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Luba-Kasai
Sign in to saveAlso known as Luba-Lulua, Tshiluba, Ciluba, Western Luba, Bena-Luba, Luva, Luba-Kasai language, Shiluba
Bantu language spoken in DR Congo
Key facts
- Native to
- Angola , Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Region
- Kasai Kasai-Occidental Kasai-Oriental
- Ethnicity
- Baluba -Kasai (Bena-kasai)
- Native speakers
- 15 million (2024)
- Language family
- Niger–Congo ? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Luban Luba languages Tshiluba, Ciluba
- Dialects
- Ciluba-Lubilanji/Cena-Lubilanji (in Mbuji-Mayi, Kinshasa as well as Tshilenge district, and western Gandajika territory) Cena-Lulua (in Kananga, central-northern Lulua district, and eastern Luebo territory) Cikwa-Nyambi (in Northern Kamonia territory & Tshikapa) Cikwa-Luntu (in Dimbelenge territory)
- Writing system
- Latin script , Mandombe script
- Official language in
- Democratic Republic of Congo ( national language )
- Iso 639 2
- lua
- Iso 639 3
- lua
- Glottolog
- luba1249
- Guthrie code
- L.31
via Wikipedia infobox
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Luba-Kasai, also known as Cilubà or Tshilubà, Luba-Lulua, is a Bantu language (Zone L) of Central Africa and a national language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, alongside Lingala, Swahili, and 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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Luba-Kasai” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.