Lega language

Lega
Native to	DR Congo
Ethnicity	Lega
Native speakers	(450,000 cited 1982–2000)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu (Zone D.20) Lega–Binja Lega–Bemba Lega
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: lea – Shabunda Lega lgm – Mwenga Lega khx – Kanu ktf – Kwami
Glottolog	lega1253
Guthrie code	D.25,251
ELP	Kanu

A speaker of the Lega language, also called Kilega

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/.
• /f/ can be heard from loanwords.