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Kongo language

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"Kikongo" redirects here. For a related language known as Kikongo ya leta, see Kituba language. For the spider genus, see Kikongo (spider). For the ward in Tanzania, see Kikongo, Tanzania.
Kongo
Kikongo
Native toDR Congo (Kongo Central), Angola, Republic of the Congo, Gabon
EthnicityKongo
Native speakers
(L1: 6.0 million cited 1982–2021)[1]
L2: 5.0 million (2021)[1]
Latin, Mandombe
Official status
Official language in
National language and unofficial language:
 Angola
Language codes
ISO 639-1kg
ISO 639-2kon
ISO 639-3kon – inclusive code
Individual codes:
kng – Koongo
ldi – Ladi, Laadi, Lari or Laari
kwy – San Salvador Kongo (South)
yom – Yombe
Glottologyomb1244  Yombe
H.14–16[2]
Map of the area where Kongo and Kituba are spoken, Kituba as a lingua franca. Kisikongo (also called Kisansala by some authors) is the Kikongo spoken in Mbanza Kongo.
The Kongo language
PersonmuKongo, musi Kongo, muisi Kongo, mwisi Kongo, nKongo
PeoplebaKongo, bisi Kongo, besi Kongo, esiKongo, aKongo
LanguagekiKongo

Kongo or Kikongo 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.[1]

Historically, it 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 the Low Country and Sea Islands of the United States Southeast.[3] The Palenquero creole in Colombia is also related to Kong creole.

Geographic distribution

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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), 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").[4]

The constitution of the Republic of the Congo uses the name Kituba,[5] and Democratic Republic of the Congo uses the term Kikongo.[6] Kituba (i.e. Kikongo ya Leta) 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.).[7][4][8]

Kikongo and Kituba are spoken in:

Presence in the Americas

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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:

People

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Prior to the Berlin Conference, the people called themselves "Bisi Kongo" (plural) and "Mwisi Kongo" (singular). Today they call themselves "Bakongo" (pl.) and "Mukongo" (sing.).[9]

Writing

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The Hail Mary in Kikongo.

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 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).[10]

The dictionary 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 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 the dictionary, which included sorting and correcting 25,000 slips of paper containing words and their definitions."[11] 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.

Standardisation

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The work of English, Swedish and other missionaries in 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.[12][13][14][15]

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 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.

— William Holman Bentley, Dictionary and grammar of the Kongo language as spoken at San Salvador, the ancient capital of the old Kongo Empire (1887)

Linguistic classification

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Kikongo belongs to 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 the language has the following dialects:

  • Kikongo group H16
    • Southern Kikongo H16a
    • Central Kikongo H16b
    • Yombe (also called Kiyombe) H16c[16]
    • Fiote H16d
    • Western Kikongo H16d
    • Bwende H16e
    • Ladi (Lari) H16f
    • Eastern Kikongo H16g
    • Southeastern Kikongo H16h

NB:[17][18][19] 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).

Phonology

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Consonant phonemes
Labial Coronal Dorsal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ (ng /ŋ/)
Plosive voiceless p /p/ t /t/ k /k/
prenasal voiceless mp /ᵐp/ nt /ⁿt/ nk /ᵑk/
voiced b /b/ d /d/ (g /ɡ/)1
prenasal voiced mb /ᵐb/ nd /ⁿd/ ng /ᵑɡ/2
Fricative voiceless f /f/ s /s/
prenasal voiceless mf /ᶬf/ ns /ⁿs/
voiced v /v/ z /z/
prenasal voiced mv /ᶬv/ nz /ⁿz/
Approximant w /w/ l /l/ y /j/
Vowel phonemes
Front Back
High i /i/ u /u/
Mid e /e̞/ o /o̞/
Low a /a/
  1. The phoneme /ɡ/ can occur, but is rarely used.
  2. May also be heard as a nasal sound.

There is contrastive vowel length. /m/ and /n/ also have syllabic variants, which contrast with prenasalized consonants.

Grammar

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Noun classes

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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.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]

Classes Noun prefixes Characteristics Examples
1 mu-, n- humans muntu/muuntu/mutu/muutu (person, human)
2 ba-, wa-, a- plural form of the class 1... bantu/baantu/batu/baatu/wantu/antu (people, humans,)
3 mu-, n- various: plants, inanimate... muti/nti (tree), nlangu (water)
4 mi-, n-, i- plural form of the class 3... miti/minti/inti (trees), milangu/minlangu (waters)
5 di-, li- various: body parts, vegetables... didezo/lideso/lidezu/didezu (bean)
6 ma- various : liquids, plural form of the class 5... madezo/medeso/madeso/madezu (beans), maza/maamba/mamba/maampa/masi/masa (water)
7 ki-, ci (tchi/tshi) -, tsi (ti) -, i- various: language, inanimate... kikongo/cikongo/tsikongo/ikongo (kongo language), kikuku/cikuuku/tsikûku (kitchen)
8 bi-, i-, yi-, u- plural form of the class 7... bikuku/bikuuku/bikûku (kitchens)
9 Ø-, n-, m-, yi-, i- various: animals, pets, artefacts... nzo/nso (house), ngulu (pig)
10 Ø-, n-, m-, si-, zi-, tsi- plural form of the classes 9, 11... si nzo/zi nzo/zinzo/tsi nso (houses), si ngulu/zi ngulu/zingulu (pigs)
11 lu- various: animals, artefacts, sites, attitudes, qualities, feeling... lulendo (pride), lupangu/lupaangu (plot of land)
13 tu- plural form of the classes 7 11... tupangu/tupaangu (plots of land)
14 bu-, wu- various: artefacts, sites, attitudes, qualities... bumolo/bubolo (laziness)
15 ku-, u- infinitives kutuba/kutub'/utuba (to speak), kutanga/kutaangë/utanga (to read)
15a ku- body parts... kulu (foot), koko/kooko (hand)
6 ma- plural form of the class 15a... malu (feet), moko/mooko (hands)
4 mi- plural form of the class 15a... miooko/mioko(hands)
16 va-, ga- (ha-), fa- locatives (proximal, exact) va nzo (near the house), fa (on, over), ga/ha (on), va (on)
17 ku- locatives (distal, approximate) ku vata (in the village), kuna (over there)
18 mu- locatives (interior) mu nzo (in the house)
19 fi-, mua/mwa- diminutives fi nzo (small house), fi nuni (nestling, fledgling, little bird), mua (or mwa) nuni (nestling, fledgling, little bird)

NB: Noun prefixes may or may not change from one Kikongo variant to another (e.g. class 7: the noun prefix ci is used in civili, iwoyo or ciladi (lari) and the noun prefix ki is used in kisikongo, kiyombe, kizombo, kimanianga,...).

Conjugation

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Personal pronouns Translation
Mono I
Ngeye You
Yandi He or she
Kima It (for an object / an animal / a thing, examples: a table, a knife,...)
Yeto / Beto We
Yeno / Beno You
Yawu / Bawu (or Bau) They
Bima They (for objects / animals / things, examples: tables, knives,...)

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 the present:[33]

(Mono) ngiena / Mono ngina (Me), I am
(Ngeye) wena / Ngeye wina / wuna / una (You), you are
(Yandi) wena / Yandi kena / wuna / una (Him / Her), he or she is
(Kima) kiena (It), it is (for an object / an animal / a thing, examples: a table, a knife,...)
(Beto) tuena / Yeto tuina / tuna (Us), we are
(Beno) luena / Yeno luina / luna (You), you are
(Bawu) bena / Yawu bena (Them), they are
(Bima) biena (Them), they are (for objects / animals / things, examples: tables, knives,...)

Conjugating the verb (mpanga in Kikongo) to have (kuvua in Kikongo; also kuba na or kukala ye) in the present :

(Mono) mvuidi (Me), I have
(Ngeye) vuidi (You), you have
(Yandi) vuidi (Him / Her), he or she has
(Beto) tuvuidi (Us), we have
(Beno) luvuidi (You), you have
(Bawu) bavuidi (Them), they have

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 the same verbs (cf. the references posted). The ksludotique site uses several variants of Kikongo (kimanianga,...).

Vocabulary

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Word Translation
kiambote, yenge (kiaku, kieno) / mbot'aku / mbotieno (mboti'eno) / mbote zeno / mbote / mboti / mboto / bueke / buekanu [34] hello, good morning
malafu, malavu alcoholic drink
diamba hemp
binkutu, binkuti clothes
ntoto, mutoto soil, floor, ground, Earth
nsi, tsi, si country, province, region
vata, gata, divata, digata, dihata, diɣata, buala (or bwala), bual' (or bwal', bualë, bwalë), bula, hata, ɣata village
mavata, magata, mahata, maɣata, mala, maala villages
nzo house
zulu, yulu, yilu sky, top, above
maza, masa, mamba, maamba, masi, nlangu, mazi, maampa water
tiya, mbasu, mbawu fire
makaya leaves (example : hemp leaves)
bakala, yakala man, husband
nkento, mukento, nkiento, ncyento, nciento, ntchiento, ntchientu, ntchetu, ntcheetu, ncetu, nceetu, mukietu, mukeetu, mukeeto woman
mukazi, nkazi, nkasi, mukasi spouse (wife)
mulumi, nlumi, nnuni spouse (husband)
muana (or mwana) ndumba, ndumba young girl, single young woman
nkumbu / zina / li zina / dizina / ligina [35] name
kudia, kudya, kulia, kulya to eat
kunua, kunwa to drink
nene big
fioti small
mpimpa night
lumbu day
kukovola, kukofola, kukofula, kukoola, kukogola, kukohola, kukosula to cough
kuvana, kugana, kuhana, kuɣana to give
nzola, zola love
luzolo, luzolu love, will
kutanga, kutaangë to read
kusoneka, kusonikë, kusonika, kusonik', kutina to write
kuvova, kuta, kuzonza, kutuba, kutub', kugoga, kuɣoɣa, kuhoha, utuba to say, to speak, to talk, to tell
kuzola, kutsolo, kuzolo, uzola to love
ntangu time, sun, hour
kuseva, kusega, kuseɣa, kuseha, kusefa, kusefë, kusef', kuseya to laugh
nzambi god
luzitu the respect
lufua, lufwa the death
yi ku zolele / i ku zolele [36] / ngeye nzolele / ni ku zololo (or ni ku zolele) (Ladi) / minu i ku zoleze (Ibinda) / mi ya ku zola (Vili) / minu i ku tidi (Cabindan Yombe) / mê nge nzololo (or mê nge nzolele) (Ladi) / minu i ku zoleze (Cabindan Woyo) / minu i ba ku zola (Linji, Linge) / mi be ku zol' (or mi be ku zolë) (Vili) / me ni ku tiri (Beembe) / minu i ku tili i love you
Days of the week in English Kisikongo and Kizombo Congolese Yombe Ladi (Lari) Vili[37] Ibinda Ntandu Kisingombe and Kimanianga
Monday Kyamosi Un'tône Buduka / Nsila Un'tône Tchikunda Kintete Kiamonde / Kiantete
Tuesday Kyazole N'silu Nkênge N'silu Tchimuali / Tchimwali Kinzole Kianzole
Wednesday Kyatatu Un'duka Mpika Un'duk' Tchintatu Kintatu Kiantatu
Thursday Kyaya N'sone Nkôyi N'sone Tchinna Kinya Kianya
Friday Kyatanu Bukonzu Bukônzo Bukonz' Tchintanu Kintanu Kiantanu
Saturday Kyasabala Sab'l Saba / Sabala Sab'l Tchisabala Sabala Kiasabala
Sunday Kyalumingu Lumingu Lumîngu / Nsona Lumingu Tchilumingu Lumingu Kialumingu
Numbers 1 to 10 in English Kisikongo and Kizombo Ladi (Lari) Ntandu Solongo Yombe Beembe Vili Kisingombe and Kimanianga Ibinda
One Mosi Mosi Mosi Mosi / Kosi Mosi Mosi Muek' / Mesi Mosi Mueka / Tchimueka
Two Zole Zole Zole Zole Wadi Boolo / Biole Wali Zole Wali
Three Tatu Tatu Tatu Tatu Tatu Tatu / Bitatu Tatu Tatu Tatu
Four Ya Ya Ya Ya Ya Na / Bina Na Ya Na
Five Tanu Tanu Tanu Tanu Tanu Taanu / Bitane Tanu Tanu Tanu
Six Sambanu Sambanu Sambanu Nsambanu / Sambanu Sambanu Saambanu / Saamunu / Samne Samunu Sambanu Sambanu
Seven Nsambuadi (Nsambwadi) / Nsambuadia (Nsambwadia) Nsambuadi (Nsambwadi) Sambuadi (Sambwadi) Nsambuadi (Nsambwadi) / Sambuadi (Sambwadi) Tsambuadi (Tsambwadi) Tsambe Sambuali (Sambwali) Nsambuadi (Nsambwadi) / Nsambodia Sambuali (Sambwali)
Eight Nana Nana / Mpoomo / Mpuomô Nana Nana Dinana Mpoomo Nana Nana Nana
Nine Vua (Vwa) / Vue (Vwe) Vua (Vwa) Vua (Vwa) Vua (Vwa) Divua (Divwa) Wa Vua (Vwa) Vua (Vwa) Vua (Vwa)
Ten Kumi Kumi Kumi / Kumi dimosi Kumi Dikumi Kumi Kumi Kumi Kumi

English words of Kongo origin

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In addition, the roller coaster Kumba at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida gets its name from the Kongo word for "roar".

Sample text

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According to Filomão CUBOLA, article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Fiote translates to:

Bizingi bioso bisiwu ti batu bambutukanga mu kidedi ki buzitu ayi kibumswa. Bizingi-bene, batu, badi diela ayi tsi-ntima, bafwene kuzingila mbatzi-na-mbatzi-yandi mu mtima bukhomba.
"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."[40]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Kongo at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
    Koongo at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
    Ladi, Laadi, Lari or Laari at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
    San Salvador Kongo (South) at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
    Yombe at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Adam Hochschild (1998). King Leopold's Ghost. Houghton Mifflin. p. 11. ISBN 9780618001903.
  4. ^ a b "Kikongo-Kituba". Britannica. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Constitution de 2015". Digithèque matériaux juridiques et politiques, Jean-Pierre Maury, Université de Perpignan (in French). Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Constitution de la République Démocratique du Congo" (PDF). Organisation mondiale de la propriété intellectuelle ou World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (in French). p. 11. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  7. ^ Foreign Service Institute (U.S.) and Lloyd Balderston Swift, Kituba; Basic Course, Department of State, 1963, p.10
  8. ^ Godefroid Muzalia Kihangu, Bundu dia Kongo, une résurgence des messianismes et de l’alliance des Bakongo?, Universiteit Gent, België, 2011, p. 30
  9. ^ Wyatt MacGaffey, Kongo Political Culture: The Conceptual Challenge of the Particular, Indiana University Press, 2000, p.62
  10. ^ François Bontinck and D. Ndembi Nsasi, Le catéchisme kikongo de 1624. Reeédtion critique (Brussels, 1978)
  11. ^ "Dictionary and Grammar of the Kongo Language, as Spoken at San Salvador, the Ancient Capital of the Old Kongo Empire, West Africa: Preface". World Digital Library. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
  12. ^ William Holman Bentley, Dictionary and grammar of the Kongo language as spoken at San Salvador, the ancient capital of the old Kongo Empire, Baptist Missionary Society, The University of Michigan, 1887
  13. ^ Karl Edvard Laman, Nkanda wa bilekwa bianza uzayulwanga mpangulu ye nkadulu au, Svenska missionsförbundet, S.M.S., Matadi, 1899
  14. ^ Karl Edvard Laman, Dictionnaire kikongo-français, avec une étude phonétique décrivant les dialectes les plus importants de la langue dite Kikongo, bruxelles : Librairie Falk fils, 1936
  15. ^ "Publications en kikongo Bibliographie relative aux contributions suédoises entre 1885 et 1970" (PDF). DiVA portal, Bertil Söderberg & Ragnar Widman, L'institut scandinave d'etudes africaines, Uppsala et Le musée ethnographique, Stockholm, 1978 (in French). Retrieved 31 October 2023.
  16. ^ Maho 2009
  17. ^ 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
  18. ^ Koen Bostoen et Inge Brinkman, The Kongo Kingdom: The Origins, Dynamics and Cosmopolitan Culture of an African Polity, Cambridge University Press, 2018
  19. ^ Raphaël Batsîkama Ba Mampuya Ma Ndâwla, L'ancien royaume du Congo et les Bakongo, séquences d'histoire populaire, L'harmattan, 2000
  20. ^ Amélia Arlete MINGAS, ETUDE GRAMMATICALE DE L'IWOYO (ANGOLA), UNIVERSITE RENE DESCARTES PARIS - UFR DE LINGUISTIQUE GENERALE ET APPLIQUEE, 1994 (in French)
  21. ^ 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)
  22. ^ Elise Solange Bagamboula, Les classificateurs BU (CL. 14), GA (CL. 16), KU (CL. 17) et MU (CL. 18) dans l’expression de la localisation en kikongo (lari), Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO), 2019 (in French)
  23. ^ Audrey Mariette TELE-PEMBA, Eléments pour une approche comparée des emprunts lexicaux du civili du Gabon, du Congo-Brazzaville et du Cabinda : proposition d’ un modèle de dictionnaire, UNIVERSITE OMAR BONGO – Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines – Département des Sciences du Langage, Libreville, 2009 (in French)
  24. ^ R. P. L. DE CLERCQ, Grammaire du Kiyombe , Edition Goemaere – Bruxelles – Kinshasa, 1907 (in French)
  25. ^ Léon Dereau, COURS DE KIKONGO, Maison d’éditions AD. WESMAEL-CHARLIER, Namur, 1955 (in French)
  26. ^ François Lumwamu, Sur les classes nominales et le nombre dans une langue bantu, Cahiers d’Études africaines, 1970 (in French)
  27. ^ Joaquim Mbachi, CAMINHOS DA GRAMÁTICA IBINDA, Cabinda (Angola), 2013 (in Portuguese)
  28. ^ Robert Tinou, Abécédaire du kouilou zaab’ ku tub’ tchi vili, L’HARMATTAN, 2015 (in French)
  29. ^ Filipe Camilo Miaca, Corpus lexical dos verbos em iwoyo e português, proposta de um dicionário bilingue de verbos em português e iwoyo, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2020 (in Portuguese)
  30. ^ Guy Noël Kouarata, DICTIONNAIRE BEEMBE–FRANÇAIS, SIL-Congo, 2010 (in French)
  31. ^ Raharimanantsoa Ruth, Petit guide d’orthographe et de grammaire KUNYI (KUNI), SIL-Congo, 2022 (in French)
  32. ^ JOSÉ LOURENÇO TAVARES, Gramática da língua do Congo (kikongo) (dialecto kisolongo), Composto e Impresso nas oficinas da Imprensa, Nacional de Angola, 1915 (in Portuguese)
  33. ^ "Kikongo grammar, first part". Ksludotique. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  34. ^ Kiambote kiaku / mbot'aku (hello/good morning to you (to one person)), kiambote kieno / mbote zeno / mbotieno / buekanu (hello/good morning to many people), yenge kiaku (hello/good morning to you / peace to you (to one person)), yenge kieno (hello/good morning to many people / peace to you (to many people))
  35. ^ The family name and first name were not part of the Kongo culture, meaning the Kongo people gave the children a name based on the circumstances surrounding their birth, significant events, etc. The rule of giving a surname, a first name and a middle name to the children was introduced by the Westerners (Portuguese, French and Belgians).
  36. ^ Yi ku zolele, i ku zolele and ngeye nzolele are used in several variants of Kikongo such as kintandu, kisingombe, kimanianga, kikongo of boko,...
  37. ^ Old version of the days of week in Vili: Ntoonu (Monday), Nsilu (Tuesday), Nkoyo (Wednesday), Bukonzo (Thursday), Mpika (Friday), Nduka (Saturday), Sona (Sunday).
  38. ^ "Bartleby.com: Great Books Online -- Quotes, Poems, Novels, Classics and hundreds more". www.bartleby.com. Archived from the original on 2008-03-28. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  39. ^ Farris Thompson, in his work Flash Of The Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy
  40. ^ "Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Fiote (Angola)". OHCHR. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kikongo language.

Kongo learning materials

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