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Kituba (Kituba: Kituba, Kituba: Kikongo ya leta) is a widely used lingua franca in Central Africa. It is a creole language[3] based on Kikongo, a Bantu language. It is a national language in Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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Kituba
Monokutuba, Munukutuba, Kituba (mkw) Kikongo ya leta (ktu)
Native speakers	(5.4 million cited 1987–1990)[1] Several million L2 speakers
Language family	Kongo-based creole Kituba
Official status
Official language in	National language and unofficial language:  Democratic Republic of the Congo  Republic of the Congo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: mkw – Kituba (RC) ktu – Kituba (DRC)
Glottolog	kitu1246  DRC kitu1245  RC
Guthrie code	H10A,B[2]
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Names

Kituba is known by many names among its speakers. In academic circles the language is called Kituba or Kikongo-Kituba.

In the Republic of the Congo it is called Munukutuba or Kituba. The former (also spelled Monokutuba) is a phrase which means literally "I say",[4] and is used in the Republic's 1992 constitution.[5] The latter means "way of speaking"[6]^: 213 and is used in the 2015 constitution.[7]

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo it is called Kikongo ya leta ("the state's Kikongo"[4] or "Government Kikongo"[8]), or Kikongo de L'état, shortened to Kileta.[6]^: 212 Confusingly, it is also called Kikongo, especially in areas that lack Kongo (Kikongo) speakers.[8] The constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo lists "Kikongo" as one of the national languages,[9][10] meaning Kituba.[11][6]^: 215

There are also other historical names such as Kibula-matadi (literally "the stone-breaker's speech"),[4][6]^: 212 Ikeleve (literally "be not", "it isn't so"),[4][6]^: 213 Kikwango,[6]^: 215 and Kizabave[12] (literally "do not know"), but they have largely fallen out of use.

Geographic distribution

The majority of Kituba speakers live in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is spoken as the primary lingua franca in the provinces of Kongo Central, Kwango and Kwilu and to a lesser extent in Kinshasa, Mai-Ndombe and Kasai.

Kituba is spoken in the southern of the Republic of Congo, in regions of Kouilou, Pointe-Noire, Niari, Bouenza, Lékoumou and in the capital Brazzaville. Lingala is more popular in the north.

The status of Kituba in Angola is not known. It is probable that it is understood and spoken by Bakongo who have lived in the Republic of Congo or the Democratic Republic of Congo as refugees or otherwise.

Official status

Kituba is a national language in the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In practice the term national language means that it is a language of regional administration and elementary education.

A national language is also one that is used for public and mass communication. National public radios and televisions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Republic of Congo use Kituba as one of their main languages for evening news.[16][17][18][19][20]

History

There are several theories on how Kituba came into being. One theory claims that it had already evolved at the time of the Kongo Kingdom as a simplified interdialectal trade language, which the European colonists subsequently took into use for regional administration. Another theory claims that a simplified trade language called Kifyoti was developed at the Portuguese coastal trading 18 post and it was later spread upstream by the Christian missionaries to the region between the Kwango and the Kasai rivers where it evolved further (hence the name Kikwango). Yet another theory emphasizes the construction of the Matadi-Kinshasa railroad at the end of the 1800s, which involved forced labour from West Africa, lower Congo, and the neighbouring Bandundu region. The workers had diverse linguistic backgrounds which gave birth to a grammatically simplified language.

Regardless of the genesis, Kituba established itself in the large towns that were found during the colonial period between 1885 and 1960. Kituba is spoken as the primary language in the large Bakongo cities of Moanda, Boma, Matadi, Pointe-Noire, Dolisie, Nkayi, and Brazzaville and also in large non-Bakongo cities of Bandundu, Kikwit, and Ilebo.

A translation of the New Testament in Kituba was completed and published in 2005.[21]

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has published a translation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kituba.[22]

Differences between Kikongo and Kituba

Some examples of differences between Kikongo (Kisikongo, Kizombo, Kisolongo, Iwoyo, Kiyombe, Kisingombe, Kintandu, Kimanianga, Kindibu, Civili, Tsiladi (Lari), etc.) and Kituba (or Kikongo ya leta, Munukutuba, Monokutuba):[23][24][25]

1. Conjugation : In Kikongo (Kisikongo, Kizombo, Kisolongo, Iwoyo, Kiyombe, Kisingombe, Kintandu, Kimanianga, Kindibu, Civili, Tsiladi (Lari), etc.), the conjugation of a tense to different persons is done by changing verbal prefixes contrary to kituba (or kikongo ya leta, monokutuba, munukutuba) (see below).

Example : verb To Be conjugated in the present in Kikongo (Vili and Ibinda) and Kituba :

English	Kikongo (Civili)	Kikongo (Cibinda / Tchibinda)	Kituba (or Kikongo ya leta)
To Be	Kuba	Kuba or Uba	Kuvuanda or Kuvanda
I am	I ke (or I kele)	Nkele	Munu / Mono Ke (or Kele)
You are	Ke (or Kele)	Kele	Nge Ke (or Kele)
He / She is	Ke (or Kele)	Kele	Yandi Ke (or Kele)
We are	Tu ke (or Tu kele)	Tukele	Beto Ke (or Kele)
You are	Lu ke (or Lu kele)	Lukele	Beno Ke (or Kele)
They are	Ba ke (or Ba kele)/ Be ke (or Be kele)	Bakele	Bau / Bo Ke (or Kele)

2. Negative form

Kikongo	Kituba (or Kikongo ya leta)
KU sumbidi KO : You did not buy	Yandi ke na nsoni VÉ : He / She has no shame
KA tusingasala KO : We will not work	Munu / Mu ke mona nge  VÉ : I do not see you
Luzingu lu kéli KUVÉ tok’ luboti, si sènde vandi si kéli : Life is not only made of roses, but also of thorns Etc.	Beto ke dia VÉ : We do not eat Yandi vuandaka kusala VÉ : He / She used not to work Etc.

3. The way to say I love you is different :

I love you in Kikongo	I love you in Kituba (or Kikongo ya leta)
Yi Ku zolele Etc.	Mu me zola nge Etc.

4. Noun classes : noun prefixes are not completely the same (cf. the Kikongo and Kituba grammars)

Phonology

Vowels

Kituba has five vowel phonemes: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/. They are very similar to the vowels of Spanish and Italian. Vowels are never reduced, regardless of stress. The vowels are pronounced as follows:

• /a/ is pronounced like the "a" in father
• /e/ is pronounced like the "e" in bed
• /i/ is pronounced like the "i" in ski or ring
• /o/ is pronounced like the first part of the "o" in home, or like a tenser version of "o" in "lot"
• /u/ is pronounced like the "oo" of fool

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar /Dental		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal			m		n				ŋ
Stop	plain	p	b	t	d			k	g
	prenasal.	ᵐp	ᵐb	ⁿt	ⁿd			ᵑk	ᵑg
Fricative	plain	f	v	s	z					(h)
	prenasal.	ᶬf	ᶬv	ⁿs	ⁿz
Approximant			w		l		j

Notes:

• Word-initial voiceless prenasalized consonants are reduced to simple consonants in some dialects: mpimpa and nkento become pimpa and kento in Kituba of Pointe-Noire.
• Some dialects add stop to prenasalized alveolar fricatives: Kinsasa and nzila become Kintsasa and ndzila.
• Alveolar fricatives may become postalveolar (ʃ or ʒ) before /i/.

Grammar

Pronouns

Kituba has subject and object pronouns. The object pronouns are used in place of subject pronouns when the subject is being emphasized.

Person	Singular		Plural
	Subject	Object	Subject	Object
1st	mu	munu, mono	beto	beto
2nd	nge	nge	beno	beno
3rd	yá	yandi	ba	bau

I love you in kituba
Mu (or Munu, Mono) zola nge / Munu me zola nge / Mu me zola nge / Me zola nge / Mono (or Mu, Munu) ke zola nge

Nouns

Kituba has kept by and large the noun classes of ethnic Kikongo with some modifications. The classes 9 and 11 have in effect merged with the singular class with zero prefix, and their plural is formed with generic plural class prefix ba-.

Singular			Plural
Class	Prefix	Example	Class	Prefix	Example
0	–	mama ('mother)	2	ba-	bamama (mothers)
1	mu-	muntu (person)	2	ba-	bantu (people)
3	mu-	mulangi (bottle)	4	mi-	milangi (bottles)
5	di-	dinkondo (banana)	6	ma-	mankondo (bananas)
7	ki-	kima (thing)	8	bi-	bima (things)
9	n-/m-	nkosi (lion)	2+9	ba-n-	bankosi (lions)
11	lu-	ludimi (tongue)	2+11	ba-lu-	baludimi (tongues)
12	ka-	kakima (trifle)	13	tu-	tubima (trifles)
14	bu	bumbote (goodness)
15	ku-	kubanza (to think, thinking)

Verbs

Kituba has a well-developed verbal system involving grammatical tense and aspect. Most verb forms have long and short versions. The long forms are used in formal written communication whereas the short forms have developed for spoken communication.

The irregular conjugation of the verb kuvanda or kuvuanda (to be) is presented in the table below. It is the only irregular verb in Kituba.

Tense	Long form	Short form	Example	Translation
Present and immediate future	kele	ke	Yau kele nkosi.	It is a lion.
Future	kele/ata kuv(u)anda	ke/ta v(u)anda	Mu ta vuanda tata.	I will be a father.
Present progressive	kele kuv(u)andaka	ke v(u)andaka	Nge ke vuandaka zoba.	You are being stupid.
Future progressive	ata kuv(u)andaka	ta v(u)andaka	Beno ta vuandaka ya kukuela.	You will be married.
Past	v(u)anda		Yandi vuanda kuna.	He was there.
Past progressive	v(u)andaka		Beto vuandaka banduku.	We used to be friends.
Past perfect	mene kuv(u)anda	me v(u)anda	Yandi me vuanda na Matadi.	He was in Matadi.
Past perfect progressive	mene kuv(u)andaka	me v(u)andaka	Yandi me vuandaka mulongi.	She has been a teacher.

All other verbs are conjugated with the help of auxiliary verbs. The conjugation of the verb kusala (to do) is presented in the table below.

Tense	Long form	Short form	Example	Translation
Present and immediate future	kele kusala	ke sala	Yandi ke sala.	He works. / He will work.
Present progressive	kele kusalaka	ke salaka	Yandi ke salaka.	He is working.
Past	salaka	salaka	Yandi salaka.	He worked.
Immediate past	mene sala	me sala	Yandi me sala.	He has worked.
Immediate past progressive	mene salaka	me salaka	Yandi me salaka.	He has been working.
Past progressive	vuandaka kusala	va sala	Yandi vuandaka kusala.	He used to work.
Narrative	sala	sala
Future	ata sala	ta sala	Yandi ta sala.	He will work.
Future progressive	ata salaka	ta salaka	Yandi ta salaka.	He will be working.

Voice

The suffix indicating voice is adding after the verb root and before the suffix indicating tense.

The most common forms are "ila", indicating action to or toward someone, and "ana", indicating mutual or reciprocal action:

Kutanga "to read", Tangila "read to", Tangilaka "read to" (past)

Sadisa "to help", Sadisana "help one another", Sadisanaka "helped one another (past)[26]

Dictionary

A Kituba-English-French dictionary compiled by linguist Harold W. Fehderau, Ph.D., was published in 1969. It is not widely available.[27]

Lexicon

The bulk of Kituba words come from Kikongo. Other Bantu languages have influenced it as well, including Kiyaka, Kimbala, Kisongo, Kiyansi, Lingala, and Swahili. In addition, many words have been borrowed from French, Portuguese, and English.[28] These include:

• sandúku (Swah. sanduku) "box", the Swahili word comes from Arabic صندوق (ṣandūq)
• matáta (Swah. matata) "trouble"
• letá (Fr. l'état) "state"
• kamiyó (Fr. camion) "truck"
• sodá/solodá (Fr. soldat) "soldier"
• masínu (Fr. machine) "machine"
• mísa (Port. missa) "mass"
• kilápi (Port. lápis) "pen"
• katekisimu (Eng. catechism)
• bóyi (Eng. houseboy)
• sapatu (Port. sapato) "shoe"
• mesa (Port. mesa) "table"
• dikopa (Port. copa) "cup"
• simisi (Fr. chemise) "shirt"

Sample text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights translates to:

Bantu nyonso, na mbutukulu kevwandaka na kimpwanza ya bawu, ngenda mpe baluve ya mutindu mosi. Mayela na mbanzulu ke na bawu, ni yawu yina bafwana kusalasana na bumpangi.

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."[29]

Literature

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2021)

In 2018, a book (Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: Mbandu ya luzingu by Protais Yumbi) written in Kikongo ya Leta was nominated for the Grand Prix of Literary Associations.[30][31]

See also

• Habla Congo, in Cuba

References

Bibliography

• Diener, Ingolf; Maillart, Diana.(1970).Petit vocabulaire Francais-Anglais-Munukutuba. Pointe-Noire.
• Jean-Alexis Mfoutou, Parlons munukutuba : Congo-Brazzaville, République démocratique du Congo, Angola, Paris, Editions L'Harmattan, 2019, 426 pages.
• Jean-Alexis Mfoutou, Pour une histoire du munukutuba, langue bantoue, Paris, Editions L'Harmattan, 2019, 130 pages.
• Jean-Alexis Mfoutou, Grammaire et lexique munukutuba : Congo-Brazzaville, République Démocratique du Congo, Angola, L'Harmattan, 2009, 344 p. (ISBN 2296226736 et 9782296226739, présentation en ligne, lire en ligne).
• Khabirov, Valeri.(1990). Monokutuba. Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary. Moscow. "Soviet Encyclopedia". P. 309-310 (In Russian)
• Fehderau, H., 1966. The Origin and Development of Kituba. PhD dissertation, Cornell University.

External links

• Weblink
• Learn Kituba (Kikongo ya leta) on Learn101
• Learn Kituba (Kikongo ya leta) on ilanguages

На других языках

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[de] Kituba

Kituba, auch Munukutuba, munu kutuba, kikonga ya léta oder kikongo du gouvernement genannt, ist eine Kreolsprache in Zentralafrika und wird hauptsächlich in den Kongostaaten (Republik Kongo und Demokratische Republik Kongo) gesprochen.

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- [en] Kituba language

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[fr] Kituba

Le kituba, aussi appelé munukutuba, kikongo ya leta ou kikongo du gouvernement, est un créole kikongo, un kikongo simplifié, modifié et véhiculaire parlé comme seconde ou première langue en République du Congo, entre Brazzaville et Pointe-Noire et en République démocratique du Congo par plus de 4 millions de personnes [3]. Le nom kikongo est souvent utilisé à tort pour désigner le kituba.

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[ru] Китуба

Китуба — язык группы банту, широко распространенный в качестве лингва франка в Центральной Африке. Сформировался на основе диалектов языка конго. Является официальным языком Республики Конго и Демократической Республики Конго.

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