Lingala

Where it’s spoken

Lingala is one of four national languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the principal language of Kinshasa, and a major language of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo. It is also spoken in the Central African Republic and Angola. Lingala is the language of Congolese rumba and soukous music, which has spread it across Africa.

What it sounds like

Lingala has two tones (high and low) that are crucial to meaning. Its vowel inventory is seven vowels with phonemic length and a system of vowel harmony in some verbal forms. The consonant system features prenasalized stops (mb, nd, ng, nz) and a relatively small inventory of fricatives.

How it’s written

Lingala uses the Latin alphabet with optional diacritics for tone. The alphabet sometimes includes ɛ and ɔ to mark mid-open vowels. Spelling is largely phonemic but tone is rarely marked in everyday writing.

History

Lingala formed in the late 19th century as a simplified trade language for the Congo River basin during the brutal Belgian colonial period. It spread along river traffic routes and became the language of the Congolese military, then post-independence popular culture.