Mongo | |
---|---|
Nkundu | |
Lomongo | |
Region | Democratic Republic of Congo |
Ethnicity | Mongo people |
Native speakers | (400,000 cited 1995) [1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 |
lol |
ISO 639-3 |
lol – inclusive codeIndividual code:
ymg – Yamongeri |
Glottolog |
mong1338 Mongo
bafo1235 Bafoto |
C.61,611; C.36H
[2] |
Mongo, also called Nkundo or Mongo-Nkundu (Lomongo, Lonkundu), is a Bantu language spoken by several of the Mongo peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mongo speakers reside in the north-west of the country over a large area inside the curve of the Congo River. Mongo is a tonal language.
There are several dialects. Maho (2009) lists one of these, Bafoto (Batswa de l'Equateur), C.611, as a separate language. The others are: [2]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive | plain | p b | t d | k ɡ | ||
prenasal | ᵐp ᵐb | ⁿt ⁿd | ᵑk ᵑɡ | |||
Affricate | plain | t͡s d͡z | ||||
prenasal | ⁿt͡s ⁿd͡z | |||||
Fricative | plain | f | s | h | ||
prenasal | ⁿs | |||||
Lateral | l | |||||
Approximant | w | j |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Close-mid | e | o | |
Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Open | a |
In 1921, Edward Algernon Ruskin, a Christian missionary at Bongandanga from 1891 until 1935 in what was then the Belgian Congo, [4] published Mongo Proverbs and Fables, with the Mongo text and an English translation. [5] As Ruskin explains in the foreword to the book, his goal was to train missionaries in the Mongo language. Ruskin's style of English transliteration gives no indication as to the tones.
The book contains 405 Mongo proverbs. Here are some examples:
There are 21 Mongo fables in the book, including a story about Ulu, the trickster Tortoise. [6]
In an earlier booklet, Proverbs, Fables, Similes and Sayings of the Bamongo, published in 1897, Ruskin provides a word by word analysis of some Mongo proverbs, often accompanied by a brief fable. [7]
Mongo | |
---|---|
Nkundu | |
Lomongo | |
Region | Democratic Republic of Congo |
Ethnicity | Mongo people |
Native speakers | (400,000 cited 1995) [1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 |
lol |
ISO 639-3 |
lol – inclusive codeIndividual code:
ymg – Yamongeri |
Glottolog |
mong1338 Mongo
bafo1235 Bafoto |
C.61,611; C.36H
[2] |
Mongo, also called Nkundo or Mongo-Nkundu (Lomongo, Lonkundu), is a Bantu language spoken by several of the Mongo peoples in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mongo speakers reside in the north-west of the country over a large area inside the curve of the Congo River. Mongo is a tonal language.
There are several dialects. Maho (2009) lists one of these, Bafoto (Batswa de l'Equateur), C.611, as a separate language. The others are: [2]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive | plain | p b | t d | k ɡ | ||
prenasal | ᵐp ᵐb | ⁿt ⁿd | ᵑk ᵑɡ | |||
Affricate | plain | t͡s d͡z | ||||
prenasal | ⁿt͡s ⁿd͡z | |||||
Fricative | plain | f | s | h | ||
prenasal | ⁿs | |||||
Lateral | l | |||||
Approximant | w | j |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Close-mid | e | o | |
Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Open | a |
In 1921, Edward Algernon Ruskin, a Christian missionary at Bongandanga from 1891 until 1935 in what was then the Belgian Congo, [4] published Mongo Proverbs and Fables, with the Mongo text and an English translation. [5] As Ruskin explains in the foreword to the book, his goal was to train missionaries in the Mongo language. Ruskin's style of English transliteration gives no indication as to the tones.
The book contains 405 Mongo proverbs. Here are some examples:
There are 21 Mongo fables in the book, including a story about Ulu, the trickster Tortoise. [6]
In an earlier booklet, Proverbs, Fables, Similes and Sayings of the Bamongo, published in 1897, Ruskin provides a word by word analysis of some Mongo proverbs, often accompanied by a brief fable. [7]