The Marba language is indigenous primarily to: Alternate non-preferred spellings include Maraba.
The Marba of this article is a different topic from Marfa [mvu] and Maba [mde] which are Nilo-Saharan languages spoken in the Ouaddaï and Wadi Fira regions of Chad.
This occurs for example in the Musey area increasingly as one travels from Leou towards Pala, Gounou Gaya and Fianga.
However Christian Seignobos recorded that the Marba migrated across the Logone River at the beginning of the 20th century: Les migrations gumay ont été, en revanche, quelque peu bousculées par le passage du Logone, au Sud, de colonies marba et musey, toujours plus nombreuses.
Faisant irruption dans le no man's land dégagé par les Kwang, alors en repli devant les Masa à Vabolo et Kunsul, Marba et Musey ont agrandi le passage entre Kwang et Masa, allant jusqu'à coloniser les abords de la piste Bongor-Gelendeng.
De tradition guerrière, Marba et Musey suscitent encore la crainte.
L'interférence marba-musey avec la remontée masa a fait s'infléchir le couloir de migration de ces derniers en direction des Munjuk, au Nord, ce qui complique encore une carte ethnique déjà passablement bigarrée dans cette région de l'interfluve Chari-Logone.
[12]An English translation is as follows: The Gumay migrations were, however, somewhat diverted by the passage of Logone, in the South, of Marba and Musey colonies, ever more numerous.
At the beginning of the colonial period, the Marba Gogor, after their separation from the chief Azina Kolon, crossed the Logone and the Musey followed them.
Also the Kwang let them walk in front of them and gained their side of the Chari, while the Masa no longer advanced in this region.
The Marba-Musey interference of the rise of the Masa curbed the migration corridor of the latter in the direction of the Munjuk, to the North, further complicating an already quite patchy ethnic map in this region between the Logone and Chari rivers.
"[13] The term Banana was sometimes used during the time of the French administration to refer to the Marba people group.
[13] 'Ho Ho' refers to the traditional practice of communicating over distances by shouting the sound 'ho' in the tone of the relevant words.
Marba was put into writing during the 20th century by representatives of the Azumeina peoples with the support of the Assemblées Chrétiennes au Tchad, the Roman Catholic Church, the United Bible Societies, SIL and other organisations.
This was seen as a means to improve life, preserve Azumeina culture and facilitate education and prosperity.
[14] In 1959, representatives of the Assemblées Chrétiennes au Tchad published and printed the first book in the Marba language.
This contained 25 hymns and some passages from the Holy Bible, namely the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, John 3:16 and Romans 3:23.
[16] The first edition of the complete New Testament was published in England by the Bible Society (UBS) in 1978, with the support of the Assemblées Chrétiennes au Tchad and the Roman Catholic Church.