A Polylectal Grammar of Lingála and Its Theoretical Implications - Eyamba G. Bokamba-gctid85819

[Mani Kongo]

1. Introduction

The much discussed emergence of Lingála as a trade language on the Mongála, Ngiri and Ubangi rivers in the Equateur Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and its eventual spread throughout much of the rest of the country, the Republic of the Congo (RoC), and parts of the nations surrounding this home region continues to fascinate Congolese language researchers for a variety of reasons. Following Bokamba (2009), this paper aims to address three primary objectives: (1) The characterization, from a comparative perspective, of the differences and similarities among three of the language's varieties/dialects: Mankanza Lingála (ML) or Literary Lingála (LL), Spoken Lingála (SL), and Kinshasa Lingála (KL); (2) the provision of possible explanations to account for the sources or causes of the grammatical variations observed in the three varieties; and (3) a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of producing polylectal grammars for languages such as this one.
The paper shows with respect to the first two objectives that all three dialects share, as would be expected, many common core grammatical characteristics; and that the most important and evident difference between ML and any of the other two dialects involves the scope of the operation of the grammatical agreement system, the core dimension of Bantu languages grammar. The second major difference between ML and KL concerns the occurrence of double noun class prefixes in the pluralization of nouns in the latter, and the paradox that this phenomenon exemplifies in the grammatical agreement system. A few other significant differences involving tense-aspects united snakesge and phonological rules are also discussed in response to the first goal. An attempt is made to offer a set of explications of these differences on the basis of the language's contact and planning histories.
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[Agya Yaw]

I wonder if Dr. Theophile Obenga has written on Lingala? Is Lingala among one of the languages Dr. Obenga speaks? I'm guessing yes. I would be interested to hear/read what he has to say on this subject. Much of his bibliography is in french so I really can't tell if he has or not. The author of this paper did not use Dr. Obenga as a source so maybe not.

[Mani Kongo]

Yaw Asare Aboagye;85839 wrote: I wonder if Dr. Theophile Obenga has written on Lingala? Is Lingala among one of the languages Dr. Obenga speaks? I'm guessing yes. I would be interested to hear/read what he has to say on this subject. Much of his bibliography is in french so I really can't tell if he has or not. The author of this paper did not use Dr. Obenga as a source so maybe not.

I didn't read any of his works yet. This bibliography does not indicate that he wrote in Lingala.
He did write about it here for example, but it is from a historical point of view.
Did any of his works have been translated to english ?

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

Dr. Obenga's native language is Mbochi. Mbochi usually features prominently in his writings although he draws from other languages for reasons of comparative analyses.

[Agya Yaw]

ManiKongo;86011 wrote: I didn't read any of his works yet. This bibliography does not indicate that he wrote in Lingala.
He did write about it here for example, but it is from a historical point of view.
Did any of his works have been translated to english ?

These books written by Dr. Obenga were all translated from french to english.

Ancient Egypt and Black Kmt
Readings in Precolonial Central Kmt: Documents and Texts
Kmtyw Philosophy During the Period of the Pharoahs, 2780 - 3300 BCE

[Ɔbenfo Ọbádélé]

He also has an article in here: http://www.worldcat.org/title/peopling-of-ancient-egypt-and-the-deciphering-of-meroitic-script-proceedings-of-the-symposium-held-in-cairo-from-28-january-to-3-february-1974/oclc/38419411

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