Lingala is one of the Bantu languages spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa) and a large part of the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), as well as to some degree in Angola and the Central African Republic. It has over 10 million speakers. It is classed C40 under the Guthrie system for classifying Bantu languages.

History

In the 19th century, the lingua franca used along the Congo river was called Lobangi. That language was learned and influenced by the African helpers the Westeners brought in from other places (Zanzibar, Comoros and the Tanganyikan inland). Later on, the Westerners began to learn the language themselves. After 1880 the language became known as Bangala and around 1900 it was replaced by term Lingala. The term first appears in a written form in a publication by the missionary Egide De Boeck (1903).

Lingala's vocabulary has borrowed much French. There is also some Portuguese influence, such as in the words for butter (manteka), table (mesa), shoes (sapatu), and even some English influences: for instance, the word for milk (miliki), or book (buku). Congolese rebels now use the cryptic forms of the language to pass messages undecipherable by Western intelligence agencies.

Sounds

Vowels

Consonants

• [p] voiceless bilabial plosive
• [b] voiced bilabial plosive
• [t] voiceless alveolar plosive
• [d] voiced alveolar plosive
• [k] voiceless velar plosive
• [ɡ] voiced velar plosive
• [m] bilabial nasal
• [n] alveolar nasal
• [ŋ] velar nasal
• [f] voiceless labiodental fricative
• [v] voiced labiodental fricative
• [s] voiceless alveolar fricative
• [z] voiced alveolar fricative
• [ʃ] voiceless postalveolar fricative
• [ʒ] voiced postalveolar fricative
• [l] alveolar lateral approximant

Semi-vowels

• [j] palatal approximant
• [w] labial-velar approximant

Writing system

Sample

The Lord's Prayer

Tatá wa bísó, ozala o likoló,

bato bakúmisa Nkɔ́mbo ya Yɔ́,

bandima bokonzi bwa Yɔ́, mpo elingo Yɔ́,

basálá yangó o nsé,

lokóla bakosalaka o likoló

Pésa bísó lɛlɔ́ biléi bya mokɔlɔ na mokɔlɔ,

límbisa mabé ma bísó,

lokóla bísó tokolimbisaka baníngá.

Sálisa bísó tondima masɛ́nginyá tê,

mpe bíkisa bísó o mabé.

Bibliography

• Etsio, Edouard (2003) Parlons lingala / Tobola lingala. Paris: L'Harmattan.
• Guthrie, Malcolm & Carrington, John F. (1988) Lingala: grammar and dictionary: English-Lingala, Lingala-English. London: Baptist Missionary Society.
• Meeuwis, Michael (1998) Lingala. (Languages of the world vol. 261). München: LINCOM Europa.

External link

• Initiation to Lingala (in French) http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pascal.grouselle/
• Rosetta Project - Lingala
• Google in Lingala