Langenesis

Niger-Congo family

Lingala

c. 1880 CE – today Living

Lingala (c. 1880 CE – today) is a living Niger-Congo language. Lineage: Proto-Niger-Congo → Proto-Atlantic-Congo → Proto-Benue-Congo → Proto-Bantu → Lingala.

See Lingala on the interactive map
Speakers
40M (40,000,000)
ISO 639-3
lin
Glottocode
ling1263

Northwest Bantu (Guthrie C36d) lingua franca that crystallised from Bobangi-based trade speech along the Congo River in the late 19th century. Speaker count is L1+L2.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Niger-Congoc. 10,000 BCE – 7,000 BCE
  2. Proto-Atlantic-Congoc. 7,000 BCE – 5,000 BCE
  3. Proto-Benue-Congoc. 5,000 BCE – 3,500 BCE
  4. Proto-Bantuc. 3,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE
  5. Lingalac. 1880 CE – today

Sister languages 21

Also descended from Proto-Bantu.

Sources