| Ngombe | |
|---|---|
| Lingombe | |
| Spoken in | DR Congo |
| Native speakers | unknown (150,000 cited 1971) |
| Language family | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | ngc |
Ngombe, or Lingombe, is a Bantu language spoken by about 150,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In general, native speakers live on either side of the Congo river, and its many tributaries; more specifically, Équateur Province, Mongala District and in areas neighboring it (Sud Ubangi and Équateur districts). Like English, Ngombe is written in Latin script.[1]
Ngombe is broken into several dialects (in addition to standard spoken Ngombe). These are Wiindza-Baali, Doko, and Binja (alternatively called Binza, Libindja, or Libinja). The latter is not the same as the Binja/Binza language. Binja dialect is primarily spoken in Orientale Province and Aketi Territory, and shares about three-quarters of its linguistic characteristics with standard Ngombe.[1]