daily life. Young parents today report speaking predominantly or exclusively French with their children, whereas their parents spoke mostly Iyasa in the home."
- OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY
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French
- LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS
"Young people who still have proficiency in Iyasa self-report increasing use of French in all domains, typical of a generational shift in progress... use of French is increasing in domains previously occupied by Iyasa, such as the home and community associations."
- Scripts (Writing system)
- Roman
- More on Orthography
New orthography developed since 2015; now in use by a growing number of speakers.
- PLACES
- Cameroon; Equatorial Guinea;
- LOCATION DESCRIPTION
"Spoken along a stretch of coast which straddles the border between Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea... Iyasa speakers in Cameroon are concentrated in Campo Sub-Division, Ocean Division, South Region. In addition, there are Iyasa diaspora populations in Yaoundé and Douala (Cameroon’s two largest cities), as well as Kribi (the largest city in the South Region), and a handful living overseas." Villages where Iyasa is spoken in Cameroon include Campo Beach, Campo Ville, Ipenyenje, Bouanjo, Itonde Mer, Bɛ́yɔ, Mbenji, Ebodje, and Lolabe.