Language and dialect in Epena district south

Abstract

Cette etude traite de la variation linguistique sur la partie sud de la riviere Likouala-aux-Herbes, en aval du village d’Epena, Region de la Likouala, Republique du Congo. Le but principal est de confirmer que la langue parlee au sud du District d’Epena (le Dibole) est differente de la langue parlee au nord du District (le Bomitaba). En plus l’etude montre qu’il y a une grande variete linguistique dans l’aire Dibole. Employant des criteres lexicaux et phonologiques, nous avons pu identifier 3 dialectes principaux. Un classement provisoire dans le systeme Guthrie est propose pour le Dibole. Ce document est une version remaniee et revisee d’un rapport technique redige en francais lors de L’Enquete Linguistique du District d’Epena en 1988 et 1989. Ce dernier document en francais a ete publie electroniquement en 2004 par la SIL: Langue et Dialecte au sud du District d’Epena (http://www.sil.org/silesr). Mots-cles: Langues bantoues, Dialectologie, Classification, Zone C (Guthrie), Congo Brazzaville, Dibole, Babole This paper describes the language situation along the Likouala-aux-Herbes River downstream from the town of Epena, Epena District, Likouala Region, of the Republic of Congo (henceforth just ‘Congo’ in this paper). The primary aim of the paper is to confirm that the language spoken south of the town of Epena (Dibole) is distinct from the language spoken in Epena and north (Bomitaba). I show that Dibole has significant dialectal variation in the 14 villages where it is spoken, and that three major dialect groups can be identified. I propose a provisional Guthrie grouping for Dibole. This paper is a significantly revised and updated version of an earlier survey report which is available in French in electronic format from SIL. The research on which this paper was based was conducted in 1988 as part of the Language Survey of Epena District South. Keywords : Bantu, dialectology, classification, Zone C (Guthrie), Congo Brazzaville, Dibole, Babole.