Luba-Katanga language

Not to be confused with Tshiluba.

Luba-Katanga, also known as Luba-Shaba and Kiluba (Luba-Katanga: Kiluba), is a Bantu language (Zone L) of Central Africa. It is spoken mostly in the south-east area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Luba people.^[3]

Kiluba
Luba-Katanga
Kiluba
Native to	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Region	Katanga Province
Native speakers	3,101,000 (2024)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Luban Luba languages Kiluba
Language codes
ISO 639-1	lu
ISO 639-2	lub
ISO 639-3	lub
Glottolog	luba1250
Guthrie code	L.33[2]
Location of speakers:   Luba-Kasai   Luba-Katanga

Kiluba is spoken in the area around Kabongo, Kamina, Luena, Lubudi, Malemba Nkulu, Mulongo, Kabalo and Kaniama, mostly in Katanga. Kiluba is not and has never been mutually intelligible with Tshiluba. From linguistic analysis it can also be seen that neither was derived from the other due to linguistic and tonal compositions. The two groups of people have distinct historical origins according to their oral traditions and history.

Just like the vast majority of bantu languages, they both distinctly have bantu dialects to which they are closely related to and share historical ties with.

Writing

Luba-Katanga has 22 letters, 5 vowels and 17 consonants.

Vowels: A E I O U

Consonants: B D F G H J K L M N P S T V W Y Z

Phonology

Vowels

A five vowel system with vowel length is present in Luba-Katanga:

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Open		a aː

Consonants

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m		n	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p		t		k
	voiced	b		d		ɡ
	vl. prenasal	ᵐp		ⁿt		ᵑk
	vd. prenasal	ᵐb		ⁿd		ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	(ɸ)	f	s	ʃ
	voiced	(β)	v	z	ʒ
	vl. prenasal		ᶬf	ⁿs	ⁿʃ
	vd. prenasal		ᶬv	ⁿz	ⁿʒ
Approximant				l	j	w

• /p, b/ can have the allophones [ɸ, β] when in intervocalic positions or before a semivowel.^[4]

Sample text

Sample text in Luba-Katanga- Pādi palembwe amba mwingidi wa “Tattannu, muledi wa Bukila bwa Munonga” —ko kunena’mba i enka Tatenai utelelwe ne mu mukanda wa mu Bible wa Ezela.

Translation

It identifies a witness to the transaction as a servant of “Tattannu, governor of Across-the-River” —the same Tattenai who appears in the Bible book of Ezra.

(Translation from Jehovah's Witnesses)