Luba-Kasai, also known as Cilubà or Tshilubà, Luba-Lulua, is a

Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

( Zone L) of

Central Africa Central Africa (French language, French: ''Afrique centrale''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''África central''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''África Central'') is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries accordin ...

and a

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. The term is applied quite differently in various contexts. One or more languages spoken as first languag ...

of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, alongside

Lingala Lingala (or Ngala, Lingala: ) is a Bantu languages, 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 de ...

, Swahili, and Kikongo ya leta. An eastern dialect is spoken by the

Luba people The Luba people or Baluba are a Bantu ethno-linguistic group indigenous to the south-central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The majority of them live in this country, residing mainly in Katanga Province, Katanga, Kasai Province, ...

of the

East Kasai Region East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...

and a western dialect by the

Lulua people A 19th century statue of a Lulua war chief, Ethnologisches Museum Berlin., thumb The Lulua people are a Bantu ethnic group settled along the Lulua River valley in south central Kasai-Occidental province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Lul ...

of the

West Kasai Region Kasaï-Occidental ( French for "Western Kasai"; ) was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Kasaï-Central and the Kasaï provinces. History The province of Kasaï ...

. The total number of speakers was estimated at 6.3 million in 1991. Within the Zone L Bantu languages, Luba-Kasai is one of a group of languages which form the "Luba" group, together with Kaonde (L40), Kete (L20), Kanyok, Luba-Katanga (KiLuba), Sanga, Zela and Bangubangu. The L20, L30 and L60 languages are also grouped as the Luban languages within Zone L Bantu.

Geographic distribution and dialects

Tshiluba is chiefly spoken in a large area in the Kasaï Occidental and Kasaï Oriental provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, the differences in Tshiluba within the area are minor, consisting mostly of differences in tones and vocabulary, and speakers easily understand one another. Both dialects have subdialects. Additionally, there is also a

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified form of contact language that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn f ...

ised variety of Tshiluba, especially in cities, where the everyday spoken Tshiluba is enriched with French words and even words from other languages, such as

or Swahili. Nevertheless, it is not a typical form of a pidgin since it is not common to everyone but changes its morphology and the quantity and degree to which words from other languages are used. Its form changes depending on who speaks it and varies from city to city and social class to social class. However, people generally speak the regular Tshiluba language in their daily lives, rather than pidgin. The failure of the language to be taught at school has resulted in the replacement of native words by French words for the most part. For instance, people speaking generally count in French, rather than Tshiluba. The situation of French and Tshiluba being used simultaneously made linguists mistakenly think that the language had been pidginised.

Vocabulary

Alphabet

Luba-Kasai uses the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

, with the digraphs ''ng'', ''ny'' and ''sh'' but without the letters ''q'', ''r'' and ''x'':

Phonology

Tshiluba has a 5 vowel system with vowel length: The chart shows the consonants of Tshiluba. * /p/ may also have the sound � * If a /d/ is preceding an /i/, it may also be pronounced as an affricate sound ʒ

Sample text

According to The Rosetta Project, Article 1 of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

translates to: :''Bantu bonsu badi baledibwa badikadile ne badi ne makokeshi amwe. Badi ne lungenyi lwa bumuntu ne kondo ka moyo, badi ne bwa kwenzelangana malu mu buwetu.'' :"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." According to Learn Tshiluba (Mofeko): :''Mukayi wuani udi mu bujimi'' :"My wife is on the farm" :''Mulunda wanyi mujikija kalasa Uenda mu tshidimu tshishala'' :"My friend completed his/her studies last year"

References

Bibliography

*Stappers, Leo. ''Tonologische bijdrage tot de studie van het werkwoord in het tshiluba''. 1949. Mémoires (Institut royal colonial belge. Section des sciences morales et politiques). Collection in-8^o; t. 18, fasc. 4. *de Schryver, Gilles-Maurice. ''Cilubà Phonetics: Proposals for a 'Corpus-Based Phonetics from Below' Approach''. 1999. Research Centre of African Languages and Literatures, University of Ghent. *DeClercq, P. ''Grammaire de la langue des bena-lulua.'' 1897. Polleunis et Ceuterick. *Muyunga, Yacioko Kasengulu. 1979. ''Lingala and Ciluba speech audiometry''. Kinshasa: Presses Universitaires du Zaïre pour l'Université Nationale du Zaïre (UNAZA). *Kabuta, Ngo. ''Loanwords in Cilubà.'' 2012. University of Ghent, Belgium. *Willems, Em. ''Het Tshiluba van Kasayi voor beginnelingen''. 1943. Sint Norbertus.

External links

* Tola Akindipe, Veronica Tshiama & Francisco Yamba
Largest online resource to learn Tshiluba (Mofeko)

Online Cilubà - French Dictionary

BBC News: Congo word "most untranslatable"

Tshiluba Language and Alphabet (Omniglot)

Tshiluba: Kasai Language

''Grammar and Dictionary of the Buluba-Lulua Language'' (1906)
online copy of dictionary by William Morrison (missionary) {{DEFAULTSORT:Luba language Luban languages Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo