Editing Luba-Kasai language

{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in DR Congo}}
{{distinguish|text=[[Luba-Katanga language|Kiluba]], a related [[Luba languages|Luba language]]}}
{{Redirect|Tshiluba|the Zambian president|Frederick Chiluba}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=March 2013}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Tshiluba, Ciluba
| native name      = ''Kit e Tela''<ref>"ki te te la" is Standard Orthography, pronounced like "k retell" and "ke Te Te la".</ref> (Kitetela)
| states           = [[Angola]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]
| region           = [[Kasai region|Kasai]]
* [[Kasai-Occidental]] 
* [[Kasai-Oriental]]
| ethnicity        = [[Luba people|Baluba]]-Kasai (Bena-kasai)
| speakers         = {{sigfig|15.060000|2}} million
| date             = 2024
| ref              = e27
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta-Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
| fam8             = [[Luban languages|Luban]]
| fam9             = [[Luba languages]]
| dia1             = Ciluba-Lubilanji /Cena-Lubilanji (in Mbuji-Mayi, Kinshasa as well as Tshilenge district, and western Gandajika territory)
| dia2             = Cena-Lulua (in Kananga, central-northern Lulua district, and eastern Luebo territory)
| dia3             = Cikwa-Nyambi (in Northern Kamonia territory & Tshikapa)
| dia4             = Cikwa-Luntu (in Dimbelenge territory)
| nation           = {{flag|Democratic Republic of Congo}} (''national language'')
| iso2             = lua
| iso3             = lua
| glotto           = luba1249
| glottorefname    = Luba-Lulua
| guthrie          = L.31
| map              = Luba-Katanga + Luba-Kasai.svg
| mapcaption       = Location of speakers:
{{legend|#5d3a9b|Luba-Kasai}}
{{legend|#e66100|[[Luba-Katanga]]}}
}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Pidgin Chiluba
| states           = DR Congo
| region           = 
| speakers         = none
| familycolor      = Pidgin
| family           = Luba-based pidgin
| iso3             = none
| glotto           = none
| guthrie          = L.30A
}}

'''Luba-Kasai''', also known as '''Cilubà''' or '''Tshilubà''',<ref>The prefix ''tshi'' or ''ci'', depending on the spelling used, is used for the noun class used with language names</ref> '''Luba-Lulua''',<ref>"Luba-Lulua" combines the name "Luba" (in the strictest sense, Luba Lubilanji people) and "Lulua" (Beena Luluwa people), as in "the Luba-Lulua conflict".</ref><ref>Ethnologue.com also indicates the name "Beena Lulua" but that is the name of the Beena Luluwa people, or the name "Luva" but that is a synonym of Kiluba (Kiluva), a different Luban language, which has a fricative bilabial between vowels.</ref> is a [[Bantu language]] ([[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages#Zone L|Zone L]]) of [[Central Africa]] and a [[languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo|national language]] of the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], alongside [[Lingala]], [[Swahili language|Swahili]], and [[Kituba language|Kikongo ya leta]].

An eastern dialect is spoken by the [[Luba people]] of the [[East Kasai Region]] and a western dialect by the [[Lulua people]] of the [[West Kasai Region]]. The total number of speakers was estimated at 6.3 million in 1991.

Within the Zone L Bantu languages, Luba-Kasai is one of a group of languages which form the "Luba" group, together with [[Kaonde language|Kaonde]] (L40), [[Kete language|Kete]] (L20), [[Kanyok language|Kanyok]], [[Luba-Katanga language|Luba-Katanga]] (KiLuba), [[Sanga language (Bantu)|Sanga]], [[Zela language|Zela]] and [[Bangubangu language|Bangubangu]].
The L20, L30 and L60 languages are also grouped as the [[Luban languages]] within Zone L Bantu.

== Geographic distribution and dialects ==
Tshiluba is chiefly spoken in a large area in the [[Kasaï Occidental]] and [[Kasaï-Oriental (former province)|Kasaï Oriental]] provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, the differences in Tshiluba within the area are minor, consisting mostly of differences in tones and vocabulary, and speakers easily understand one another. Both dialects have subdialects. 
{{anchor|Pidgin}}

Additionally, there is also a [[pidgin]]ised variety of Tshiluba,<ref name="Guthrie" /> especially in cities, where the everyday spoken [[Tshiluba]] is enriched with [[French language|French]] words and even words from other languages, such as [[Lingala]] or [[Swahili language|Swahili]]. Nevertheless, it is not a typical form of a pidgin since it is not common to everyone but changes its morphology and the quantity and degree to which words from other languages are used. Its form changes depending on who speaks it and varies from city to city and social class to social class. However, people generally speak the regular Tshiluba language in their daily lives, rather than pidgin.

The failure of the language to be taught at school has resulted in the replacement of native words by French words for the most part. For instance, people speaking generally count in French, rather than Tshiluba. The situation of French and Tshiluba being used simultaneously made linguists mistakenly think that the language had been pidginised.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}

==Vocabulary==
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2015}}
{| class="variations"
|-
! Western dialects !! Eastern dialects !! English
|-
| meme || mema || me
|-
| ne || ni || with
|-
| nzolo/nsolo || nzolu ||chicken
|-
| bionso || bionsu || everything
|-
| luepu || mukela (e)||salt
|-
| kapia || mudilu ||fire
|-
| bidia || nshima || [[maize meal]]
|-
| makelela ||  malaba || yesterday/ tomorrow
|-
| lupepe || luhepa || wind
|-
| Mankaji (shi)/tatu mukaji || tatu mukaji || aunty
|-
| bimpe || bimpa ||well/good

|}

==Alphabet==
Luba-Kasai uses the [[Latin script|Latin alphabet]], with the digraphs ''ng'', ''ny'' and ''sh'' but without the letters ''q'', ''r'' and ''x'':<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tshiluba.php|title=Tshiluba language and alphabet|website=www.omniglot.com|access-date=2017-04-11}}</ref>

==Phonology==
Tshiluba has a 5 vowel system with vowel length:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|i iː
|
|u uː
|-
![[Mid vowel|Mid]]
|e eː
|
|o oː
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|a aː
|
|}
The chart shows the consonants of Tshiluba.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" |
![[Bilabial consonant|Bilabial]]
![[Labiodental consonant|Labio-<br>dental]]
![[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Postalveolar consonant|Post-alv.]]/<br>[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
![[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Stop consonant|Stop]]/<br>[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|p
|
|t
|tʃ
|k
|
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|<small>voiced</small>]]
|b
|
|d
|
|
|
|-
!<small>vl. [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small>
|ᵐp
|
|ⁿt
|ⁿtʃ
|ᵑk
|
|-
!<small>vd. [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small>
|ᵐb
|
|ⁿd
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>voiceless</small>
|(ɸ)
|f
|s
|ʃ
|
|h
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|<small>voiced</small>]]
|
|v
|z
|ʒ
|
|
|-
!<small>vl. [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small>
|
|ᶬf
|ⁿs
|ⁿʃ
|
|
|-
!<small>vd. [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small>
|
|ᶬv
|ⁿz
|ⁿʒ
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|m
|
|n
|ɲ
|ŋ
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
|
|l
|j
|w
|
|}

* /p/ may also have the sound [ɸ].
* If a /d/ is preceding an /i/, it may also be pronounced as an affricate sound [dʒ].

==Sample text==
According to [[Rosetta Project|The Rosetta Project]],<ref>Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Rosetta Project: A Long Now Foundation Library of Human Language (no author). (2010). https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_lua_undec-1</ref> Article 1 of the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] translates to: 
:''Bantu bonsu badi baledibwa badikadile ne badi ne makokeshi amwe. Badi ne lungenyi lwa bumuntu ne kondo ka moyo, badi ne bwa kwenzelangana malu mu buwetu.''
:"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

According to Learn Tshiluba (Mofeko): 
:''Mukayi wuani udi mu bujimi''
:"My wife is on the farm"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Akindipe |first1=Tola |last2=Yamba |first2=Francisco |last3=Tshiama |first3=Veronica |title=Family in Tshiluba |url=https://tshiluba.mofeko.com/family.html |website=Learn Tshiluba (Mofeko)}}</ref>

:''Mulunda wanyi mujikija kalasa Uenda mu tshidimu tshishala''
:"My friend completed his/her studies last year" <ref>{{cite web |last1=Akindipe |first1=Tola |last2=Yamba |first2=Francisco |last3=Tshiama |first3=Veronica |title=Days in Tshiluba |url=https://tshiluba.mofeko.com/days.html |website=Learn Tshiluba (Mofeko)}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{cite book|author=Samuel Phillips Verner|title=Mukanda wa Chiluba|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmMvAAAAYAAJ|access-date=26 August 2012|year=1899|publisher=Spottiswoode}}

==Bibliography==
*Stappers, Leo. ''Tonologische bijdrage tot de studie van het werkwoord in het tshiluba''. 1949. Mémoires (Institut royal colonial belge. Section des sciences morales et politiques). Collection in-8<sup>o</sup>; t. 18, fasc. 4.  
*de Schryver, Gilles-Maurice. ''Cilubà Phonetics: Proposals for a 'Corpus-Based Phonetics from Below' Approach''.  1999. Research Centre of African Languages and Literatures, University of Ghent.
*DeClercq, P. ''Grammaire de la langue des bena-lulua.'' 1897. Polleunis et Ceuterick.
*Muyunga, Yacioko Kasengulu. 1979. ''Lingala and Ciluba speech audiometry''. Kinshasa: Presses Universitaires du Zaïre pour l'Université Nationale du Zaïre (UNAZA).
*Kabuta, Ngo. ''Loanwords in Cilubà.'' 2012. University of Ghent, Belgium.
*Willems, Em.  ''Het Tshiluba van Kasayi voor beginnelingen''. 1943. Sint Norbertus.

==External links==
{{incubator|code=lua}}
* Tola Akindipe, Veronica Tshiama & Francisco Yamba, [http://tshiluba.mofeko.com/ Largest online resource to learn Tshiluba (Mofeko)]
* [http://www.ciyem.ugent.be/ Online Cilubà - French Dictionary]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3830521.stm BBC News: Congo word "most untranslatable"]
* [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/tshiluba.php/ Tshiluba Language and Alphabet (Omniglot)]
* [http://globalrecordings.net/en/language/99/ Tshiluba: Kasai Language]
* [https://archive.org/details/grammardictionar00morr/page/n5/mode/2up ''Grammar and Dictionary of the Buluba-Lulua Language'' (1906)] online copy of dictionary by [[William Morrison (missionary)]]

{{Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luba language}}
[[Category:Luba| ]]
[[Category:Luban languages]]
[[Category:Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo]]