Tschiluba

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Tschiluba, Luba-Kasaï
Cilubà

Spoken in

Democratic Republic of Congo
speaker 6.3 million (1991)
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in Congo Democratic RepublicDemocratic Republic of Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo ( national language )
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

-

ISO 639 -2

lua

ISO 639-3

lua

Tschiluba (also Cilubà , Luba-Kasaï , West-Luba , Luba-Kasai , Luba-Lulua , Luva ) is a Bantu language with over 6 million speakers that is widespread in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kasaï) .

classification

Tschiluba is a language of the language family of the Bantu languages from the group of Luba languages ​​alongside Kiluba (Luba-Katanga), Sanga (Luba-Sanga), Hemba and Kanyok .

  • Guthrie classification: L.31a / L31b, group L.30
  • Classification Bastin / Coupe / Man: L.30

history

Tschiluba is originally the language of the Luba people in the Kasaï region . Meanwhile, many other peoples of the Congo understand the language as well, as they live with the Luba on a daily basis. However, they keep their own language.

Geographical distribution

Language map of the four national languages ​​Democratic Republic of the Congo (there are over 200 local languages).

People who speak this language are the Baluba from Kasaï. They can be divided into 3 groups:

  • Luba-Lubilanji (Baku-Kalonji; Baku-Nga or Bakwangaet; Bena-Mpuka, also known as Bena Mutu'a Mukuna; Bena Tshibanda) in East Kasaï (capital Mbuji-Mayi ),
  • Bena Luluwa (including Mutombo and Bena-Katawa Bakwa), West Kasaï (capital Kananga ),
  • Bakwa Luntu;

These three language groups are ethnic Luba or Baluba . They are also called Luba-Kasaï , because there is another ethnic group in the Katanga province with the same name, but they speak a different language, the Kiluba . Many other ethnic groups from the two Kasaï have learned through contact with the Baluba Tshiluba and as a lingua franca accepted but retain their language own language.

Official status

Tschiluba is one of the four national languages ​​of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the languages Swahili , Lingála and Kikongo .

Dialects and sociolects

In the two Kasaï, this language has certain phonetic and lexical differences. Some examples:

  • p (lips close together and not closed) and h in words and Lu p embe / Lu h emba ( kaolin ) or the locality Lu p ata p ata / Lu h ata h ata (each in the western and eastern variant);
  • Matamba and Kalejs (cassava leaves), each in the western and eastern versions.

Phonetics and Phonology

There is a classic pronunciation and a traditionally rural one, the latter being somewhat predominant among the Bena Mutombo, Baku-Katawa and Bakwa-Luntu. Example: Mbuji (goat) in school or in Mbuji-Mayi, and mbushi in rural areas. Nzolu and nzolo or nsolu (chicken); Nvula Mfula (rain); ... and so on like the differences between Portuguese and Spanish.

font

The Tschiluba has found limited written use since the middle of the 20th century. Spelling rules were established in 1974.

The alphabet has 26 letters: ABCDEFGHIJKLMN Ng Ny OPRS Sh TUVWYZ
Q, R and X are used in loan words and proper names.

Examples

First article of the Declaration of Human Rights:

Bantu bonsu badi baledibwa badikadile ne badi ne makokeshi amwe. Badi ne lungenyi lwa bumuntu ne kondo ka moyo, badi ne bwa kwenzelangana malu mu buwetu.
word translation pronunciation
earth buloba /bu.lo.ba/
sky dyulu /dju.lu/
water mâyi /mâ.ji/
Fire mudilu /mu.di.lu/
human muntu /mu.ⁿtu/
man mulùme /mu.lù.me/
woman mukàjì /mu.kà.jì/
eat kudia /ku.di.a/
drink kunwà /ku.nʷà/
big mula, ... /mu.la/ etc.
small -kesè, mukesè /mu.ke.sè/ etc.
night btuku /bu.tu.ku/
Day difùku /di.fù.ku/


literature

  • Émile Willems: Le Tshiluba du Kasayi pour debutants . Mission de Scheut, Luluabourg 1955 (French).

Web links