Central Teke is a member of the
Teke languages
The Teke languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken by the Teke people in the western Congo and in Gabon. They are coded Zone B.70 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), the Teke languages apart from West Te ...
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
of the Congolese plateau. Central Teke dialects are Ngungwel and Mpu (Mpumpum), Boo (Boma, ''Eboo'' – ''cf.''
Boma language
Boma is a Bantu language of 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 ...
), and Nzikou (Njyunjyu/Ndzindziu). They are spoken in the
Malebo Pool
The Pool Malebo, formerly Stanley Pool, also known as Mpumbu, Lake Nkunda or Lake Nkuna by local indigenous people in pre-colonial times, is a lake-like widening in the lower reaches of the Congo River. region of the Republic of Congo, with an unknown number of Boo speakers in DRC.
Phonology
Consonants
* /h/ is only heard in the Nzikou dialect.
Vowels
* /u/ when preceding a palatal /j/ is heard as
‰ and when preceding a /w/ is heard as
References
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B)
Teke languages