Lingala (rarely Ngala ) is the Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (mainly in the northwest) and in the Republic of Congo . In total, more than 10 million people speak it (although far from all of them lingala is native). According to the classification of Malcolm Gasri Lingale, the code C.36D is assigned, according to the classification of SIL - C40.
| Lingala | |
|---|---|
| Self name | Lingála |
| Countries | Republic of the Congo , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Central African Republic , Angola |
| Total number of speakers | 2 139 202 (2000, estimate) |
| Classification | |
| Category | African languages |
Nigerian-Congolese macro-family
| |
| Writing | latin , mandomba |
| Language Codes | |
| GOST 7.75–97 | lin 395 |
| ISO 639-1 | ln |
| ISO 639-2 | lin |
| ISO 639-3 | lin |
| WALS | |
| Ethnologue | |
| Linguasphere | |
| IETF | |
| Glottolog | |
Content
- 1 History
- 2 alphabet
- 3 Literature
- 4 References
History
The lingala is based on the Bobang dialect, previously distributed along the Congo from Lisala to Kinshasa and used as a language of trade until the formation of the Congo Free State . With the advent of Europeans, bobangs became more widespread, in particular because they were used by Europeans and translators brought from colonies in East Africa. Bobangi, dubbed the bangal , became the language of administration and missionary work . At the beginning of the 20th century, the missionaries of the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary began the "purification" of the tongue, trying to bring it closer to other local dialects. In the process of this “purification” the name of the bangal was replaced by a lingala (the prefix li- was borrowed from one of the neighboring languages). This term was first used in 1903 .
The vocabulary of Lingala was markedly influenced by European languages, primarily French and Portuguese , but also English and Dutch .
Alphabet
The alphabet of the lingala language has 35 letters and digraphs . The letters r and h are used in loan words.
Tones are denoted by letters of diacritics.
| Options | Example | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| a | A | á â ǎ | nyama, matáta, sâmbóle, libwǎ |
| b | B | bísó | |
| c | C | ciluba | |
| d | D | madɛ́su | |
| e | E | é ê ě | komeka, mésa, kobênga |
| ɛ | Ɛ | ɛ́ ɛ̂ ɛ̌ | lɛlɔ́, lɛ́ki, tɛ̂ |
| f | F | lifúta | |
| g | G | kogánga | |
| gb | Gb | gbagba | |
| h | H | bo h lu (bohrium) | |
| i | I | í î ǐ | wápi, zíko, tî, esǐ |
| k | K | kokoma | |
| l | L | kolála | |
| m | M | kokóma | |
| mb | Mb | kolámba | |
| mp | Mp | límpa | |
| n | N | líno | |
| nd | Nd | ndeko | |
| ng | Ng | ndéngé | |
| nk | Nk | nkámá | |
| ns | Ns | nsɔ́mi | |
| nt | Nt | ntaba | |
| ny | Ny | nyama | |
| nz | Nz | nzala | |
| o | o | ó ô ǒ | moto, sóngóló, sékô |
| ɔ | Ɔ | ɔ́ ɔ̂ ɔ̌ | sɔsɔ, yɔ́, sɔ̂lɔ, tɔ̌ |
| p | p | pɛnɛpɛnɛ | |
| r | R | mala r íya | |
| s | S | kopésa | |
| t | T | tatá | |
| u | U | ú | butú, koúma |
| v | V | kovánda | |
| w | W | káwa | |
| y | Y | koyéba | |
| z | Z | kozala |
Literature
- Lingala language. Toporova I.N. Moscow. 1973.
- Lingala is a Russian dictionary. Toporova I.N. Moscow. 1983.
Links
- First words in Lingala (French)
- Maloba ya lingála (French)
- Dictionnaire bilingues lingala - français (fr.)
- Dictionary of Congo-Brazzaville National Languages
- Lingala - English Dictionary Freelang
- Lingala - French Dictionary of Freelang
- Swadesh Lists for Bantu Languages
- Ethnologue of Lingala ( previous version )
- PanAfriL10n page on Lingala
- A small set of links to resources about lingala
- Another collection of links to resources
- Rosetta Project - Lingala (link not available)
- UCLA Language Profiles: Lingala
- Google in lingala
- Inflections: Problems
- Small Collection of Lingala Online resources
- Parallel French-Lingala-English texts