Languages of the Republic of the Congo
Encyclopedia
| Languages of the Republic of the Congo | |
| Official language | French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... |
| National languages | Kituba Kituba Kituba is a widely used lingua franca in Central Africa. It is a creole language based on Kikongo, a family of closely related Bantu languages. It is an official language in Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa.... , Lingala |
| Interethnic languages | French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... , Kituba Kituba Kituba is a widely used lingua franca in Central Africa. It is a creole language based on Kikongo, a family of closely related Bantu languages. It is an official language in Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa.... , Lingala |
The official language
Official language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
of the Republic of Congo is French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Other languages are mainly Bantu languages
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
, and the two national language
National language
A national language is a language which has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a people and perhaps by extension the territory they occupy. The term is used variously. A national language may for instance represent the national identity of a nation or country...
s in the country are Kituba
Kituba
Kituba is a widely used lingua franca in Central Africa. It is a creole language based on Kikongo, a family of closely related Bantu languages. It is an official language in Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa....
and Lingala (13%), followed by Mboshi, Bateke
Bateke
The Bateke are a Central African ethnic group that speak the Teke languages. Its population is situated mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo and with a minority in Gabon...
(17.3%), and more than forty other languages, including Pygmy
Pygmy
Pygmy is a term used for various ethnic groups worldwide whose average height is unusually short; anthropologists define pygmy as any group whose adult men grow to less than 150 cm in average height. A member of a slightly taller group is termed "pygmoid." The best known pygmies are the Aka,...
languages (1.4%), which are not Bantu languages.
French is spoken by 30% of the Congolese population. According to a study by Omar Massoumou, 88% of those in Brazzaville aged over 15 can write simple phrases in French.
According to Laval University, because of civil wars that rocked the country, the French language became a language-haven for various armed factions. For example, speakers who are incompetent in Kituba (especially those in the south), Kikongo and Lingala (especially those in the north) prefer to speak French for security reasons. For fear of revealing their ethnicity, the Congolese go to French, which helps preserve their anonymity. (See also: African French
African French
African French is the generic name of the varieties of French spoken by an estimated 115 million African people spread across 31 francophone African countries...
)
Kituba
Kituba
Kituba is a widely used lingua franca in Central Africa. It is a creole language based on Kikongo, a family of closely related Bantu languages. It is an official language in Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa....
(or Munukutuba) is a simplified Kikongo creole, understandable by the users of different dialects of Kikongo. This language is used by 50.35 % of the Congolese population who live along the Congo-Océan railway line which connects Brazzaville
Brazzaville
-Transport:The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo...
to Pointe-Noire
Pointe-Noire
Pointe-Noire is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department since 2004. Before this date it was the capital of the Kouilou region . It is situated on a headland between Pointe-Noire Bay and the Atlantic Ocean...
in the south of the country.
Lingala, the river language, is the language of President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, and is spoken mainly in the north and east of the country. This is the language which has grown most quickly in the past few years in the Congo.
Batekes form 18% of the population and are mostly found in the Plateaux Department, in the Cuvette-Ouest (where they are known as Mbéti and Tégué), Niari (where they are known as Nzabi), Bouenza and the Pool region.
Lari is a mixture of various idioms of Kongo and Téké, and is the language mostly spoken in the Pool region.