Bangi–Ntomba languages

Bangi–Ntomba
Bangi–Mongo
Geographic distribution:	Central reaches of the Congo River and adjacent areas
Linguistic classification:	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu (Zone C.30) Bangi–Tetela? Bangi–Ntomba
Subdivisions:	Zamba–Binza Bangi–Moi Sakata Mongo (Bolia)
Glottolog:	grea1286  (partial match)

The Bangi–Ntomba languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of the Congo. They are coded Zone C.30 in Guthrie's classification, and included the trade language Lingala, one of four national languages of the DRC and two of the RC.

According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), apart from the Ngiri languages (to Ngondi–Ngiri) and Budza (Buja), and together with a few additional languages such as Mongo-Nkundu, they form a valid node. Using Guthrie's listing, they are:

• Zamba–Binza: Losengo (Losengo, Loki/Boloki, Ndolo), Binza, Dzamba (Zamba)
• Bangi–Moi: Bangi, Mbompo (Mpombo), Moi, Mpama (Pama), (C20) Kuba
• Sakata
• Mongo: Sengele, Ntomba-Bolia, (C60) Mongo (Nkundo) (?Bafoto), (C70) Kela

Lingala and Bangala developed as trade languages, primarily on a Bangi lexical base.

References

• Nurse & Philippson (2003), The Bantu Languages.