Mbandja language
# Mbandja language

Mbandja (Banja, Mbanza) is the largest of the Banda languages. There are 350,000 speakers in DRC, 10,000 in the Republic of Congo, and an unknown number in CAR.

## Phonology

### Consonants

| | | Bilabial | Labio- dental | Dental/ Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Glottal |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | | Bilabial | Labio- dental | Dental/ Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | plain | lab. | Glottal |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | | n | | ɲ | (ŋ) | | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiceless | p | | t | t͡ʃ | | k | k͡p | ʔ |
| Plosive/ Affricate | voiced | b | | d | d͡ʒ | | ɡ | ɡ͡b | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | prenasal | ᵐb | | ⁿd | ⁿd͡ʒ | | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡ͡b | |
| Plosive/ Affricate | implosive | ɓ | | ɗ | | | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | | f | s | ʃ | | | | |
| Fricative | voiced | β | v | z | ʒ | | | | ɦ |
| Fricative | prenasal | | | ⁿz | | | | | |
| Rhotic | Rhotic | | | r | | | | | |
| Lateral | Lateral | | | l | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | | | | j | | w | |

* [ŋ] mainly occurs as a sound of /n/, when preceding a velar consonant.

### Vowels

Oral vowels :

| | Front | Central | Back |
| - | - | - | - |
| Close | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| Mid | ɛ | | ɔ |
| Open | | a | |

Nasal vowels :

| | Front | Central | Back |
| - | - | - | - |
| Close | ĩ | | ũ |
| Mid | ẽ | | õ |
| Open | | ã | |
