Sango (also spelledSangho) is a major language spoken inCentral Africa, especially theCentral African Republic, southernChad andDemocratic Republic of the Congo. The primary language of theSango people (or Basango, Bosango, Sangho, Sangos), it is anofficial language in the Central African Republic,[4] where it is used as alingua franca across the country. Although there are no statistics to quantify people who speak it as a first versus second language, almost all 5,500,000 people in the Central African Republic speak it as of 2025.[5]
Sango is a language with contested classification, with some linguists considering it aNgbandi-basedcreole, while others argue that the changes in Sango structures can be explained without a creolization process. It has many French loanwords, but its structure remains wholly Ngbandi. Sango was used as alingua franca for trade along theUbangi River beforeFrench colonisation in the late 1800s and has since expanded as an interethnic communication language. In colloquial speech, almost all of the language's vocabulary is Ngbandi-based, whereas in more technical speech French loanwords constitute the majority. Sango has three distinct sociolinguistic norms: an urban "radio" variety, a "pastor" variety, and a "functionary" variety spoken by learned people who make the highest use of French loanwords.
Sango is a tonal language with subject-verb-object word order, and its orthography was officially established in 1984. It has limited written material, mainly focused on religious literature. Sango is considered easy to learn,[clarification needed] although reaching true fluency takes time, as with any other language. The main difficulties for English speakers are pronunciation and tone management.
Some linguists, following William J. Samarin, classify it as aNgbandi-based creole; however, others (like Marcel Diki-Kidiri, Charles H. Morrill) reject that classification and say that changes in Sango structures (both internally and externally) can be explained quite well without a creolization process.
According to the creolization hypothesis, Sango is exceptional in that it is an African- rather than European-based creole.[6] AlthoughFrench has contributed numerous loanwords, Sango's structure is wholly African.[6]
A variety of Sango was used as alingua franca along theUbangi River before French colonization, in the late 1800s.[7] The French army recruited Central Africans, causing them to increasingly use Sango as a means of interethnic communication.[7] Throughout the 20th century, missionaries promoted Sango because of its wide usage.[7]
The rapid growth of the city ofBangui since the 1960s has had significant implications for the development of Sango, with the creation, for the first time, of a population of first-language speakers. Whereas rural immigrants to the city spoke many different languages and used Sango only as a lingua franca, their children use Sango as their main (and sometimes only) language. That has led to a rapid expansion of the lexicon, including both formal and slang terms. Also, its new position as the everyday language of the capital city has led to Sango gaining greater status and being used increasingly in fields for which it was previously the norm to use French.
Sango is widespread in the Central African Republic, with a population in CAR of approximately 5,500,000 in 2025.[8] It is also spoken as a lingua franca in southern Chad, where it is probably not spoken natively and its use is decreasing, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where its use is increasing.
Today, Sango is both a national and official language of the Central African Republic, which makes the Central African Republic one of the few African countries to have an indigenous language as an official language.
A study by Taber (1964) indicates that some 490 native Sango words account for about 90% of colloquial speech; however, while French loanwords are much more rarely used, they account for the majority of the vocabulary, particularly in the speech of learned people. The situation might be compared to English, in which most of the vocabulary, particularly "learned" words, is derived fromLatin,Greek, or French while the basic vocabulary remains stronglyGermanic. However, more recent studies suggest that the result is specific to a particular sociolect, the so-called "functionary" variety. Morrill's work, completed in 1997, revealed that there were three sociologically distinct norms emerging in the Sango language: an urban "radio" variety which is ranked[clarification needed] by 80% of his interviewees and has very few French loan words; a so-called "pastor" variety, which is scored[clarification needed] 60%; and a "functionary" variety, spoken by learned people, who make the highest use of French loanwords while speaking Sango, which scores 40%.
Sango has seven oral and five nasal vowels.[9] Vowel quality and number of nasalized vowels may be affected by the mother tongue of non-native speakers of Sango.[9]
Palatal affricates occur in loan words and certain dialects.[9] Some dialects have alternations between [ᶬv] and [m], [ᵐb] and [ᵑ͡ᵐg͡b], [ᵐb] and [b], word-medial [l] and [r], and word-initial [h] and [ʔ].[9] [ᶬv] is quite rare.[9]
Syllable structure is generally CV.[9] Consecutive vowels are rare but do occur.[9] Consonants may be palatalized or labialized, orthographically C⟨i⟩ and C⟨u⟩, respectively.[9]
Words are generally monosyllabic or bisyllabic but less commonly are trisyllabic.[9] Four-syllable words are created viareduplication and compounding, and may also be written as two words (kêtêkêtê orkêtê kêtê 'tiny bit',walikundû orwa likundû 'sorcerer').[9]
Sango is a tonal language. The language has three basic tones (high, mid, and low), with contour tones also occurring, generally in French loanwords.[9] Tones have a lowfunctional load, butminimal pairs exist:dü 'give birth' versusdû 'hole'.
Monosyllabic loan words from French usually have the tone pattern high-low falling (bâan 'bench' from Frenchbanc). In multisyllabic words all syllables carry low tone except the final syllable, which is lengthened and takes a descending tone. The final tone is generally mid-low falling for nouns (ananäa 'pineapple' from Frenchananas) and high-low falling for verbs (aretêe 'to stop' from Frencharrêter).
In isolation, tones haveidiolectal variation, and they may also be affected by the mother languages of non-native speakers.[9]
The derivational suffix-ngönominalizes verbs. It also changes all tones in the verb to mid:[10]
kono
to grow, be big
kîri
to return, repeat
könöngö
size
kïrïngö
return
Genitives are normally formed with the prepositiontî 'of':[10]
dû
hole
tî
of
ngû
water
dû tî ngû
hole of water
"water hole, well"
However, compounding is becoming increasingly common:dûngü 'well' (note the change in tone).[10] Such compounds are sometimes written as two separate words.[10]
The verbal prefixa- is used when the subject is a noun or noun phrase but not when the subject is either a pronoun or implicit (as in imperatives):[10]
The prefix is sometimes written as a separate word.[10]
Thepronouns arembï "I",mo "you (singular)",lo "he, she, it",ë "we",ï "you (plural)",âla "you (plural)",âla "they".[11] Verbs take a prefixa- if not preceded by a pronoun:mo yeke "you are" butBêafrîka ayeke "Central Africa is". Particularly useful verbs includeyeke "be",bara "greet" (bara o "hi!"),hînga "know". Possessives and appositives are formed with the wordtî "of":ködörö tî mbï "my country",yângâ tî sängö "Sango language". Another common preposition isna, covering a variety oflocative,dative, andinstrumental functions.
Sango began being written by French missionaries, with Catholic and Protestant conventions differing slightly.[12] The 1966 Bible and 1968 hymnal were highly influential and still used today.[12]
In 1984, PresidentAndré Kolingba signed "Décret No 84.025", establishing an officialorthography for Sango.[13] The official Sango alphabet consists of 22 letters:
Letters are pronounced as their IPA equivalent except for⟨y⟩, pronounced as [j]. Also, the digraphs⟨kp, gb, mb, mv, nd, ng, ngb, nz⟩ are pronounced[k͡p],[ɡ͡b],[ᵐb],[(ᶬv)],[ⁿd],[ᵑɡ],[ᵑ͡ᵐɡ͡b] and[ⁿz], respectively.
⟨’b⟩,⟨ty⟩, and⟨dy⟩ may be used in loan words not fully integrated into Sango's phonological system.[13]
The official orthography contains the followingconsonants:⟨p, b, t, d, k, g, kp, gb, mb, mv, nd, ng, ngb, nz, f, v, s, z, h, l, r, y, w⟩: some add⟨’b⟩ for theimplosive/ɓ/. Sango has seven oralvowels,/aeɛioɔu/, of which five,/ĩãɛ̃ɔ̃ũ/, occurnasalized. In the official orthography,⟨e⟩ stands for both/e/ and/ɛ/, and⟨o⟩ stands for both/o/ and/ɔ/; nasal vowels are written⟨in, en, an, on, un⟩.
Sango has threetones: low, mid, and high. In standard orthography, low tone is unmarked,⟨e⟩, mid tone is marked withdiaeresis,⟨ë⟩, and high tone withcircumflex,⟨ê⟩:do-re-mi would be written⟨do-rë-mî⟩.
Sango has little written material apart from religious literature, but some basic literacy material has been developed.[14]
Sango is considered unusually easy to learn; according to Samarin, "with application a student ought to be able to speak the language in about three months." However, reaching true fluency takes much longer, as with any other language.
For English-speakers there are two main difficulties. One must remember not to split double consonants:Bambari, for example, must be pronounced ba-mba-ri, not bam-ba-ri. Also, as with any other tonal language, one must learn not to vary thetone according to the context. For example, if one pronounces a question with a rising tone as in English, one may inadvertently be saying an entirely different and inappropriate Sango word at the end of the sentence.
Diki-Kidiri, Marcel (1977).Le sango s'écrit aussi-- : esquisse linguistique du sango, langue nationale de l'Empire centrafricain. Paris: SELAF.ISBN2-85297-057-0.
Diki-Kidiri, Marcel (1978).Grammaire Sango: phonologie et syntaxe, langue nationale de l'Empire centrafricain (Thesis). Sorbonne Nouvelle University.
Diki-Kidiri, Marcel. 1998.Dictionnaire orthographique du sängö
Henry, Charles Morrill. 1997.Language, Culture and Sociology in the Central African Republic, The Emergence and Development of Sango
SIL (Centrafrique), 1995.Kêtê Bakarî tî Sängö: Farânzi, Anglëe na Yângâ tî Zâmani. Petit Dictionnaire Sango, Mini Sango Dictionary, Kleines Sango Wörterbuch
Walker, James A.; Samarin, William J. (1997). "Sango Phonology". In Kaye, Alan S.; Daniels, Peter T. (eds.).Phonologies of Asia and Africa: (including the Caucasus). Eisenbrauns. pp. 861–882.ISBN978-1-57506-018-7.
Taber, Charles. 1964.French Loanwords in Sango: A Statistical Analysis. (MA thesis, Hartford Seminary Foundation.)
Thornell, Christina. 1997.The Sango Language and Its Lexicon (Sêndâ-yângâ tî Sängö)
