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41-523: Kongo Central ( Kongo : Kongo dia Kati ), formerly Bas-Congo , is one of the 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo . Its capital is Matadi . At the time of independence, the area now encompassing Kongo Central was part of the greater province of Léopoldville , along with the capital city of Kinshasa and the districts of Kwango , Kwilu and Mai-Ndombe . Under Belgian colonial rule,
82-628: A series of rapids that make it unnavigable until the Malebo Pool . The provincial capital is Matadi, with Boma being the other official city. The remainder of the province is administratively divided into ten territories, the most of any province: Before 2015 these territories were divisions of the Bas-Fleuve , Cataractes and Lukaya districts ; except for Moanda, which was attached to Boma (a city/district hybrid). Towns with their 2010 populations are: Kongo language Kongo or Kikongo
123-463: A Jesuit priest. No version of that survives today. In 1624, Mateus Cardoso, another Portuguese Jesuit , edited and published a Kongo translation of the Portuguese catechism compiled by Marcos Jorge. The preface says that the translation was done by Kongo teachers from São Salvador (modern Mbanza Kongo ) and was probably partially the work of Félix do Espírito Santo (also a Kongo). The dictionary
164-736: 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 . 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. 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
205-638: 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
246-587: A word list in 1805. Baptist missionaries who arrived in Kongo in 1879 (from Great Britain) developed a modern orthography of the language. American missionary W. Holman Bentley arranged for his Dictionary and Grammar of the Kongo Language to be published by the University of Michigan in 1887. In the preface, Bentley gave credit to Nlemvo, an African, for his assistance. He described "the methods he used to compile
287-537: Is a widely used lingua franca in Central Africa . It is a creole language based on Kikongo , a Bantu language . It is a national language in Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo . Kituba is known by many names among its speakers. In academic circles the language is called Kikongo-Kituba . In the Republic of the Congo it is called Munukutuba , a phrase which means literally "I say", and
328-486: 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. 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
369-453: Is contrastive vowel length . /m/ and /n/ also have syllabic variants, which contrast with prenasalized consonants. Kikongo has a system of 18 noun classes in which nouns are classified according to noun prefixes. Most of the classes go in pairs (singular and plural) except for the locative and infinitive classes which do not admit plurals. NB: Noun prefixes may or may not change from one Kikongo variant to another (e.g. class 7:
410-634: Is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo , Gabon , and Angola . It is a tonal language . The vast majority of present-day speakers live in Africa. There are roughly seven million native speakers of Kongo in the above-named countries. An estimated five million more speakers use it as a second language . Historically, it
451-767: Is spoken in Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo). 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. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has published a translation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kituba. On 27 June 2024 Google announced
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#1732848186584492-570: Is used as the term in the DRC administration. This can be explained by the fact that Kikongo ya Leta is often mistakenly called Kikongo (i.e. KiNtandu, KiManianga, KiNdibu, etc.). Kikongo and Kituba are spoken in: Many African slaves transported in the Atlantic slave trade spoke Kikongo. Its influence can be seen in many creole languages in the diaspora , such as: Prior to the Berlin Conference ,
533-466: Is used in the Republic's 1992 constitution. The latter ( Kituba ) means "way of speaking" and is used in the 2015 constitution. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo it is called Kikongo ya leta ("the state's Kikongo" or "Government Kikongo" ), or Kikongo de L'état , shortened to Kileta . Confusingly, it is also called Kikongo , especially in areas that lack Kongo (Kikongo) speakers , namely
574-439: 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. Regardless of
615-469: The 19th and 20th centuries, in collaboration with Kongo linguists and evangelists such as Ndo Nzuawu Nlemvo (or Ndo Nzwawu Nlemvo; Dom João in Portuguese) and Miguel NeKaka, marked the standardisation of Kikongo. A large proportion of the people at San Salvador, and in its neighbourhood, pronounce s and z before i as sh and j; for the sound sh, the letter x was adopted (as in Portuguese), while z before i
656-481: The Atlantic Ocean to the west. It borders the city-province of Kinshasa to the north-east, the province of Kwango to the east, and the Republic of Angola to the south as well as the Republic of the Congo and Cabinda to the north. The lower Congo River traverses the province from the north-east to the south-west. It is navigable from the Atlantic Ocean to the port city of Matadi after which there are
697-502: The Bantu language family. According to Malcolm Guthrie , Kikongo is in the language group H10, the Kongo languages . Other languages in the same group include Bembe (H11). Ethnologue 16 counts Ndingi (H14) and Mboka (H15) as dialects of Kongo, though it acknowledges they may be distinct languages. Bastin, Coupez and Man's classification of the language (as Tervuren) is more recent and precise than that of Guthrie on Kikongo. The former say
738-532: The Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Republic of Congo use Kituba as one of their main languages for evening news. 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
779-463: 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 spoken in the southern of the Republic of Congo, in regions of Kouilou , Pointe-Noire , Niari , Bouenza , Lékoumou and in the capital Brazzaville . Lingala is more popular in the north. Kituba
820-434: The Kituba spoken there and that spoken in Congo-Brazzaville (Republic of Congo). 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
861-505: The Kwango and Kwilu Provinces. The constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo lists "Kikongo" as one of the national languages. The Kikongo spoken alongisde Lingala in urban centres is in fact Kituba. There are also other historical names such as Kibula-matadi (literally "the stone-breaker's speech"), (literally "be not", "it isn't so"), Kikwango , and Kizabave (literally "do not know"), but they have largely fallen out of use. The majority of Kituba speakers live in
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#1732848186584902-766: The Low Country and Sea Islands of the United States Southeast. The Palenquero creole in Colombia is also related to Kong creole. Kongo was the language of the Kingdom of Kongo prior to the creation of Angola by the Portuguese Crown in 1575. The Berlin Conference (1884-1885) among major European powers divided the rest of the kingdom into three territories. These are now parts of the DRC ( Kongo Central and Bandundu ),
943-522: The Republic of the Congo, and Gabon. Kikongo is the base for the Creole language Kituba , also called Kikongo de l'État and Kikongo ya Leta ( French and Kituba, respectively, for "Kikongo of the state administration" or "Kikongo of the State"). The constitution of the Republic of the Congo uses the name Kituba , and Democratic Republic of the Congo uses the term Kikongo . Kituba (i.e. Kikongo ya Leta)
984-547: The addition of 110 languages, including Kituba and Kikongo , to Google Translate. 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): 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
1025-525: 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
1066-546: The dictionary, which included sorting and correcting 25,000 slips of paper containing words and their definitions." Eventually W. Holman Bentley, with the special assistance of João Lemvo, produced a complete Christian Bible in 1905. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has published a translation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Fiote. The work of English, Swedish and other missionaries in
1107-468: 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'
1148-408: The language has the following dialects: NB: Kisikongo is not the protolanguage of the Kongo language cluster. Not all varieties of Kikongo are mutually intelligible (for example, 1. Civili is better understood by Kiyombe- and Iwoyo-speakers than by Kisikongo- or Kimanianga-speakers; 2. Kimanianga is better understood by Kikongo of Boko and Kintandu-speakers than by Civili or Iwoyo-speakers). There
1189-575: 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
1230-511: The noun prefix ci is used in civili, iwoyo or ciladi (lari) and the noun prefix ki is used in kisikongo, kiyombe, kizombo, kimanianga,...). NB: Not all variants of Kikongo have completely the same personal pronouns and when conjugating verbs, the personal pronouns become stressed pronouns (see below and/or the references posted). Conjugating the verb ( mpanga in Kikongo) to be ( kukala or kuba ; also kuena , kwena or kuwena in Kikongo) in
1271-473: The people called themselves "Bisi Kongo" (plural) and "Mwisi Kongo" (singular). Today they call themselves " Bakongo " (pl.) and "Mukongo" (sing.). Kongo was the earliest Bantu language to be written in Latin characters. Portuguese created a dictionary in Kongo, the first of any Bantu language. A catechism was produced under the authority of Diogo Gomes, who was born in 1557 in Kongo to Portuguese parents and became
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1312-661: The present in Kikongo and Kituba : 2. Negative form Etc. Yandi vuandaka kusala VÉ : He / She was not used to working Etc. 3. The way to say "My name is" is different : 4. Noun classes : noun prefixes are not completely the same (cf. the Kikongo and Kituba grammars) Kituba has five vowel phonemes: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. They are very similar to the vowels of Spanish . Vowels are never reduced, regardless of stress. The vowels are pronounced as follows: Kituba has subject and object pronouns. The object pronouns are used in place of subject pronouns when
1353-402: The present: Conjugating the verb ( mpanga in Kikongo) to have ( kuvua in Kikongo; also kuba na or kukala ye ) in the present : NB: In Kikongo, the conjugation of a tense to different persons is done by changing verbal prefixes (highlighted in bold). These verbal prefixes are also personal pronouns. However, not all variants of Kikongo have completely the same verbal prefixes and
1394-455: The province was known as Bas-Congo (as in "Lower Congo River") and was renamed Kongo Central after independence. Under the regime of Mobutu Sese Seko from 1965 to 1997, the Congo river was renamed as Zaire . The province was named as Bas-Zaïre . The name was later reverted to Bas-Congo. It was subsequently renamed as Kongo Central in 2015. Kongo Central is the only province in the country with an ocean coastline; it has narrow frontage on
1435-569: The same verbs (cf. the references posted). The ksludotique site uses several variants of Kikongo (kimanianga,...). In addition, the roller coaster Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida gets its name from the Kongo word for "roar". According to Filomão CUBOLA, article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Fiote translates to: Kituba language Kituba ( Kituba : Kituba , Kituba : Kikongo ya leta )
1476-787: 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. All other verbs are conjugated with the help of auxiliary verbs. The conjugation of the verb (to do) is presented in the table below. 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: Kutanga "to read", Tangila "read to", Tangilaka "read to" (past) Sadisa "to help", Sadisana "help one another", Sadisanaka "helped one another (past) A Kituba-English-French dictionary compiled by linguist Harold W. Fehderau, Ph.D.,
1517-473: The subject is being emphasized. 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- . 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
1558-419: Was published in 1969. It is not widely available. The bulk of Kituba words come from Kikongo . Other Bantu languages have influenced it as well, including Kiyaka , Kimbala , Kisongo , Kiyansi , Lingala , and Swahili . In addition, many words have been borrowed from French , Portuguese , and English . These include: Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights translates to: In 2018,
1599-615: Was spoken by many of those Africans who for centuries were taken captive, transported across the Atlantic, and sold as slaves in the Americas . For this reason, creolized forms of the language are found in ritual speech of Afro-American religions , especially in Brazil , Cuba , Puerto Rico , Dominican Republic , Haiti , and Suriname . It is also one of the sources of the Gullah language , which formed in
1640-460: Was written as j. Our books are read over a much wider area than the district of San Salvador, and in those parts where s and z remain unchanged before i, the use of x and j has proved a difficulty; it has therefore been decided to use s and z only, and in those parts where the sound of these letters is softened before i they will be naturally softened in pronunciation, and where they remain unchanged they will be pronounced as written. Kikongo belongs to
1681-496: Was written in about 1648 for the use of Capuchin missionaries. The principal author was Manuel Robredo, a secular priest from Kongo (after he became a Capuchin, he was named Francisco de São Salvador). The back of this dictionary includes a two-page sermon written in Kongo. The dictionary has some 10,000 words. In the 1780s, French Catholic missionaries to the Loango coast created additional dictionaries. Bernardo da Canecattim published