Alternate Names: Baali, Kibaali, Kibala, Kibali, Libaali, Southeast Bwa
Dialects: Bafwandaka, Bakundumu, Bekeni, Bemili. The Bemili dialect is central linguistically and geographically. Lexical similarity: 52% with Lika ,; 40%–45% with Bwa , and Pagibete ,; 46% with Komo ,; 40% with Bhele ,, Bila ,, and Bera ,; 30% with Budu , and Ndaka ,; 25% with Lega languages and Lingala ,.
Genealogy:
Demographics: 42,000 (1987 UBS). 2,100 monolinguals.
Language Use: Congo Swahili [swc] is spoken by leaders, nearly all youth and men (proficiency in certain domains), most women and older men (less fluently), many older women and young children (low proficiency). French [fra] is spoken by the less than 5% with secondary school education. Lingala [lin] is used mainly by those who travel or have been in military service. Used as L2 by Kango [kzy].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 1%–2%. Literacy rate in L2: 30%–40% in Congo Swahili [swc].
Typology: SVO; prepositions, genitives before nouns; articles, adjectives, numerals, relatives after nouns; question word sentence final; 1–3 prefixes; 1–5 suffixes; word order distinguishes role; affixes mark person, number of subject and object in one noun group; active, passive, reflexive; 2 causatives; aspect; comparatives; tonal, 3 tones; stress; 9 vowels.
Nation of Origin: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Other Comments: ‘Kibali’ is the official name.