Kituba is known by many names among its speakers. In academic circles the language is called or Kikongo-Kituba.
In the Republic of the Congo it is called Munukutuba, a phrase which means literally "I say",[4] and is used in the Republic's 1992 constitution.[5] The latter (Kituba) means "way of speaking"[6]:213 and is used in the 2015 constitution.[7]
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo it is called Kikongo ya leta ("the state's Kikongo"[4] or "Government Kikongo"[8]), or Kikongo de L'état, shortened to Kileta.[6]:212 Confusingly, it is also called Kikongo, especially in areas that lack Kongo (Kikongo) speakers,[8] namely the Kwango and Kwilu Provinces. The constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo lists "Kikongo" as one of the national languages,[9][10] meaning Kituba.[11][6]:215
There are also other historical names such as Kibula-matadi (literally "the stone-breaker's speech"),[4][6]:212 (literally "be not", "it isn't so"),[4][6]:213Kikwango,[6]:215 and Kizabave[12] (literally "do not know"), but they have largely fallen out of use.
Geographic distribution
Dialect map of Kikongo and Kituba. NB: Kisikongo (also called Kisansala by some authors) is the Kikongo spoken in Mbanza Kongo. Kisikongo is not the protolanguage of the Kongo language cluster.
The majority of Kituba speakers live in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is spoken as the primary lingua franca in the provinces of Kongo Central, Kwango and Kwilu and to a lesser extent in Kinshasa, Mai-Ndombe and Kasai.
Kituba is also spoken in the northern part of Angola, since modern nations cut across the lines of tribal areas and ancient kingdoms, and northern Angola borders the Kwango Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo which is a strong Kituba-speaking area.[16]
Although mutually intelligible, there are differences, mainly in vocabulary, between the eastern and western areas of The Democratic Republic of Congo, and still more between the Kituba spoken there and that spoken in Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo).[16]
Official status
Kituba is a national language in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In practice the term national language means that it is a language of regional administration, elementary education, and business.
A national language is also one that is used for public and mass communication. National public radios and televisions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Republic of Congo use Kituba as one of their main languages for evening news.[17][18][19][20][21]
History
There are several theories on how Kituba came into being. One theory claims that it had already evolved at the time of the Kongo Kingdom as a simplified interdialectal trade language, which the European colonists subsequently took into use for regional administration. Another theory claims that a simplified trade language called Kifyoti was developed at the Portuguese coastal trading 18 post and it was later spread upstream by the Christian missionaries to the region between the Kwango and the Kasai rivers where it evolved further (hence the name Kikwango). Yet another theory emphasizes the construction of the Matadi-Kinshasa railroad at the end of the 1800s, which involved forced labour from West Africa, lower Congo, and the neighbouring Bandundu region. The workers had diverse linguistic backgrounds which gave birth to a grammatically simplified language.
Harold W. Fehdereau, a linguist and missionary, carried out a major linguistic survey of Kituba-speaking areas under the joint auspices of the American Bible Society and the American Mennonite Brethren Mission. He published his work in a Kituba-French-English dictionary in 1969. He traced the development of Kituba back to the 1800's or earlier, necessitated by the inter-tribal needs of the Congolese themselves, and later, their relationship with slave traders. Then in the early 1900's, the Belgian and French colonization of the area brought further need for a convenient language of communication with the Congolese. He admits that we do not have a very complete picture of the development of Kituba before the 1930's, when it came into wide use by Christian missionaries. He notes that many today have grown up knowing Kituba as their mother tongue, and at the same time, it has reached some complexity of grammar unusual to pidgin languages. He notes that there is an increasing tendency, particularly in the western Kituba-speaking region, to borrow words from French, adding Kituba prefixes and suffixes for everyday usage.[22]
Regardless of the genesis, Kituba established itself in the large towns that were found during the colonial period between 1885 and 1960. Kituba is spoken as the primary language in the large Bakongo cities of Moanda, Boma, Matadi, Pointe-Noire, Dolisie, Nkayi, and Brazzaville and also in large non-Bakongo cities of Bandundu, Kikwit, and Ilebo. It is the main language spoken throughout the modern provinces of Kwango and Kasai. A dialect called 'Monokutuba' is spoken in Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo).[23]
The first portions of the Bible were published in 1934, followed by the New Testament in 1950. A revision was published in 1957. The complete Bible was published in 1982, all by the Bible Society of Congo.[24][25][26]
Some examples of differences between Kikongo (Kisikongo, Kizombo, Kisolongo, Iwoyo, Kiyombe, Kisingombe, Kintandu, Kimanianga, Kindibu, Civili, Tsiladi (Lari), etc.) and Kituba (or Kikongo ya leta, Munukutuba, Monokutuba):[28][29][30]
1. Conjugation: In Kikongo, the conjugation of a tense to different persons is done by changing verbal prefixes, unlike in Kituba:
Example: verb "to be" conjugated in the present in Kikongo and Kituba:
Luzingu lu kéli KUVÉ tok’ luboti, si sènde vandi si kéli: Life is only made of roses, but also of thorns
Etc.
Beto ke dia VÉ: We do not eat
Yandi vuandaka kusala VÉ: He / She was not used to working Etc.
3. Noun classes: noun prefixes are not completely the same (cf. the Kikongo and Kituba grammars)
Phonology
Vowels
Kituba has five vowel phonemes: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. They are very similar to the vowels of Spanish and Italian. Vowels are never reduced, regardless of stress. The vowels are pronounced as follows:
/a/ is pronounced like the "a" in father
/e/ is pronounced like the "e" in bed
/i/ is pronounced like the "i" in ski or ring
/o/ is pronounced like the first part of the "o" in home, or like a tenser version of "o" in "lot"
Word-initial voiceless prenasalized consonants are reduced to simple consonants in some dialects: and become and in Kituba of Pointe-Noire.
Some dialects add stop to prenasalized alveolar fricatives: and become and ndzila.
Alveolar fricatives may become postalveolar (ʃ or ʒ) before /i/.
Grammar
Pronouns
Kituba has subject and object pronouns. The object pronouns are used in place of subject pronouns when the subject is being emphasized.
Singular
Plural
Subject
Object
Subject
Object
1st person
mu
munu, mono
beto
beto
2nd person
nge
nge
beno
beno
3rd person
yá
yandi
ba
bau
I love you in kituba
Mu (or Munu, Mono) zola nge / Munu me zola nge / Mu me zola nge / Me zola nge / Mono (or Mu, Munu) ke zola nge
Nouns
Kituba has kept by and large the noun classes of ethnic Kikongo with some modifications. The classes 9 and 11 have in effect merged with the singular class with zero prefix, and their plural is formed with generic plural class prefix ba-.
Singular
Plural
Class
Prefix
Example
Class
Prefix
Example
0
–
mama ('mother)
2
ba-
bamama (mothers)
1
mu-
muntu (person)
2
ba-
bantu (people)
3
mu-
mulangi (bottle)
4
mi-
milangi (bottles)
5
di-
dinkondo (banana)
6
ma-
mankondo (bananas)
7
ki-
kima (thing)
8
bi-
bima (things)
9
n-/m-
nkosi (lion)
2+9
ba-n-
bankosi (lions)
11
lu-
ludimi (tongue)
2+11
ba-lu-
baludimi (tongues)
12
ka-
kakima (trifle)
13
tu-
tubima (trifles)
14
bu
bumbote (goodness)
15
ku-
kubanza (to think, thinking)
Verbs
Kituba has a well-developed verbal system involving grammatical tense and aspect. Most verb forms have long and short versions. The long forms are used in formal written communication whereas the short forms have developed for spoken communication.
The irregular conjugation of the verb or (to be) is presented in the table below. It is the only irregular verb in Kituba.
Tense
Long form
Short form
Example
Translation
Present and immediate future
kele
ke
Yau kele nkosi.
It is a lion.
Future
kele/ata kuv(u)anda
ke/ta v(u)anda
Mu ta vuanda tata.
I will be a father.
Present progressive
kele kuv(u)andaka
ke v(u)andaka
Nge ke vuandaka zoba.
You are being stupid.
Future progressive
ata kuv(u)andaka
ta v(u)andaka
Beno ta vuandaka ya kukuela.
You will be married.
Past
v(u)anda
Yandi vuanda kuna.
He was there.
Past progressive
v(u)andaka
Beto vuandaka banduku.
We used to be friends.
Past perfect
mene kuv(u)anda
me v(u)anda
Yandi me vuanda na Matadi.
He was in Matadi.
Past perfect progressive
mene kuv(u)andaka
me v(u)andaka
Yandi me vuandaka mulongi.
She has been a teacher.
All other verbs are conjugated with the help of auxiliary verbs. The conjugation of the verb (to do) is presented in the table below.
Tense
Long form
Short form
Example
Translation
Present and immediate future
kele kusala
ke sala
Yandi ke sala.
He works. / He will work.
Present progressive
kele kusalaka
ke salaka
Yandi ke salaka.
He is working.
Past
salaka
salaka
Yandi salaka.
He worked.
Immediate past
mene sala
me sala
Yandi me sala.
He has worked.
Immediate past progressive
mene salaka
me salaka
Yandi me salaka.
He has been working.
Past progressive
vuandaka kusala
va sala
Yandi vuandaka kusala.
He used to work.
Narrative
sala
sala
Future
ata sala
ta sala
Yandi ta sala.
He will work.
Future progressive
ata salaka
ta salaka
Yandi ta salaka.
He will be working.
Voice
The suffix indicating voice is adding after the verb root and before the suffix indicating tense.
The most common forms are "ila", indicating action to or toward someone, and "ana", indicating mutual or reciprocal action:
Bantu nyonso, na mbutukulu kevwandaka na kimpwanza ya bawu, ngenda mpe baluve ya mutindu mosi. Mayela na mbanzulu ke na bawu, ni yawu yina bafwana kusalasana na bumpangi.
"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."[27]
Literature
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2021)
In 2018, a book (Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: Mbandu ya luzingu by Protais Yumbi) written in Kikongo ya Leta was nominated for the Grand Prix of Literary Associations.[34][35] A hymnbook, 'Bankunga ya Kintwadi'(Songs of Fellowship) was published in 1988 by the Mennonite Brethren Mission. It is widely used by numerous Protestant denominations.[36] Almost a hundred Kituba-language books and articles have been published by Every Child Ministries' Mwinda Project. These include articles on Christian education, Bible lessons for children and youth, teacher training, health, and a variety of other topics. These are available on-line and at bookstores and libraries within the Democratic Republic of Congo.[37]
Lingala (Ngala) is a tonal 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 degree in Angola, the Central African Republic, Kenya and southern South Sudan. Lingala has 25–30 million native speakers and about 35 million second-language speakers, for an approximate total of 60–65 million speakers.
Kongo Central, formerly Bas-Congo, is one of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Matadi.
Bandundu is one of eleven former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It bordered the provinces of Kinshasa and Bas-Congo to the west, Équateur to the north, and Kasai-Occidental to the east. The provincial capital is also called Bandundu.
Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon and Angola. It is a tonal language. It was spoken by many of those who were taken from the region and sold as slaves in the Americas. For this reason, while Kongo still is spoken in the above-mentioned countries, creolized forms of the language are found in ritual speech of Afro-American religions, especially in Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is also one of the sources of the Gullah language and the Palenquero creole in Colombia. The vast majority of present-day speakers live in Africa. There are roughly seven million native speakers of Kongo, with perhaps two million more who use it as a second language.
The Kongo people are a Bantu ethnic group primarily defined as the speakers of Kikongo. Subgroups include the Beembe, Bwende, Vili, Sundi, Yombe, Dondo, Lari, and others.
Congolese or Kongolese may refer to:
Bandundu, formerly known as Banningville or Banningstad, is the capital city of Kwilu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The culture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is extremely varied, reflecting the great diversity and different customs which exist in the country. Congolese culture combines the influence of tradition to the region, but also combines influences from abroad which arrived during the era of colonization and continue to have a strong influence, without destroying the individuality of many tribal customs.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a multilingual country where an estimated total of 242 languages are spoken. Ethnologue lists 215 living languages. The official language, since the colonial period, is French, one of the languages of Belgium. Four other languages, three of them Bantu based, have the status of national language: Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili and Tshiluba.
The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville or the Congo, is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.
Articles related to the Democratic Republic of the Congo include:
The Republic of the Congo was a sovereign state in Central Africa, created with the independence of the Belgian Congo in 1960. From 1960 to 1966, the country was also known as Congo-Léopoldville to distinguish it from its northwestern neighbor, which is also called the Republic of the Congo, alternatively known as "Congo-Brazzaville". In 1964, the state's official name was changed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but the two countries continued to be distinguished by their capitals; with the renaming of Léopoldville as Kinshasa in 1966, it became also known as Congo-Kinshasa. After Joseph Désiré Mobutu, commander-in-chief of the national army, seized control of the government in 1965, the Democratic Republic of the Congo became the Republic of Zaire in 1971. It would again become the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1997. The period between 1960 and 1964 is referred to as the First Congolese Republic.
The Lari is an ethnic group of the Republic of the Congo and the name of the language they speak. A subgroup of the Kongo people, the Lari live in the communes of Brazzaville, the capital; and Pointe-Noire, and within the surrounding Pool Department. This subgroup was born in the 19th century. where they constitute almost the entire population. There are an estimated 1.2 million Lari living in Congo.
The official language of the Republic of Congo is French. Other languages are mainly Bantu languages, and the two national languages in the country are Kituba and Lingala, followed by Kongo languages, Téké languages, and more than forty other languages, including languages spoken by Pygmies, which are not Bantu languages.
The Kongo languages are a clade of Bantu languages, coded Zone H.10 in Guthrie's classification, that are spoken by the Bakongo:
Kwilu is a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's one of the 21 provinces created in the 2015 repartitioning. Kwilu, Kwango, and Mai-Ndombe provinces are the result of the dismemberment of the former Bandundu province. Kwilu was formed from the Kwilu district and the independently administered cities of Bandundu and Kikwit. Bandundu is the provincial capital.
The Bible, or portions of it, have been translated into over 1,000 languages of Africa.
Kwilu District was a district of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It roughly corresponded to the present province of Kwilu.
Isidore Ndaywel è Nziem, is a Congolese historian and linguist. He is the author of several essays, studies and other publications about the history of the Congo, including the overview work L'histoire générale du Congo: De l'héritage ancien à la République démocratique.
DR Congo–France are the bilateral diplomatic relations between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and France. Both nations are members of the Organisation internationale de la francophonie and the United Nations.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Mufwene, Salikoko S. (2009). "Kituba, or Kikongo? What's in a name?"(PDF). In de Féral, Carole (ed.). Le nom des langues III: Le nom des langues en Afrique sub-saharienne: pratiques, dénominations, catégorisations. Naming Languages in Sub-Saharan Africa: Practices, Names, Categorisations. BCILL. Vol.124. Louvain-la-Neuve: Peeters. ISBN9789042922709. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
↑ Reinecke, John E.; Tsuzaki, Stanley M.; etal. (1975). "Kituba (Lingua Franca Kikongo)". A Bibliography of Pidgin and Creole Languages. Oceanic Linguistics Special Publications. Vol.14. University of Hawai'i Press. pp.649–653. JSTOR20006662. Retrieved 2021-07-31.
↑ Jasper DE KIND , Sebastian DOM, Gilles-Maurice DE SCHRYVER et Koen BOSTOEN, Fronted-infinitive constructions in Kikongo (Bantu H16): verb focus, progressive aspect and future, KongoKing Research Group, Department of Languages and Cultures, Ghent University, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 2013
↑ Koen Bostoen et Inge Brinkman, The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity, Cambridge University Press, 2018
↑ Raphaël Batsîkama Ba Mampuya Ma Ndâwla, L'ancien royaume du Congo et les Bakongo, séquences d'histoire populaire, L'harmattan, 2000
1 2 2022 Annual Report, Every Child Ministries' Mwinda Project, ECM, Hebron, IN
↑ PY Esther; Thomas Bearth (1997). "Langues et education en Afrique noire"(PDF). The Educational Resources Information Center(Eric), Institut de Linguistique, Universite Neuchatel, Suisse (in French). p.18. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
↑ Jack Berry et Thomas Albert Sebeok, Linguistics in Sub-Saharan Africa, Mouton De Gruyter; Reprint 2017 ed. édition (1 avril 1971), p.525.
↑ Luntadila Nlandu Inocente, Nominalisations en kìsìkongò (H16): Les substantifs predicatifs et les verbes-supports Vánga, Sála, Sá et Tá (faire), Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 2015 (In French)
↑ Joaquim Mbachi, CAMINHOS DA GRAMÁTICA IBINDA, Cabinda (Angola), 2013 (In Portuguese)
↑ Robert Tinou, Abécédaire du kouilou zaab’ ku tub’ tchi vili, L’HARMATTAN, 2015 (In French)
↑ Harold W. Fehdereau, Ph.D., Dictionnaire Kikonga (ya Leta)-Anglais-Francais, (Kinshasa: Editions LECO, 1969) p. xxxvi
↑ Harold W. Fehdereau, Ph.D., Dictionnaire Kikonga (ya Leta)-Anglais-Francais (Kinshasa: Editions LECO, 1969)
↑ William Frawley, International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: 4-Volume Set, Oxford University Press, USA, 2003, p. 351
Jean-Alexis Mfoutou, Parlons munukutuba: Congo-Brazzaville, République démocratique du Congo, Angola, Paris, Editions L'Harmattan, 2019, 426 pages.
Jean-Alexis Mfoutou, Pour une histoire du munukutuba, langue bantoue, Paris, Editions L'Harmattan, 2019, 130 pages.
Jean-Alexis Mfoutou, Grammaire et lexique munukutuba: Congo-Brazzaville, République Démocratique du Congo, Angola, L'Harmattan, 2009, 344 p. (ISBN 2296226736 et 9782296226739, présentation en ligne, lire en ligne).
Khabirov, Valeri.(1990). Monokutuba. Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow. "Soviet Encyclopedia". P. 309-310 (In Russian)
Fehderau, H., 1966. The Origin and Development of Kituba. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.
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