Home to 6 dialects represented on Dialect Atlas, spanning 6 language families.
also: Kingwana
The Swahili used as a lingua franca across eastern DR Congo. A simplified contact variety, structurally divergent from the East African standard.
A Bantu language used as a lingua franca across the western DRC and the Republic of the Congo, with Kinshasa as its largest urban centre. The language of much of Congolese popular music.
also: Kongo
A Bantu language of the Kongo people, spoken across Angola, the DRC, and the Republic of the Congo. Carried abroad in the Atlantic slave trade and a major substrate in Caribbean and Brazilian creoles.
also: Tshiluba, Western Luba
A Bantu language of the Kasai region in the southern DRC and one of the four national languages of the country. Around 6 million speakers.
also: Lomongo, Nkundo
A Bantu language cluster of the central Congo basin, spoken across the Cuvette and Équateur provinces of the DRC. Around 6 million speakers across a wide dialect chain.
also: Chibemba, Icibemba
A Bantu language and the most-spoken indigenous language of Zambia, used across the Northern, Luapula, and Copperbelt provinces. A major lingua franca on the Zambian Copperbelt.