Kongo language

Kikongo (Kongo language) is the Bantu language spoken by the Bakongo and Bandundu people living in the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Angola. It is a tonal language and formed the base for Kituba, a Bantu creole and lingua franca much of west central Africa. There are roughly seven million native speakers of Kongo, with perhaps two million more who use it as a second language

Kikongo was spoken by many of those who were taken from the region and sold as slaves in the Americas. Hence, while Kongo is still spoken in these countries, creolized forms of the language are found in ritual speech of African-derived religions in Brazil, Jamaica, Cuba, and especially Haiti. It is also one of the sources of the Gullah people's language and the Palenquero creole in Colombia. The vast majority of present-day speakers live in Africa..

It is also the base for a creole used throughout the region: Kituba also called Kikongo de L'état or Kikongo ya Leta ("Kongo of the state" in French or Kongo), Kituba and Monokituba (also Munukituba). The constitution of the Republic of the Congo uses the name Kitubà, and the one of the Democratic Republic of the Congo uses the term Kikongo, even if Kituba is used in the administration.

While the complete Christian Bible was first published in Kongo in 1905, Kongo was the earliest Bantu language which was committed to writing in Latin characters and had the earliest dictionary of any Bantu language. A catechism was produced in 1557, but no version of it exists today. In 1624 a Kongo translation of the Portuguese catechism of Marcos Jorge was published. The preface informs us that the translation was done by Kongo teachers from São Salvador (modern Mbanza Kongo) and was probably partially the work of Félix do Espírito Santo (also a Kongo). The dictionary was written in about 1648 for the use of Capuchin missionaries and the principal author was Manuel Reboredo, a secular priest from Kongo. In the back of this dictionary is found a sermon of two pages written only in Kongo. The dictionary has some 10,000 words.

Information: Wikipedia