Ngombe, or ''Lingombe'', is a

Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

spoken by about 150,000 people in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. In general, native speakers live on either side of the

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

, and its many tributaries; more specifically, Équateur Province,

Mongala District Mongala District (, ) was a district of the Belgian Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It went through various changes in extent. It covered roughly the same area as the present Mongala province and most of Nord-Ubangi province. Loca ...

and in areas neighboring it (Sud Ubangi and Équateur districts). Ngombe is written in

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

. The deities of the Ngombe include the supreme creator

Akongo Akongo is a Creator God in African mythology. He is worshipped by the Ngombe people of the Congo. ''The Christian faith and non-Christian religions'' explains that Akongo "is not impersonal, like Mana: indeed the people make a clear distinction ...

and the ancestor goddess

Mbokomu Mbokomu is a town and ward in the Moshi Rural district of the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Ugan ...

. Ngombe includes several dialects in addition to Ngombe proper (Ŋgɔmbɛ). These are ''Wiindza-Baali'', ''Doko'' (Dɔkɔ), and ''Binja'' (also rendered ''Binza'', ''Libindja'', or ''Libinja''). The latter is not the same as the Binja/Binza language. Binja dialect is primarily spoken in

Orientale Province Orientale Province () is one of the former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its predecessors the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo. It went through a series of boundary changes between 1898 and 2015, when it was divided ...

and

Aketi Territory Aketi Territory is a territory in the Bas-Uele Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The administrative capital is located at Aketi. The territory borders Bondo Territory to the north, Buta Territory to the east, Basoko Territor ...

, and shares about three-quarters of its linguistic characteristics with standard Ngombe. Maho (2009) lists Doko as a distinct language in a separate group.

References

Buja-Ngombe languages Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo {{DRCongo-stub