Mangbetu language should not be confused with Mangbutu language.
| Mangbetu | |
| Nativename: | Nemangbetu |
| Region: | Congo (DRC) |
| Ethnicity: | Mangbetu people |
| Speakers: | Mangbetu proper |
| Date: | 1985 |
| Ref: | e13 |
| Speakers2: | Lombi: 12,000 (1993) |
| Familycolor: | Nilo-Saharan |
| Fam2: | Central Sudanic |
| Fam3: | Eastern |
| Fam4: | Mangbetu–Asoa |
| Lc1: | mdj |
| Ld1: | Mangbetu |
| Lc2: | lmi |
| Ld2: | Lombi |
| Glotto: | mang1394 |
| Glottoname: | Mangbetu |
| Glotto2: | lomb1254 |
| Glottoname2: | Lombi |
Mangbetu, or Nemangbetu, is one of the most populous of the Central Sudanic languages. It is spoken by the Mangbetu people of northeastern Congo. It, or its speakers, are also known as Amangbetu, Kingbetu, Mambetto. The most populous dialect, and the one most widely understood, is called Medje. Others are Aberu (Nabulu), Makere, Malele, Popoi (Mapopoi). The most divergent is Lombi; Ethnologue treats it as a distinct language. About half of the population speaks Bangala, a trade language similar to Lingala, and in southern areas some speak Swahili.
The Mangbetu live in association with the Asua Pygmies, and their languages are closely related.
Mangbetu dialects and locations as listed by Demolin (1992):[1]
| Front | Central | Back | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Labial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Postalv./ Palatal | Velar | Labial- velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Plosive/ Affricate | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Trill | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | |||||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | |||||||||
| Tap | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
One unusual feature of Mangbetu is that it has both a voiced and a voiceless bilabial trill as well as a labial flap.[4] [5]
pronounced as /[nóʙ̥ù]/ "to bring out"
pronounced as /[nóʙù]/ "to fan"
pronounced as /[nómʙù]/ "to enclose"
pronounced as /[nóⱱò]/ "to defecate"
pronounced as /[nóʙò]/ "to get fat"
The labial trills are not particularly associated with back vowels or prenasalization, pace their development in some American languages.[6]
pronounced as /[éʙ̥ì]/ "leaping like a leopard"
pronounced as /[nɛʙàʙá]/ "kind of plan"