Mongo language

Not to be confused with Mongo language (Cameroon), Mongol language, or Daju Mongo language.
Mongo
Nkundu
Lomongo
RegionDemocratic Republic of Congo
EthnicityMongo people
Native speakers
(400,000 cited 1995)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-2lol
ISO 639-3lol – inclusive code
Individual code:
ymg – Yamongeri
Glottologmong1338  Mongo
bafo1235  Bafoto
C.61,611; C.36H[2]

Mongo, also called Nkundo or Mongo-Nkundu (Lomongo, Lonkundu), is a Bantu language spoken by several of the Mongo peoples 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), C.611, as a separate language. The others are:[2]

  • 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

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive plain p  b t  d k  ɡ
prenasal ᵐp ᵐb ⁿt  ⁿd ᵑk ᵑɡ
Affricate plain t͡s  d͡z
prenasal ⁿt͡s ⁿd͡z
Fricative plain f s h
prenasal ⁿs
Lateral l
Approximant w j
  • /d͡z/ can be heard as alveolar or dental [d̪͡z̪] and /t͡s/ can be alveolar or postalveolar [t͡ʃ], when before front vowels.[3]

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
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,[4] published Mongo Proverbs and Fables, with the Mongo text and an English translation.[5] 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.[6]

In an earlier booklet, 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.[7]

In 1909, Frederick Starr published a collection of 150 Nkundo (Mongo) proverbs with English translations, "Proverbs of Upper Congo,"[8] 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).[9] Here are some of those proverbs:

  • "Bobimbo nko lobya, nk'ome w'etuka." "The 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.[10] For more recent bibliography, see A. J. de Rop's La littérature orale mongo, published in 1974.[11] 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.[12]

References

  1. ^ Mongo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Yamongeri at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ de Rop, Albert J. (1958). Grammaire du lomongo: phonologie et morphologie. Leuven & Léopoldville: Université Lovanium.
  4. ^ Elders at Bongandango, Congo, ca. 1920-1930 Calisphere. Retrieved July 7, 2024.
  5. ^ Ruskin, Edward Algernon (1921). Mongo Proverbs and Fables (available online at the Internet Archive).
  6. ^ "Ngila L'Ulu" in Ruskin, Edward Algernon (1921). Mongo Proverbs and Fables. pp. 82-86.
  7. ^ Ruskin, Edward Algernon (1897). Proverbs, Fables, Similes and Sayings of the Bamongo (available online at the Internet Archive).
  8. ^ Starr, Frederick (1909). "Proverbs of Upper Congo." Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Sciences. 12: 176-196.
  9. ^ Farris, Ellsworth; Dye, Royal J. (1904). Bekolo bi' ampaka ba Nkundo. Bikolongo la nsako. Beki Bakola otakanyaka. Page images at Hathi Trust; U.S. access only.
  10. ^ Starr, Frederick (1908). A Bibliography of Congo Languages..
  11. ^ de Rop, A. J. (1974). La littérature orale mongo, synthèse et bibliographie. Bruxelles: Centre d'Etude et de Documentation Africaines.
  12. ^ Hulstaert, G. (1958). Proverbes mongo. Tervuren: Musée Royal du Congo Belge.
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