Ngbaka (Ngbàkà) is aGbaya language spoken by just over a million people in theDemocratic Republic of the Congo. It is a regionally important language, used by theGilima,Ngbundu,Mbandja andMono peoples, and is taught in primary schools; 10% are literate in Ngbaka.

Ngbaka is a common local ethnic name; the language may be distinguished from other languages called "Ngbaka" asNgbaka Gbaya orNgbaka Minagende.

There are no significant dialectal differences within Ngbaka, and it may bemutually intelligible with members of theManza dialect cluster.

• The trill /r/ mainly occurs in ideophones, in both initial and final position. When it occurs in loanwords, it is often pronounced as a lateral [l].
• The glottal stop /ʔ/ mostly occurs before word-initial vowels.
• Sounds /ŋ͡m, ʔ, h, w/, do not appear in intervocalic position.
• /ŋ/ does not appear in word-initial position
• The fricative /f/ can be pronounced in the western dialects as a voiceless stop [p].
• The voiceless stop /k/ can be pronounced as a voiced stop [ɡ] in the western dialects.^[2]

Nasalisation is indicated with atilde on the vowel :⟨ã, ɛ̃, ĩ, ɔ̃, ũ⟩.

The tones of the syllables are shown with diacritics to prevent ambiguity :

• the high tone is indicated with theacute accent :⟨á, é, ɛ́, í, ó, ɔ́, ú, ã́, ɛ̃́, ĩ́, ɔ̃́, ṹ⟩ ;
• the low tone is indicated with thegrave accent :⟨à, è, ɛ̀, ì, ò, ɔ̀, ù, ã̀, ɛ̃̀, ĩ̀, ɔ̃̀, ũ̀⟩ ;
• the following tones are not usually indicated in the spelling but may be indicated in some linguistic works :
  • the medium tone with the vertical line above :⟨a̍, e̍, ɛ̍, i̍, o̍, ɔ̍, u̍, ã̍, ɛ̃̍, ĩ̍, ɔ̃̍, ũ̍⟩ ;
  • the falling tone with the circumflex accent :⟨â, ê, ɛ̂, î, ô, ɔ̂, ã̂, ɛ̃̂, ĩ̂, ɔ̃̂, ũ̂⟩ ;
  • the rising tone with the caron/hacek :⟨ǎ, ě, ɛ̌, ǐ, ǒ, ɔ̌, ã̌, ɛ̃̌, ĩ̌, ɔ̃̌, ũ̌⟩.

• Ngbaka at Ghent University

• Gbaya languages
• Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

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• Language articles citing Ethnologue 18
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Language articles with old Ethnologue 18 speaker data