Ngbaka Minagende language

Ngbaka (Ngbàkà) is a Gbaya language spoken by just over a million people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a regionally important language, used by the Gilima, Ngbundu, Mbandja and Mono peoples, and is taught in primary schools; 10% are literate in Ngbaka.

Ngbaka is a common local ethnic name; the language may be distinguished from other languages called "Ngbaka" as Ngbaka Gbaya or Ngbaka Minagende.

There are no significant dialectal differences within Ngbaka, and it may be mutually intelligible with members of the Manza dialect cluster.

Writing system[]

Nasalisation is indicated with a tilde on the vowel : ⟨ã, ɛ̃, ĩ, ɔ̃, ũ⟩.

Les tons des syllables sont indiqués avec des diacritiques lorsqu’il y a ambigüité :

• the high tone is indicated with the acute accent : ⟨á, é, ɛ́, í, ó, ɔ́, ú, ã́, ɛ̃́, ĩ́, ɔ̃́, ṹ⟩ ;
• the low tone is indicated with the grave accent  : ⟨à, è, ɛ̀, ì, ò, ɔ̀, ù, ã̀, ɛ̃̀, ĩ̀, ɔ̃̀, ũ̀⟩ ;
• the following tones are not usually indicated in the spelling but may be indicated in some linguistic works :
  • the medium tone with the vertical line above : ⟨a̍, e̍, ɛ̍, i̍, o̍, ɔ̍, u̍, ã̍, ɛ̃̍, ĩ̍, ɔ̃̍, ũ̍⟩ ;
  • the falling tone with the circumflex accent : ⟨â, ê, ɛ̂, î, ô, ɔ̂, ã̂, ɛ̃̂, ĩ̂, ɔ̃̂, ũ̂⟩ ;
  • the rising tone with the caron/hacek : ⟨ǎ, ě, ɛ̌, ǐ, ǒ, ɔ̌, ã̌, ɛ̃̌, ĩ̌, ɔ̃̌, ũ̌⟩.

References[]

External links[]

• Ngbaka at Ghent University