Language/Lingala/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation
Lingala is a Bantu language spoken throughout the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a large part of the Republic of the Congo.
In today's lesson, we will study the Alphabet and the pronunciation of each letter.
Once you've comprehended the concepts in this lesson, you might enjoy learning about these related topics: Lingala Vocabulary: Learn the words for common food items!, Geography.
Alphabet
| Letter |
|---|
Phonology
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Close-mid | e | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a |
| IPA | Example (IPA) | Example (written) | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | /lilála/ | lilála | orange | |
| u | /kulutu/ | kulútu | elder | |
| e | /eloᵑɡi/ | elongi | face | |
| o | /mobáli/ | mobáli | boy | pronounced slightly higher than the cardinal o,
realized as [o̝] |
| ɛ | /lɛlɔ́/ | lɛlɔ́ | today | |
| ɔ | /ᵐbɔ́ᵑɡɔ/ | mbɔ́ngɔ | money | |
| a | /áwa/ | áwa | here |
Vowel harmony
Lingala words show vowel harmony to some extent. The close-mid vowels /e/ and /o/ normally do not mix with the open-mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ in words. For example, the words ndɔbɔ 'fishhook' and ndobo 'mouse trap' are found, but not *ndɔbo or *ndobɔ.
Vowel shift
The Lingala spoken in Kinshasa shows a vowel shift from /ɔ/ to /o/, leading to the absence of the phoneme /ɔ/ in favor of /o/. The same occurs with /ɛ/ and /e/, leading to just /e/. So in Kinshasa, a native speaker will say mbóte as /ᵐbóte/, compared to the more traditional pronunciation of /ᵐbɔ́tɛ/.
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Post-
alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||||
| Stop | p | b | t | d | k | g | |||
| Pre-nasalized | ᵐp | ᵐb | ⁿt
ⁿs |
ⁿd
ⁿz |
ᵑk | ᵑg | |||
| Fricative | f | v | s | z | ʃ | (ʒ) | |||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||||
| IPA | Example (IPA) | Example (written) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| p | /napɛ́si/ | napɛ́sí | I give |
| ᵐp | /ᵐpɛᵐbɛ́ni/ | mpɛmbɛ́ni | near |
| b | /boliᵑɡo/ | bolingo | love |
| ᵐb | /ᵐbɛlí/ | mbɛlí | knife |
| t | /litéja/ | litéya | lesson |
| ⁿt | /ⁿtɔ́ᵑɡɔ́/ | ntɔ́ngó | dawn |
| d | /daidai/ | daidai | sticky |
| ⁿd | /ⁿdeko/ | ndeko | sibling, cousin, relative |
| k | /mokɔlɔ/ | mokɔlɔ | day |
| ᵑk | /ᵑkóló/ | nkóló | owner |
| ɡ | /ɡalamɛ́lɛ/ | galamɛ́lɛ | grammar |
| ᵑɡ | /ᵑɡáí/ | ngáí | me |
| m | /mamá/ | mamá | mother |
| n | /bojini/ | boyini | hate |
| ɲ | /ɲama/ | nyama | animal |
| f | /fɔtɔ́/ | fɔtɔ́ | photograph |
| v | /veló/ | veló | bicycle |
| s | /sɔ̂lɔ/ | sɔ̂lɔ | truly |
| ⁿs | /ɲɔ́ⁿsɔ/ | nyɔ́nsɔ | all |
| z | /zɛ́lɔ/ | zɛ́lɔ | sand |
| ⁿz (1) | /ⁿzáᵐbe/ | nzámbe | God |
| ʃ | /ʃakú/ | cakú or shakú | African grey parrot |
| l | /ɔ́lɔ/ | ɔ́lɔ | gold |
| j | /jé/ | yé | him; her (object pronoun) |
| w | /wápi/ | wápi | where |
Pronunciation: VIDEO
Lingala Online Virtual Keyboard
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