B. Ricquier, E. Bangwabendi Katoba, D. Kopa wa Kopa, C. Kumbatulu Sita Bangbasa, C. Kutsch Lojenga, J. Maniacky, N. Mombaya Liwila & E. Ngbanga Bandombele. La diversité linguistique dans le nord-est de la République Démocratique du Congo. In: UNESCO. 2022. State of the Art of Indigenous Languages in Research: A collection of selected research papers. pp. 361- 367. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000381556.locale=en .
Northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has more than 90 languages, belonging to different
subgroups of two major language families: the Niger-Congolese languages (Bantu and Ubangi) and the Nilo-Saharan languages. This linguistic diversity is in danger of gradually disappearing. Limited to intra-ethnic interactions and competing with main speaking business languages, these minority languages are under threat. Congolese language policy favors national languages such as Lingala, Swahili, and French. Since 2014, Indigenous languages have been admitted as languages in the education system. However, most languages in northeastern DRC have not had adequate documentation to develop textbooks. The article emphasizes the need for documentation of the languages of the region, not only for textbooks, but also to record endangered languages and to safeguard traditional knowledge for future generations.
This article provides an overview of the current language situation in northeastern Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC). We provide a picture of the linguistic diversity, focusing on endangered languages and the
reasons with contribute to their disappearance. Our work focuses on what we refer to as “the northeast” of the DRC, more precisely the former Eastern Province. This region corresponds to the scientific interests of the different authors of this article, some colleagues come from the University of Kisangani. The University of Kisangani brings together professors and students from different parts of the former Province Orientale, since 2015 renamed provinces of Tshopo, Bas-Uélé, Haut-Uélé, and Ituri. The former Province Orientale is a very vast territory covering an area of 503,000 km2, more or less 21% of the total area of the DRC, and has a large population estimated at 9,870,578 inhabitants, nearly 11% of the country’s population.
Our article combines data from the existing literature, including dissertations defended at academic institutions in northeastern DRC, including each author’s field of expertise and ongoing research by the BANTURIVERS project team. The article presents a state of play as of June 2020, but the language inventory will be continuously updated on the project website.
Appendices:
– A Bibliography of Linguistic Research from and on the Northeast of the DRCongo
– Map with language files
