Bangala language
Bangala or Mɔnɔkɔ na bangála is a Bantu language spoken in the northeast corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it is also spoken in parts of South Sudan and some speakers are still found in the extreme western part of Uganda. A sister language of Lingala, it is used as a lingua franca by people with different languages and rarely as a first language. In 1991 there were an estimated 3.5 million second-language speakers. It is spoken to the east and northeast of the area where Lingala is spoken. In Lingala, Bangala translates to "People of Mongala". This means people living along the Mongala River. Across Bas-Uele Province, Bangala speakers have to a great extent adopted Lingala.
History
As Lingala spread east and north, its vocabulary was replaced more and more by local languages, and it became more of an interlanguage and was classified as a separate language – Bangala. The vocabulary varies, depending on the first language of the speakers.young people in large villages and towns began adopting Lingala so much that their Bangala is becoming more of a dialect than a separate language.
Characteristics
In Bangala, the words for six and seven are replaced with the Swahili words sita and saba. Many Lingala words are replaced by words in Swahili, Zande, other local languages, plus English and French.The verb "to be" is conjugated differently in Bangala. Below is a comparison with Lingala.
| English | Lingala | Bangala |
| I am | nazali | ngái azí |
| you are | ozali | yó azí |
| he/she is | azali | azí |
| it is | ezali | azí |
| we are | tozali | ɓísú azí, sometimes tazí, less often tozí |
| you are | bozali | ɓínú azí |
| they are | bazali | ɓu azí, sometimes ɓazí |
The verb prefix ko-, meaning "to" in Lingala is instead ku-, as it is in Swahili, so "to be" in Bangala is kusara, not kosala. Many other Bangala words have an sound where Lingala has an sound, such as ɓisu and mutu.