"A 1974 field-study has shown that among the 1699 Babalia living in 23 villages in the Lower-Chari region only 39 elders still spoke their original language (Brâge or Beraku), all the others speaking Arabic and, in some cases, Kotoko. A study of the age and sex structures correlated with that of some sociological and economic factors explain the disappearance of the language, which had been forecast as soon as the term of the century by such observers as Carbou."

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