Introduction

Yaka is spoken by 36,000 people (Ethnologue 2018) living in the Sibiti district of the Lekoumou department of the Republic of Congo.
The language is classified as Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Northwest, B. Teke (B.73). The ISO code is [iyx]. Alternate names include lyaa, lyaka, West Teke, and Yaa. This language has lexical similarities with several other languages: 91% with Laali [lli], 74% with Tsaayi [tyi], and 69% with Tyee [tyx].