TheBangi language, orBobangi, is a relative and main lexical source ofLingala spoken in centralAfrica. Dialects of the language are spoken on both sides of theUbangi and theCongo rivers.

• /ɓ/ may also be pronounced as [b].
• Sounds /z, ⁿs/ can have allophones of [dz, ⁿts] in free variation.^[3]

As the Bobangi people came to dominate the slave trade along the upperCongo River in the late 18th century, the Bangi language was used to facilitate trade between different ethnic groups in the region. Linguist John Whitehead claimed that the Moye,Likuba, Bonga,Mpama, Lusakani, andBangala (peuple) [fr] peoples all used Bangi for intercommunication in the 1890s.^[4][5][6] At the height of indigenous trade along the upper river, the Bobangi dominated the 500 kilometer section of the Congo between theKwah River and the equator, which most river trade passed through.^[7] Other ethnic groups in this area were either assimilated into the Bobangi ethnic alliance, adopting the Bangi language, or were driven off.^[8] However, the Bobangi dominance over trade was ended by Europeans in the late 19th century when colonial powers pushed local indigenous groups out of the profitable trade. By the late twentieth century, there were very few Bobangi people remaining in the area they had controlled a century earlier, and the Bangi language is no longer widespread.^[7]

• Linguistic map
• Webresources for Bantu languages

• Bangi-Ntomba languages
• Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Pages containing links to subscription-only content
• Language articles citing Ethnologue 18
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Language articles with old Ethnologue 18 speaker data