Central Teke language

Central Teke is a member of the Teke languages dialect continuum of the Congolese plateau. Central Teke dialects are Ngungwel and Mpu (Mpumpum), Boo (Boma, Eboo – cf. Boma language), and Nzikou (Njyunjyu/Ndzindziu). They are spoken in the Malebo Pool region of the Republic of Congo, with an unknown number of Boo speakers in DRC.

Central Teke
Native to	Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Native speakers	(45,000 Ngungwel cited 1988) 20,000 Boo (2000)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu (Zone B) Teke (B.70) Central Teke
Dialects	Ngungwel Mpu (Mpumpu) Boo (Eboo) Ndzindziu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: ngz – Ngungwel ebo – Boo nzu – Nzikou
Glottolog	ngun1278
Guthrie code	B.72,74

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp	ⁿt		ᵑk
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ
Affricate	voiceless	p͡f	t͡s
	voiced	b͡v	d͡z
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp͡f	ⁿt͡s
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb͡v	ⁿd͡z
Fricative		f	s	ʃ		h
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Lateral			l
Approximant		ɥ		j	w

• /h/ is only heard in the Nzikou dialect.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ĩ		u ũ
	ɪ ɪ̃		ʊ ʊ̃
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ ɛ̃		ɔ ɔ̃
Open		a ã

• /u/ when preceding a palatal /j/ is heard as [ʉ], and when preceding a /w/ is heard as [y].