Sango language

Sango language
Sango (also spelled Sangho) is the primary language spoken in the Central African Republic and also the official language of the country. It is used as a lingua franca across the country and had 450,000 native speakers in 1988. It also has 1.6 million second language speakers.

Sango is a creole based on the Northern Ngbandi language. It was used as a trade language along the Ubangi River prior to French colonisation in the 1880s. In colloquial speech 90% of the language's vocabulary is Ngbandi based, whereas in more technical speech French loanwords constitute the majority.

Some linguists, following William J. Samarin, classify it as a Ngbandi-based creole; however, others (like Marcel Diki-Kidiri, Charles H. Morrill) reject that classification and say that changes in Sango structures (both internally and externally) can be explained quite well without a creolization process.

According to the creolization hypothesis, Sango is exceptional in that it is an African- rather than European-based creole. Although French has contributed numerous loanwords, Sango's structure is wholly African.

Country
  • Central African Republic
    The Central African Republic (CAR; Ködörösêse tî Bêafrîka ; République centrafricaine, RCA;, or Centrafrique, ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, the Republic of the Congo to the southwest, and Cameroon to the west.

    The Central African Republic covers a land area of about 620000 km2. , it had an estimated population of around million. , the Central African Republic is the scene of a civil war, which is ongoing since 2012.