Lega language
Lega | |
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Native to | DR Congo |
Ethnicity | Lega |
Native speakers | (450,000 cited 1982–2000)[1] |
Language family | Niger–Congo?
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:lea – Shabunda Legalgm – Mwenga Legakhx – Kanuktf – Kwami |
Glottolog | lega1253 |
D.25,251 [2] | |
ELP | Kanu |
Lega is a Bantu language, or dialect cluster, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are two major varieties, Shabunda Lega and Mwenga Lega; Mwenga Lega, with about 10% of speakers, finds Shabunda difficult to understand. Kanu has been assigned a separate ISO code but is a dialect of Shabunda, and no more divergent than other dialects.
Variant spellings of 'Lega' are Rega, Leka, Ileka, Kilega, Kirega. Shabunda is also known as Igonzabale, and Mwenga as Shile or Ishile. Gengele is reported to be a Shabunda-based creole.
According to Ethnologue, Bembe is part of the same dialect continuum. Nyindu is a dialect of Shi that has been heavily influenced by Lega.
Phonology
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
Mid | e | o | |
Open | a |
Consonants
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | |
voiced | b | d | (ɟ) | g | |
Fricative | voiceless | (f) | s | ʃ | |
voiced | v | z | |||
Trill | r | ||||
Lateral | l | ||||
Approximant | j | w |
- [ɟ] can also be heard in the consonant sequence /ɡj/.[3]
- /f/ can be heard from loanwords.[4]
References
- ^ Shabunda Lega at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Mwenga Lega at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Kanu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Kwami at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required) - ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Botne, Robert (2003). Lega (Beya Dialect) (D25). In Nurse, Derek and Philippson, Gérard (eds.), The Bantu Languages: London & New York: Routledge. pp. 422–449.
- ^ Masumbuko Wa-Busungu, Léopold (2019). Grammaire du kilega-lega: D25 : esquisse d'une langue bantoue de la RD Congo. Édilivre, 2019.
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D20 |
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[J]D40 | |
[J]D50 | |
[J]D60 |
- Italics indicate extinct languages.
- Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.
- The Guthrie classification is geographic and its groupings do not imply a relationship between the languages within them.
- Narrow Bantu languages by Guthrie classification zone templates
- Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B)
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- Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H)
- Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M)
- Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones N–S)
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