Mongo | |
---|---|
Nkundu | |
Lomongo | |
Region | Democratic Republic of Congo |
Ethnicity | Mongo people |
Native speakers | (400,000 cited 1995) [1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 |
lol |
ISO 639-3 |
lol – inclusive codeIndividual code:
ymg – Yamongeri |
Glottolog |
mong1338 Mongo
bafo1235 Bafoto |
C.61,611; C.36H
[2] |
Mongo, also called Nkundo or Mongo-Nkundu (Lomongo, Lonkundu), is a Bantu language spoken by several of the Mongo peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mongo speakers reside in the north-west of the country over a large area inside the curve of the Congo River. Mongo is a tonal language.
There are several dialects. Maho (2009) lists one of these, Bafoto (Batswa de l'Equateur), C.611, as a separate language. The others are: [2]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive | plain | p b | t d | k ɡ | ||
prenasal | ᵐp ᵐb | ⁿt ⁿd | ᵑk ᵑɡ | |||
Affricate | plain | t͡s d͡z | ||||
prenasal | ⁿt͡s ⁿd͡z | |||||
Fricative | plain | f | s | h | ||
prenasal | ⁿs | |||||
Lateral | l | |||||
Approximant | w | j |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Close-mid | e | o | |
Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Open | a |