Editing Lingala (section)

{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in western central Africa}}
{{About|the Lingala language|Lingala music|Soukous|other uses|Lingala (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|Ngala language (disambiguation){{!}}Ngala language}}

{{Infobox language
| name             = Lingala
| altname          = Ngala
| nativename       = ''Lingála''
| states           = [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Republic of the Congo]]
| region           = Congo River
| speakers         = [[first language|L1]]: {{sigfig|20.522160|2}} million
| date             = 2021
| ref              = e27
| speakers2        = [[Second language|L2]]: {{sigfig|20.014140|2}} million (2021)<ref name=e27/>
| speakers_label   = Speakers
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam5             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]] ([[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages#Zone C|Zone C]])
| fam6             = [[Bangi–Ntomba languages|Bangi–Ntomba]] (C.30)
| fam7             = Bangi–Moi
| fam8             = [[Bangi language|Bangi]]
| dia1             = [[Bangala language|Bangala]]
| nation           = {{plainlist|
*{{flag|Democratic Republic of the Congo|name=Congo–Kinshasa}} (''national language'')
*{{flag|Republic of the Congo|name=Congo-Brazzaville}} (''national language'')
}}
| iso1             = ln
| iso2             = lin
| iso3             = lin
| glotto           = ling1269
| glottorefname    = Lingala-Bangala
| lingua           = 99-AUI-f
| guthrie          = C30B
| script           = [[African Reference Alphabet]] ([[Latin script|Latin]]), [[Mandombe script]]
| map              = LanguageMap-Lingala-Larger Location.png
| mapcaption       = Geographic distribution of Lingala speakers, showing regions of native speakers (dark green) and regions where Lingala is spoken by a minority. (light green)
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Lingala''' (or '''Ngala''', Lingala: {{Lang|ln|Lingála}}) is a [[Bantu languages|Bantu language]] spoken in the northwest of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], the northern half of the [[Republic of the Congo]], in their capitals, [[Kinshasa]] and [[Brazzaville]], and to a lesser degree as a trade language or because of emigration in neighbouring [[Angola]] or [[Central African Republic]]. Lingala has 20 million native speakers and about another 20 million second-language speakers, for an approximate total of 40 million speakers.<ref name="e27" /> A significant portion of both Congolese diasporas speaks Lingala in their countries of immigration like [[Belgium]], [[France]] or the [[Congolese Americans|United States]].