The Bom language is an endangered language of Sierra Leone. It belongs to the Atlantic branch of the Niger-Congo language family and is particularly closely related to the Bullom So language. Most speakers are bilingual in Mende, and use of the Bom language is declining among members of the ethnic group. West Africa is the region of western Africa generally considered to include these countries: Benin Burkina Faso Cameroon Côte dIvoire (Ivory Coast) Equatorial Guinea Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Liberia Mali Niger Nigeria Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) Senegal Sierra Leone Togo Chad, Mauritania, and... This page attempts to present a list of languages by total native speakers. ... Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families (families hereforth). ... Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages are probably the largest group of the world in terms of different languages. ... The (West) Atlantic languages1 of West Africa are a subgroup of Niger-Congo language family. ... ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... SIL International is a non-profit, faith-based, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ... An endangered language is a language with so few surviving speakers that it is in danger of falling out of use. ... The (West) Atlantic languages1 of West Africa are a subgroup of Niger-Congo language family. ... Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages are probably the largest group of the world in terms of different languages. ... The term bilingualism (from bi meaning two and lingua meaning language) can refer to rather different phenomena. ... The Mende language is a major language of Sierra Leone, with some speakers in neighboring Liberia. ...

External links

• Ethnologue entry for Bom (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=BMF)
• Bom entry in the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages (http://www.tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Redbook/Africa/AF_src.cgi?language0=Bom&language1=0&language2=0&language3=0&language4=0&language5=0)