Suundi | |
---|---|
Kisuundi | |
Native to | Republic of the Congo |
Native speakers | (120,000 cited 2000) [1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | sdj |
Glottolog | suun1239 |
H.131 [2] |
Suundi is a Bantu language spoken in the Republic of the Congo by the Sundi people.
The Bantu languages are a language family of about 600 languages that are spoken by the Bantu peoples of Central, Southern, Eastern and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
The Kavango – Southwest Bantu languages are a group of Bantu languages established by Anita Pfouts (2003). The Southwest Bantu languages constitute most of Guthrie's Zone R. The languages, or clusters, along with their Guthrie identifications, are:
The Sundi are a Central African people established in three countries, in the Republic of Congo – particularly in the Niari department, in the Bouenza department (Boko-Songho) and in the Pool Department –, in Angola (Cabinda) and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are considered to be the largest subgroup of the Kongo people. Early in the nineteenth century there were wars between Sundi and Teke when Teke moved southwest into the Niari valley.