View source for Mongo language

{{Short description|Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of Congo}}
{{distinguish|Mongo language (Cameroon)|Mongol language (disambiguation){{!}}Mongol language|Daju Mongo language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Mongo
| altname          = Nkundu
| nativename       = ''Lomongo''
| region           = Democratic Republic of Congo
| speakers         = 400,000
| date             = 1995
| ref              = e18
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta-Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] ([[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages#Zone C|Zone C]])
| fam8             = [[Bangi–Ntomba languages|Bangi–Ntomba]]
| fam9             = Mongo–Bolia
| fam10            = Mongo–Nkunda (C.60)
| iso2             = lol
| iso3             = lol
| lc1              = ymg
| ld1              = Yamongeri
| guthrie          = C.61,611; C.36H
| glotto           = mong1338
| glottoname       = Mongo
| glotto2          = bafo1235
| glottoname2      = Bafoto
| ethnicity        = [[Mongo people]]
}}

'''Mongo''', also called '''Nkundo''' or '''Mongo-Nkundu''' (''Lomongo, Lonkundu''), is a Bantu language spoken by several of the [[Mongo people]]s in the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]. Mongo speakers reside in the north-west of the country over a large area inside the curve of the [[Congo River]]. Mongo is a [[tonal language]].

There are several dialects. Maho (2009) lists one of these, Bafoto (Batswa de l'Equateur), [[Guthrie code|C.611]], as a separate language. The others are:<ref name="Guthrie"/>

* Kutu (Bakutu), including Longombe
* Bokote, including Ngata
* Booli
* Bosaka
* Konda (Ekonda), including Bosanga-Ekonda
* Ekota
* Emoma
* Ikongo, including Lokalo-Lomela
* Iyembe
* Lionje, Nsongo, Ntomba
* Yamongo
* Mbole, including Nkengo, Yenge, Yongo, Bosanga-Mbole, Mangilongo, Lwankamba
* Nkole
* South Mongo, including Bolongo, Belo, Panga, Acitu
* Yailima
* Ngombe-Lomela, Longombe, ''Ngome à Múná''

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" |
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|m
|n
|ɲ
|ŋ
|
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |[[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
!<small>plain</small>
|p &emsp;b
|t &emsp;d
|
|k &emsp;ɡ
|
|- align="center"
!<small>prenasal</small>
|ᵐp&emsp;ᵐb
|ⁿt &emsp;ⁿd
|
|ᵑk&emsp;ᵑɡ
|
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>plain</small>
|
|t͡s &emsp;d͡z
|
|
|
|- align="center"
!<small>prenasal</small>
|
|ⁿt͡s&emsp;ⁿd͡z
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>plain</small>
|f
|s
|
|
|h
|- align="center"
!<small>prenasal</small>
|
|ⁿs
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |[[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
|
|l
|
|
|
|- align="center"
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|w
|
|j
|
|
|}

* /d͡z/ can be heard as alveolar or dental [d̪͡z̪] and /t͡s/ can be alveolar or postalveolar [t͡ʃ], when before front vowels.<ref>{{Cite book|last=de Rop|first=Albert J.|title=Grammaire du lomongo: phonologie et morphologie|publisher=Leuven & Léopoldville: Université Lovanium|year=1958}}</ref>

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|- align="center"
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|i
|
|u
|- align="center"
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|e
|
|o
|- align="center"
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|ɛ
|
|ɔ
|- align="center"
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|a
|
|}

== Oral literature ==

In 1921, Edward Algernon Ruskin, a Christian missionary at [[Bongandanga]] from 1891 until 1935 in what was then the [[Belgian Congo]],<ref> [https://calisphere.org/item/1a71cc65018a739956f2df102163d215/ Elders at Bongandango, Congo, ca. 1920-1930] ''Calisphere''. Retrieved July 7, 2024.</ref> published ''[https://archive.org/details/mongoproverbsfab00ruskrich Mongo Proverbs and Fables]'', with the Mongo text and an English translation.<ref>Ruskin, Edward Algernon (1921). ''[https://archive.org/details/mongoproverbsfab00ruskrich Mongo Proverbs and Fables]'' (available online at the Internet Archive).</ref> As Ruskin explains in the foreword to the book, his goal was to train missionaries in the Mongo language. The book contains 405 Mongo proverbs. Here are some examples:
*"''Ntambaka jit'a nkusa.''" ("You do not go hunting porcupines and collecting bark for making string at the same time.") (#88)
*"''Nkema ntawaka ndesanya.''" ("A monkey is not killed by merely watching it.") (#172)
*"''Ise aomaki njoku, beke bempate nko?''" ("Your father killed an elephant, then where are your tusks?") (#219)
*"''Tusake wese; wunyu botaka 'akata.''" ("Do not throw away a bone; a piece of lean meat has not yet fallen into your hands.") (#389)

There are also 21 Mongo fables in the book, including a story about ''Ulu,'' the trickster Tortoise.<ref>"Ngila L'Ulu" in Ruskin, Edward Algernon (1921). ''[https://archive.org/details/mongoproverbsfab00ruskrich/page/82/mode/2up?view=theater Mongo Proverbs and Fables]''. pp. 82-86.</ref>

In an earlier booklet, ''[https://archive.org/details/proverbsfabless00ruskgoog Proverbs, Fables, Similes and Sayings of the Bamongo]'', published in 1897, Ruskin provides a word by word analysis of some Mongo proverbs, often accompanied by a brief fable.<ref>Ruskin, Edward Algernon (1897). ''[https://archive.org/details/proverbsfabless00ruskgoog Proverbs, Fables, Similes and Sayings of the Bamongo]''  (available online at the Internet Archive).</ref>

In 1909, [[Frederick Starr]] published a collection of 150 Nkundo (Mongo) proverbs with English translations, "Proverbs of Upper Congo,"<ref>Starr, Frederick (1909). [https://archive.org/details/pub-domain-african-proverbs/page/n779/mode/2up "Proverbs of Upper Congo."] ''Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences''. 12: 176-196.</ref> which he selected from a 1904 publication, ''Bekolo bi' ampaka ba Nkundo. Bikolongo la nsako. Beki Bakola otakanyaka'' (''Stories of the Elders of Nkundo: Adages and Proverbs Gathered by Bakola'') by Bakola, also known as Ellsworth Farris, and Royal J. Dye, missionaries based near Coquilhatville (now [[Mbandaka]]).<ref>Farris, Ellsworth; Dye, Royal J. (1904). ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hnjlk7&seq=5 Bekolo bi' ampaka ba Nkundo. Bikolongo la nsako. Beki Bakola otakanyaka.''] Page images at Hathi Trust; U.S. access only.''</ref> Here are some of those proverbs:
*"''Bobimbo nko lobya, nk'ome w'etuka.''" "The [[Treculia|bobimbo]] bears no great flowers, but what large fruit it has (i.e. show is not always a sign of substance)." (#24)
*"''Bocik'a nsoso: ng'omanga ntokumba, ifoyala lobi enkolonkoko.''" "Spare the chicken: if the wild-cat does not take it, it will become large (i.e. do not despise small things)." (#26)
*"''Boseka nkoi, lokola nkingo.''" "The friendship of the leopard, a claw in your neck (i.e. like nursing a serpent)." (#64)
*"''Bosai'omonkolo bondotaji mpota, beuma beyokoka l'alongo.''" "One finger gashed, all the fingers are covered with blood (i.e. if one suffers, all are involved)." (#66)
Starr is also the author of ''A Bibliography of Congo Languages.''<ref>Starr, Frederick (1908). ''[https://archive.org/details/abibliographyco00librgoog A Bibliography of Congo Languages..]''</ref> For more recent bibliography, see A. J. de Rop's ''La littérature orale mongo,'' published in 1974.<ref>de Rop, A. J. (1974). ''La littérature orale mongo, synthèse et bibliographie.'' Bruxelles: Centre d'Etude et de Documentation Africaines.</ref> For a comprehensive study of Mongo proverbs, see Hulstaert's ''Proverbes mongo'', published in 1958, which contains over 2500 Mongo proverbs with accompanying French translations.<ref>Hulstaert, G. (1958). ''Proverbes mongo.'' Tervuren: Musée Royal du Congo Belge.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070724090444/http://www.panafril10n.org/wikidoc/pmwiki.php/PanAfrLoc/MongoNkundo Mongo, Nkundo] on PanAfril10n

{{Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones C–D)}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mongo language}}
[[Category:Mongo| ]]
[[Category:Bangi-Ntomba languages]]
[[Category:Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]

{{Bantu-lang-stub}}