The

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

of the

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. Other languages are mainly

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The t ...

, and the two

national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...

s in the country are Kituba and

Lingala Lingala (Ngala) (Lingala: ''Lingála'') is a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser degree i ...

, followed by Kongo languages, Téké languages, and more than forty other languages, including languages spoken by Pygmies, which are not Bantu languages. A 2006 study found that French was spoken by 30% of the Congolese population. According to a study by Omar Massoumou, 88% of those in Brazzaville aged over 15 can write simple phrases in French. According to

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Lux ...

, because of civil wars that rocked the country, French became a "haven language" for various armed factions. For example, speakers who are incompetent in Kituba and

Kikongo Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Angola. It is a tonal language. It was spoken by many of those who were taken from th ...

(especially those in the north), and

(especially those in the south) prefer to speak French for security reasons. For fear of revealing their ethnicity, the Congolese go to French, which helps preserve their anonymity.Le Congo-BRAZZAVILLE(République populaire)
/ref> (See also:

African French African French (french: français africain) is the generic name of the varieties of the French language spoken by an estimated 141 million people in Africa in 2018, spread across 34 countries and territories.29 full members of the Organisa ...

) Kituba (or

Munukutuba Kituba ( mkw, Kituba, ktu, Kikongo ya leta) is a widely used lingua franca in Central Africa. It is a creole language based on Kikongo, a Bantu language. It is a national language in Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo. ...

) is a

-based creole, understandable by the users of different dialects of

. This language is used by 50.35% of the Congolese population who live along the Congo-Océan railway line which connects

Brazzaville Brazzaville (, kg, Kintamo, Nkuna, Kintambo, Ntamo, Mavula, Tandala, Mfwa, Mfua; Teke: ''M'fa'', ''Mfaa'', ''Mfa'', ''Mfoa''Roman Adrian Cybriwsky, ''Capital Cities around the World: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture'', ABC-CL ...

Pointe-Noire Pointe-Noire (; kg, Njinji, french: Ndjindji with the letter d following French spelling standards) is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous Departments of the Republic of ...

in the south of the country. Lingala, the ''river language'', is the language of President

Denis Sassou-Nguesso Denis Sassou Nguesso (born 23 November 1943) is a Congolese politician and former military officer. He became president of the Republic of the Congo in 1997. He served a previous term as president from 1979 to 1992. During his first period as p ...

, and is spoken mainly in the north and east of the country. This is the language which has grown most quickly in the past few years in the Congo. Batekes form 16.9% of the population and are mostly found in the Plateaux Department, in the

Cuvette-Ouest Cuvette-Ouest (or Western Cuvette) is a department of the Republic of the Congo in the western part of the country. Cuvette-Ouest is the least populated department in the country. It borders the departments of Cuvette and Sangha, and Gabon. The ...

(where they are known as Mbéti and Tégué), Niari, Bouenza and the

Pool Pool may refer to: Water pool * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a rocky po ...

region. Ladi (pronunciation : Lari or Ladi) is the language mostly spoken in the

region and in the south of

. The dominant sign language is ASL from Nigeria, influenced by local gestures and conventions.

Notes and references

Omer Massoumou et Ambroise Jean-Marc Queffélec, ''Le français en République du Congo sous l'ère pluripartiste (1991-2006)'', Paris,

Éditions des archives contemporaines Éditions des archives contemporaines are a major French academic publishing house founded in 1972, existing in its current form since 2001. It incorporates ''Éditions scientifiques GB (Gordon & Breach)'', a French scientific publishing imprint ...

Agence universitaire de la Francophonie The ''Agence universitaire de la Francophonie'' (AUF; en, Association of Francophone Universities) is a global network of French-speaking higher-education and research institutions. Founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1961, as the ''Ass ...

, 2007, 451 p. Jean-Alexis Mfoutou, ''La langue française au Congo Brazzaville Manifestation de l'activité langagière des sujets parlants'', Éd. L'Harmattan, 2007, , 540 pages.

External links

Linguistic situation of Congo-Brazzaville
{{Portal, Language