Mongo, also called Nkundo or Mongo-Nkundu (''Lomongo, Lonkundu''), is a Bantu language spoken by several of the

Mongo people __NOTOC__ The Mongo people are an ethnic group who live in the equatorial forest of Central Africa. They are the second largest ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highly influential in its north region. A diverse collection of sub- ...

s in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. Mongo speakers reside in central DR Congo over a large area inside the curve of the

Congo River The Congo River ( kg, Nzâdi Kôngo, french: Fleuve Congo, pt, Rio Congo), formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the second largest river in the world by discharge ...

. Mongo is a

tonal language Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning – that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information and to convey empha ...

. There are many dialects. Maho (2009) lists one of these, Bafoto (Batswa de l'Equateur), C.611, as a separate language. The others are: * Kutu (Bakutu), including Longombe * Bokote, including Ngata * Booli * Bosaka * Konda (Ekonda), including Bosanga-Ekonda * Ekota * Emoma * Ikongo, including Lokalo-Lomela * Iyembe * Lionje, Nsongo, Ntomba * Yamongo * Mbole, including Nkengo, Yenge, Yongo, Bosanga-Mbole, Mangilongo, Lwankamba * Nkole * South Mongo, including Bolongo, Belo, Panga, Acitu * Yailima * Ngombe-Lomela, Longombe, ''Ngome à Múná''

Phonology

Consonants

* /d͡z/ can be heard as alveolar or dental ̪͡z̪and /t͡s/ can be alveolar or postalveolar ͡ʃ when before front vowels.

Vowels

References

External links

Mongo, Nkundo
on PanAfril10n Bangi-Ntomba languages Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{Bantu-lang-stub