Bangubangu language

Bangubangu
Native to	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Region	Maniema province
Native speakers	(170,000 cited 1995) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Luban Hemba (mostly); Luba (Mutingua) Bangubangu
Dialects	Bangubangu proper Mikebwe Kasenga Nonda Hombo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bnx
Glottolog	bang1350
Guthrie code	D.27 [2]

Bangubangu is a Bantu dialect cluster spoken by the Bangubangu people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The dialects are about 80% similar, apart from Hombo which is only 70% similar to the main dialect. It is possible that they are distinct languages. Christine Ahmed (1995) classifies the small "Bangubangu of Mutingua" apart from the rest, with the Luba rather than Hemba languages; this is presumably a Hombo dialect.

One of the earliest scholars to study Bangubangu was A. E. Meeussen, who wrote a brief description of the grammar of the language as a result of a visit to the area in 1951. ^[3]

References

1. Bangubangu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Meeussen, A. E. (1954). "Linguïstische schets van het Bangubangu". Tervuren, 1954, 53 p.