Alternate Names: Banagere, Iyon, Messaga, Messaga-Ekol, Messaka
Dialects: Batomo (Babasi). Batomo dialect may be a separate language, or may be the same as Motomo (Oliti, Matchi), a dialect of Iceve-Maci ,. Lexical similarity: 70% with Tiv ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 14,000 (1982 SIL).
Language Use: All ages. Also use Cameroon Pidgin [wes], Tiv [tiv].
Typology: SVO; noun head initial; 12 noun classes; tonal; 25 consonant phonemes; 8 vowel phonemes.
Writing System: Unwritten
Nation of Origin: Cameroon
Other Comments: Ethnic autonym: Ugare, Mesaka is used by the government, Iyon by the Tiv. Traditional religion.