View source for Bikya language

{{Short description|Bantoid language spoken in Cameroon}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Bikya
| altname          = Furu
| states           = [[Cameroon]]
| region           = [[Northwest Region (Cameroon)|Northwest Region]], [[Menchum|Menchum department]], [[Furu-Awa|Furu-Awa Subdivision]], [[Furubana]] village
| extinct          = 1980s
| ref              = e25
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta–Congo languages|Volta–Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid languages|Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Beboid languages|Beboid]]
| fam8             = [[Furu languages|Furu]] or Eastern Beboid
| iso3             = byb
| glotto           = biky1238
| glottorefname    = Bikya
}}

'''Bikya''' (also known as '''Furu''') is a potentially extinct [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]] language spoken in [[Cameroon]]. It is one of the three, or four, [[Furu languages]]. In 1986 four surviving speakers were identified, although only one (a man in his seventies) spoke the language fluently.

English linguist Dr. David Dalby filmed{{When|date=December 2024}} an 87-year-old [[Native ethnic groups of Africa|African]] woman who spoke Bikya as her native tongue. At the time, it was believed that she was the last Bikya speaker.<ref name="oneleft">{{cite news |last1=Dyer |first1=Gwynne |title=Profusion of tongues in the global village |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1997-10-02-1997275054-story.html |access-date=22 December 2020 |work=[[Baltimore Sun]]}}</ref>

It, and presumably all of Furu, is perhaps a [[Beboid language]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Blench|first=Roger|title=The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu|date=7–9 April 2011|url=https://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/Bantoid/General/Blench%20Bantu%20IV%20Berlin%20Bantoid%202011.pdf|access-date=5 March 2024}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*Breton, Roland (1995) 'Les Furu et leur voisins', ''Cahier Sciences Humaines'', 31, 1, 17&ndash;48.
*Breton, Roland (1993) "Is there a Furu Language Group? An investigation on the Cameroon-Nigeria Border", ''The Journal of West African Languages'', 23, 2, 97&ndash;98.
* Blench, Roger (2011) [http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Niger-Congo/Bantoid/General/Blench%20Bantu%20IV%20Berlin%20Bantoid%202011.pdf 'The membership and internal structure of Bantoid and the border with Bantu']. ''Bantu IV'', Humboldt University, Berlin.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Languages of Cameroon}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Furu languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Cameroon]]
[[Category:Endangered languages of Africa]]


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