Papel language

Papel
Oyum
Native toGuinea-Bissau, Senegal
EthnicityPapel
Native speakers
160,000 (2022)[1]
Dialects
  • Bolau
  • Botor
  • Bojimza
  • Bosafim
  • Bonzula
  • Bontin
  • Bomzum
  • Bowoar
  • Borawis
  • Bosez
  • Bopuul
  • Bosalnka
  • Bojaal
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3pbo
Glottologpape1239

Papel (Pepel, Papei), or Oium (Moium), is a Bak language of Guinea-Bissau.

Papel is the language spoken by the Papel people, who live in the central coastal regions of Guinea-Bissau, namely the Biombo Region where it is spoken by 136,000 Bissau-Guineans. Papel speakers are estimated to be around 140,000 in total globally.[2]

Papel has 79,000 speakers living on Bissau Island (called (b)uhlawʔ or (b)usawʔ in Papel). Dialects include Biombo (Papel: uyomʔ) in the southwest and Safim (Papel: safli) in the northeast.[3]

  1. ^ Papel at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Papel". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  3. ^ Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.