Ngbandi language

{{Short description|Ubangian dialect continuum of Central Africa}} {{Infobox language |name=Ngbandi |altname=Ngbandi–Mongoba–Kazibati |states=Democratic Republic of the Congo |region=Équateur Province |ethnicity=Ngbandi, Yakoma |speakers=Northern Ngbandi: {{sigfig|250,290|2}} |speakers2=Southern Ngbandi: {{sigfig|105,000|2}} |date=2000 |ref=e25 |familycolor=Niger-Congo |fam1=Niger–Congo? |fam2=Atlantic–Congo? |fam3=Savanna? |fam4=Ubangian |lc1=ngb|ld1=Northern Ngbandi |lc2=nbw|ld2=Southern Ngbandi |lc3=yky|ld3=Yakoma |lc4=deq|ld4=Dendi |lc5=mgn|ld5=Mbangi |lc6=gyg|ld6=Gbayi |glotto=ngba1290 |glottorefname=Ngbandi–Mongoba–Kazibati |ELP=5995 |ELPname=Gbayi }}

The '''Ngbandi language''' is a dialect continuum of the Ubangian family spoken by a half-million or so people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Ngbandi proper) and in the Central African Republic (Yakoma and others). It is primarily spoken by the Ngbandi people, which included the dictator of what was then known as Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko.

==Varieties== Northern Ngbandi is the lexical source of the trade language '''Sango''', which has as many native speakers as Ngbandi and which is used as a second language by millions more in the CAR.

A variety of Ngbandi may have been spoken further east, in the DRC villages of Kazibati and Mongoba<ref>Linguasphere code 93-ABB-ae/af</ref><ref>{{Glottolog|mong1345|Mongoba-Kazibati}}</ref> near Uganda, until the late 20th century, but this is uncertain.

'''Yakoma''', with a central position on the Ubangi River that divides the CAR from the DRC, has a high degree of intelligibility with all other varieties of Ngbandi, though as with any dialect continuum, it does not follow that more distant varieties are necessarily as intelligible with each other as they are with Yakoma.

'''Gbayi''' or '''Kpatiri''' is a divergent Ngbandic language. Gbayi had likely been adopted by people who had formerly spoken a Zande language. Nzakara, a Zande language, is spoken near Gbayi. Perhaps not coincidentally, Kpatili also happens to be the name of a spurious Zande language for which there is no linguistic data.<ref name="Guldemann">{{Cite book|title=The Languages and Linguistics of Africa|last=Güldemann|first=Tom|editor-last=Güldemann|editor-first=Tom|publisher=De Gruyter Mouton|chapter=Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa|year=2018|isbn=978-3-11-042606-9|doi=10.1515/9783110421668-002|location=Berlin|pages=58–444|series=The World of Linguistics series|volume=11|s2cid=133888593 }}</ref>

==Phonology== The phonology consists of the following:<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kamanda |first=Kola |title=La Conjugaison en Ngbandi (Langue non-Bantu)|journal=Annales Aequatoria |year=1989 |volume=10 |pages=181–200 |jstor=25836516}}</ref>

=== Consonants === {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! colspan="2" | !Labial !Alveolar !Palatal !Velar !Labio- velar !Glottal |- ! colspan="2" |Nasal |m |n |ɲ | | | |- ! rowspan="3" |Plosive !voiceless |p |t | |k |k͡p | |- !voiced |b |d | |ɡ |ɡ͡b | |- !prenasal |ᵐb |ⁿd | |ᵑɡ |ᵑᵐɡ͡b | |- ! rowspan="3" |Fricative !voiceless |f |s | | | |h |- !voiced |v |z | | | | |- !prenasal |ᶬv |ⁿz | | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Rhotic | |(r) | | | | |- ! colspan="2" |Approximant | |l |j | |w | |}

* Sounds /l/ and /r/ alternate with each other.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boyd |first=Raymond |chapter=Le kpatiri ou gbayi, une nouvelle langue du groupe ngbandi |publisher=Geuthner |year=1988 |title=Lexique comparatif des langues oubanguiennes |url=https://hal.science/hal-00344525 |pages=35–49}}</ref>

=== Vowels === {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! !Front !Central !Back |- !Close |i | |u |- !Close-mid |e | |o |- !Open-mid |ɛ | |ɔ |- !Open | |a | |}

==Writing system== {|class="wikitable" |+ Northern Ngbandi alphabet{{CN|date=October 2022}} |- | a || b || d || e || ɛ | f || g || h || i || k | kp || l || m || n || ny | o || ɔ || p || s || t | u || v || w || y || z |}

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Ubangian languages Category:Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Category:Languages of the Central African Republic