TheLendu language is aCentral Sudanic language spoken by the Balendru, an ethno-linguistic agriculturalist group residing in easternDemocratic Republic of the Congo in the area west and northwest ofLake Albert, specifically theIturi Province. It is one of the most populous of theCentral Sudanic languages. There are three-quarters of a million Lendu speakers in the DRC. A conflict between the Lendu and theHema was the basis of theIturi conflict.^[2]

Besides the Balendru, Lendu is spoken as a native language by a portion of the Hema,Alur, andOkebu. InUganda, the Lendu tribe live in the districts ofNebbi andZombo districts, northwest of Lake Albert.^{[citation needed]}

Ethnologue givesBbadha as an alternate name of Lendu, butBlench (2000) listsBadha as a distinct language. A draft listing of Nilo-Saharan languages,available from his website and dated 2012, listsLendu/Badha.

• [ŋ] is mainly heard as an allophone of/n/ when preceding velar consonants.

Demolin (1995)^[3] posits that Lendu hasvoiceless implosives,/ɓ̥ɗ̥ʄ̊/ (/ƥƭƈ/). However, Goyvaerts (1988)^[4] had described these ascreaky-voiced implosives/ɓ̰ɗ̰ʄ̰/, as inHausa, contrasting with a series of modally voiced implosives/ɓɗʄ/ as inKalabari, and Ladefoged judges that this seems to be a more accurate description.^[5]

• Kutsch-Lojenga, Constance. 1989.The Secret behind Vowelless Syllables in Lendu. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 11. 115–126. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter.
• Tucker, Archibald N. 1940.Lendu. In The Eastern Sudanic Languages: Volume I, 380–418. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Trifkovic, Mirjana. 1977.Tone preserving vowel reduction in Lendu. Studies in African Linguistics 8. 121–125.

• Central Sudanic languages
• Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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