A DESCRIPTION OF THE GBAYA PEOPLES LIVING IN THE DISTRICT OF BOSSANGOA IN THE NORTHWESTERN PART OF THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC IS PRESENTED IN THE INTRODUCTION TO THIS COMPREHENSIVE STUDY OF THE GBAYA LANGUAGE. (THE LANGUAGE IS SPELLED VARIOUSLY BEA, GBEA, AND GBAYA.) IN THREE SECTIONS, THE FIRST PART OF THE TEXT DEALS WITH THE PHONOLOGY AND GRAMMAR OF GBAYA--BOUND MORPHEMES, DISTRIBUTION CLASSES, AND SYNTAX. A SAMPLE TEXT, RECORDED USING A GBAYA INFORMANT, AND A STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT COMPLETE THE GRAMMAR SECTION. THE SECOND SECTION, SELECTED TEXTS TAKEN FROM THE AUTHOR'S COLLECTION, CONSISTS OF NATIVE-SPEAKER NARRATIONS ON HUNTING, WARFARE, FAMILY RELATIONS, AND OTHER CULTURAL TOPICS. THE TEXTS ARE RECORDED IN PHONEMIC TRANSCRIPTION AND IN ENGLISH TRANSLATION. THE THIRD SECTION, VOCABULARIES, CONTAINS GBAYA-ENGLISH AND ENGLISH-GBAYA GLOSSARIES, FOLLOWED BY A SUBJECT INDEX. A HIGH LEVEL OF LINGUISTIC SOPHISTICATION IS ASSUMED ON THE PART OF THE READER. THIS BOOK IS ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, BERKELEY, FOR $5.00. (AM)